John Cena, World Wrestling Entertainment’s top star, suffered a torn pectoral (chest) muscle this week and is scheduled for surgery. The recovery time is projected to be at least six months.
In the steroid era, there is a new category of injuries that used to be rare but now is common. This category involves muscles or muscle groups that gain unnatural mass, and in turn overwhelm the tendons supporting them and easily give out. One such injury is the torn triceps (back of the arm). Another is the pectoral.
In the post-Chris Benoit media frenzy, Cena did his share of carefully selected media interviews touting the WWE wellness policy and confidently asserting that neither he nor the company had a drug problem. What we really need in order to judge Cena isn’t the result of his latest specious WWE steroid test, but a tape measure long enough to cover the length of the cartilage in his nose.