The baltimoresun.com and wrestlingobserver.com are reporting that Rep. Bobby Rush, chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, said he plans to convene hearings on steroids in sports, focusing on baseball and pro wrestling, when Congress returns from its winter recess. His remarks came one day after the indictment of all-time MLB home-run king Barry Bonds by a federal grand jury for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, the top-ranking Republican on the subcommittee, has been publicly critical in the past of WWE for what he thought was an insufficient response to the subcomiitte's written, specific requests for information on WWE's Wellness Policy.

TNA recently trumpeted the hiring of Booker T (Huffman) who recently quit WWE and was publicly critical of his suspension for violating the terms of their Wellness Policy.

Mitchell Analysis: If congressional hearings led to stringent drug testing of professional wrestlers by independent athletic commissions with the power to enforce penalties across the culture that may be the single, most positive step possible toward ending the culture of death in professional wrestling. WWE and TNA gambled that Congress and the media's attention toward sports entertainment would fade and they could return to business as usual without substantive changes in the way they do business. With hearings now a certainty this may have been a gamble the pro wrestling business lost.

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