“I did steroids, that goes without saying” – Bob Holly

WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently called up Bob Holly for a two-part interview on The Steve Austin Show.

When Holly’s 15-year tenure with the company ended back in 2009, the former Hardcore Champion released a book called The Hardcore Truth: The Bob Holly Story, in which he revealed the good and bad times of being a professional wrestler, including after he broke his neck in 2002. He told Austin:

“When I broke my neck, I did end up getting into the pain pill thing and getting on those. And I was able to get off that stuff. And so, but that wasn’t easy, so I had to have help. I wrote about that in my book. I had to have help to get off that stuff and I did. But that was the worst I did. I didn’t get into the alcohol. I didn’t get into the cocaine. I didn’t get into anything heavy like that. I mean, I did steroids. Whoop-dee-doo. But that goes without saying.

When I broke my neck, that was the worst, the heaviest I got into anything as far as that you shouldn’t be doing, but, like I said, I got off that and everything. I never drank and I never did anything else.” Holly explained, “I started taking too many [pills] and I was like, ‘this is ridiculous – I’ve got to stop,’ so I did.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-O_m6nv0lU

Holly also commented on his condition after being in professional wrestling for so long. The former Hardcore Champion has had numerous injuries, but to him they were well worth his pro wrestling career:

“It was worth it to me. Like I said, my elbows won’t straighten out. I’d say, they’re probably… I wouldn’t quite say 45 degree angles. I don’t know. I don’t know what degree it would be. My elbows won’t straighten out, both of them. But as far as, like, my neck, my neck doesn’t really bother me that bad because I had the same surgery as [Austin] had as far as my neck. My knees are good. Like, I never have any issues with me knees. My hip is fine. My hips are fine.

My back, I had lower back surgery to clean out the bone spurs and I had a few… what the hell was it? They cleaned out the area of like… they opened up the area of the nerve to give it more room or whatever and all that. My shoulders are fine. My elbows are the worst thing on me actually, so I think I got away pretty good. My back gives me problems, don’t get me wrong. Like, if I’m sitting too long, and I go to stand up, it takes a minute for me to stand up, especially if I’m sitting on a plane, and then I go to get up and it’s like my back is killing me, but then after a few minutes of walking it off, I’m fine. But as far as anything else, I think it was actually worth it to me to do what I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqB4RiL9354

As far as the career-wise, I always think, I do think a lot of times, I wonder how my body would be if I didn’t wrestle and I did something else. Would it be something else that’s worse than what’s going on now? You always question your choices as far as the things you do and I have questioned, ‘why did you get into wrestling?’ I got into it because I loved it.

Was it worth it to me? Yeah, it was. It gave me a good life. It provided me a good life. I’ve experienced the world. I’ve experienced a lot of things. I’ve pretty much seen it all like [Austin has]. But as far as my body-wise, I think I’m okay. I really do. Being 55, I still move around really well. I’m still pretty fast. Of course, not as fast as I used to be, but I’m pretty agile still. And I feel pretty good for 55 and I attribute that to staying in shape, working out, and things like that. And I stay active.” Holly laughed, “maybe my brain is scattered sometimes, but that’s about it.”

Throughout the episode, Holly also talked about his post-WWE life and so much more. Check out the podcast here.

What’s your reaction to Hardcore Holly’s story? Let us know your comments below or on Twitter. You can also join us on Discord to chat with other like-minded fans, Oli Davis, Luke Owen and the WrestleTalk staff!

• Hardcore Holly
• bob holly
• Steve Austin
• wwe

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