Brian Cage has spoken candidly about his history of steroid and performance-enhancing drug use, confirming that he has used PEDs during his wrestling career while rejecting the idea that they alone are responsible for his physique or success.
During an appearance on The Smooth Vega podcast, the AEW star said he wants to be increasingly open about the subject and has never attempted to deny his past use.
“I want to be more and more open about this. Everybody goes, ‘Oh, you just take steroids.’ Listen, if steroids just—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 judge me, and I feel like, too, that’s a thing too. People try to call you out as if you’re keeping a secret.
Are PEDs what got me to where I am? Absolutely not. And when people say, like, ‘Oh, I’m so gassed’ I’ve only been on TRT forever now. I’m 42 years old.
TRT has been phenomenal. Has been a game changer for so many people, as far as not in the athletic realm, but just in day-to-day practice. Why? Everyone looks better, moves better, feels better, everything.
And that’s why they lowered the classification on the scheduled drug list. They took away the black label warning, where they’ve shown that there’s no cardiac relation. There’s no heart attack with testosterone.”
Cage also discussed when he first began using steroids, explaining that people had accused him of taking them long before he actually did.
“So everyone thought I was on steroids for so long when I was coming up, even the indies in Northern California, because I was in shape and I looked the part. And funny enough, so many people were on steroids in the Northern California indies, right?
And they looked like absolute dog sh*t. So since I looked good and they looked bad, they’re like, ‘We must be on all the steroids.’ They go, ‘No, I’m just doing everything you’re supposed to do.’
And I wasn’t, and because I’ve always been straight edge for everything, I don’t want to take it. I knew if I was going to do anything, it would be eventually that. And I remember I didn’t even take my first shot until after my very first bodybuilding show.
It’s actually after the show that I did it, to post-show rebound, because my coach was like, ‘Oh, you should do it. You should do it.’ I go, ‘Man, I don’t know. I don’t know.’”
One concern Cage said he had before taking steroids was the possibility of increased aggression. He recalled having a bad temper when he was younger and said the popular concept of “roid rage” initially made him hesitant.
“And I had a really bad temper in high school and stuff when I was younger, and that was one of the reasons why I never wanted to do it, because I thought, like, ‘Oh, because of roid rage.’
Afraid to tell you, it’s kind of bullsh*t. If anything, I’d have more rage prepping for a show and just being hungry.
I think more with that, just like, certain people can be fun drunks or asshole drunks or whatever else, I think they just let their guard down.
You become more of an asshole maybe when you’re drunk because you are just an asshole and you just go, ‘Oh, you justify being drunk to being able to be a full asshole.’
So, I think the same thing if people are on, like, some sort of cycle and they’re just already an asshole, they just openly just do whatever the f*ck they want to be an asshole, ’cause they’re like ‘Oh, it’s not my fault. I’m on steroids.’ You know what I mean?
Like, I’ve never taken anything where I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going to kill somebody.’”
Cage’s comments represent his own account of his PED and TRT use. His broader medical claims about testosterone and cardiovascular risk reflect his views in the interview and should not be taken as general medical guidance.
