Justin Credible Outlines The Process Of Going To WWE Sponsored Rehab
Former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Justin Credible recently spoke with WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin on his illustrious, award-winning podcast that has not (yet) won any awards. Among many other things, Credible talked about his addiction issues as well as WWE's Wellness Program.
Credible, who kicked out of opioid addiction about five or six years ago, stated that he started drinking alcohol to fill a void within himself. Moreover, Credible recalled that he went from casually drinking beer here and there to consuming 750 litres of vodka per day, though the former Impact Player probably meant that he drank a 750 millilitre bottle of vodka every day.
"I got clean off opioids about five, six years ago." Credible continued, "since then, I felt, I guess, I wasn't really happy with who I was and trying to find a life outside the [pro wrestling] business because, quite frankly, it wasn't paying the bills and it was real hard for me mentally. It became a mental health issue, so I started drinking. At first, not too much, just casual. A beer here, a beer there, and it just snowballed, man. It snowballed into, like, 750 litres of vodka a day. You mix that up with, like, Coca Cola and sugar, because I actually hate the taste of booze, believe it or not."
After ballooning up to nearly 300 lbs., Credible reached out to WWE for assistance.
"Over a period of five years, brother, it snowballed to where I was almost 300 lbs. of just pure bloat, fat, on the verge of death," Credible admitted. "My liver failing, my calves were? I thought I was going to lose my legs. It was ridiculous. So anyways, I went for help. I asked WWE's Wellness Policy."
With respect to Credible's prior opioid addiction, the man behind the Aldo Montoya avatar indicated that it began as he was just trying to fit in.
"I wanted to fit in and I went above and beyond to fit in." Credible remembered, "I was a young guy, an impressionable kid, not really well-schooled in the real world at that age. I was 19 or 20 years old. I didn't think anything of it."
Additionally, Credible claimed that he developed an oxycontin dependency in ECW, which continued during his run in WWE tagging with X-Pac as X-Factor. Credible went on to say that he switched to intravenous heroin when he stopped making that WWE money.
"Man, it was really pain pills that started it all." Credible recalled, "it started 30-days straight on the road sometimes, doing those small shots. I was a young kid coming up, trying to make it in the business. And [Austin] know[s] how insecure things were back then. I wouldn't complain. I was a young man in a big man's game. A lot of my idols and heroes is was in the business with and you don't want to seem like? It was a bunch of peer pressure, but it was also doing it just to do it. I needed to to get out there or someone else would take your spot real quick, so it started with the pain pills and when ECW came around, oxycontin started to come out and it became a real big thing. It was everywhere. Unfortunately, I rarely had a doctor and it carried over to when I was in WWE for my run with X-Pac in that tag team for a cup of coffee, a couple of years. And then, when I didn't really have any employment, I hate to say it, it's pretty embarrassing, but it is what it is. But when the money ran dry, I did IV heroin because it was cheaper."
Credible credited WWE's Wellness Program for saving his life when it helped him beat his opioid addiction. Credible averred that alcohol addiction is more difficult to conquer in part due its large cultural acceptance and prevalence in society.
"The Wellness Program, the first time around, saved my life, and that got me good." Credible professed, "but booze is so hard, man. Not to give it whatever, but it's so hard because it's so culturally available. Like, I was at my daughter's christening Thursday, man, and everyone's kicking back at the afterparty having a cocktail, having a glass of wine, and I know that I can't have that one. Do you know what I mean? For me, it's a torturous thing. It's like, 'hell, why have one when I can have two or three and feel that feeling?' And, unfortunately, I know I can't. I can't. I don't have that control and it's just one of those things and it kind of sucks. But I'm grateful. I'm grateful to just be here, dude."
Also during the interview, Credible briefly outlined the process of WWE's Wellness Program.
"You call the office, Talent Relations," Credible explained. "There's actually a network of people, men and women that are a part of the WWE who are in that network, that's your support team. But they'll set you up in a facility. A lot of the time, depending on what you use, what your drug of choice is or if it's alcohol, whatever it is, there is a medical protocol that you go through, detoxification program, whatever you need and they teach you. Man, it's amazing the level of lifeskills or lack of because it's a full-time job being an addict."
That's not just the coolest, that's not just the best, that, my friends, is Justin Credible on The Steve Austin Show. If you use any of the quotes from this article please credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show