Brian Cage on Him Admitting To Steroid & PED Usage In Wrestling and Dealing With TRT, Him Feeling Underutilized in AEW, Him Being Ready For A Babyface Run In AEW, & More

A recent episode of The @smoothvega Podcast featured Brian Cage as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Cage admitting him using steroids and PED (performance enhancing drugs) in his wrestling career. use and his belief that people look at steroids and PEDs in the wrong way.

“Listen, if steroids, if you just did a one-shot cycle, like I call it, like Captain America, guess what? Gyms wouldn’t exist, and everyone would be on steroids.

Do steroids work? Absolutely. Have I taken PEDs? Absolutely. I’ve never said I haven’t. People try to call you out as if you’re keeping a secret. Are PEDs what got me to where I am? Absolutely not.”

Brian Cage also gave his thoughts about his current TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) and how it has been beneficial for him.

“And when people say, ‘Oh, I’m so gassed by my return,’ I’ve only been on TRT forever now. I’m 42 years old. TRT has been phenomenal. It has been a game changer for so many people as far as, not in the athletic realm, but just day-to-day practice, why everyone looks better, moves better, feels better, everything.

Now, with that, there’s obviously a difference between use and abuse with everything, right? I mean, obviously, if you drink alcohol, is it going to kill you? No. Is it good for you? Of course not. I don’t drink. I don’t do drugs. I don’t do anything else. So again, difference between use and abuse, obviously. But yeah, just because you’ve asked me the fitness stuff, I want to be more and more open about this because I’ve never really talked about it before.”

Cage also gave his thoughts about his current run in AEW and him feeling underutilized in the company and how he was presented as a main draw prior to his AEW cereer.

“Well, I think that question has to be yes. And not to scapegoat that question, I feel like that answer would be yes by almost anybody because everybody wants more. Everybody feels like they can do more, provide more, but, like, absolutely.

And I think, too, going back to the fact that before AEW existed and even when I didn’t have a TV contract, I was making a full-time living off of this business, right? There’s several people there that may be above me that weren’t. And then anytime I was on TV, I was a main draw for everything else. So obviously, to not be presented in the same way makes you want more.

And obviously I feel like I have way more to offer. I know I do, in so many different aspects. Now, yes, I do have tons of fun matches. I do love a lot of things about AEW. And Tony’s a great boss. I’ve talked about that story, too, about how he still signed me after I tore my bicep and they still contracted me, still paid me and, ‘Hey, let me know when you’re better. We’ll bring you on TV.’ And they presented me and debuted me in a great way.

But, you know, I’ve loved a lot of stuff about AEW. Same thing, has it been perfect? No. Would I like more? Of course. But again, like I said, everyone would.”

Cage also gave his thoughts about how he has been feeling tired being a heel in AEW for nearly six years and is hopeful of having a babyface run in the company.

“I think maybe it has a little bit more of a face feel to it. Well, and that’s what I was hoping. Like actually, I would love, I’ve wanted to be face. I actually love being face more than being heel. Most people like being heel more than face. I’ve been heel pretty much my entire time in AEW. I want to be face so bad.

And that was the thing too. I’m like, ‘Alright, if the song’s already known and established, when I do turn face it’s like, oh, then I think it would hit even harder.’

Just like, I mean, even with certain things, like Rock and Austin for instance, in their promos they would say stuff and it got over as a heel, but then when they turned face they didn’t really say anything differently. But now it’s just over because it’s well known.”

Cage also gave his thoughts about his belief that AEW pay-per-view events “smashes” WWE PPVs/PLEs every time in terms of in-ring quality.

“It’s second to none. You take any WWE pay-per-view — and not even trying to throw shade at WWE — any pay-per-view of theirs and throw any pay-per-view of ours against theirs and ours smashes theirs every time.”

Cage also gave his thoughts about Tessa Blanchard’s bad reputation with wrestling fans due to her past allegations of bullying female wrestlers and calling female wrestler La Rosa Negra the N-word slur.

“Whatever happened, didn’t happen; people can speculate, and even when everyone came forth about it — weren’t even there. But at the end of the day, the fact that there’s been more than one post with La Rosa Negra and Tessa (Blanchard), being buddy-buddy, if you will, even though they’re not best friends but basically like, hey! We’re cool; it’s cool. No heat. Those are the two that are involved. So everybody else who wasn’t there, everyone else who wants to act like, oh, something happened whether they know what happened or didn’t happen. If they’re cool, I don’t understand what the problem is. Nobody else has skin in the game. So there’s no big heat from them.”

Cage also gave his thoughts about Blanchard’s bullying allegations and how he has seen her be a jerk towards other wrestlers and how it is not something new or unique with her in the wrestling industry.

“I’ve seen Tessa be a jerk to people, for sure… But also, I’ve seen tons of people in this business be a jerk to people, and that doesn’t mean that they’re an awful person either but just, okay, maybe that moment or to that one person or whatever else, and also… the women’s locker room could be a pretty catty place from time to time too, with multiple people… I feel like the male locker room, there’s so much more chill vibes than maybe the girls’ locker room, and that goes not just in wrestling. Go back to the fitness industry; there’s so many times where we’re all bro’ing out. We’re like, ‘Oh dude! You are so jacked! You look so good.’ We’re f*cking stroking everyone’s ego like crazy, whereas the girls will be like, ‘Oh my God, you’re so beautiful. You look so good.’ Then she’ll leave and go, ‘Can you believe that b*tch? Oh my God, I can’t believe she wore that.’ All the time! We’re not hating anybody.”

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1, 2, & 3, Fightful.com 1 & 2