"There ain't a ranch in Texas that grows cows as big as some of these wrestlers," said Young, who wrestled as "New Jack" for the now-defunct Extreme Championship Wrestling. "You don't look like that unless you're using drugs."

Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said 89 wrestlers had died before the age of 50 between 1985 and 2006, and he called on Congress to investigate.

"This abnormally high number of deaths of young, fit athletes should raise congressional alarms," Stearns said. "Congress needs to investigate the recent events and find out how big of a problem steroid use is in professional wrestling. Steroid use is a major public health problem that deserves Congress' full attention."

Stearns made his call for congressional intervention two weeks after World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit, authorities say, strangled his wife and suffocated his 7-year-old son before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley in his suburban Atlanta home. Police are investigating whether "roid rage" played a role in the homicide-suicide.

As the Daily News reported, Benoit also abused the drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, also known as the "date-rape drug." Experts say GHB can lead to violent mood swings, especially when users are withdrawing from the drug.

Benoit's physician, Phil Astin III, was indicted last week on charges that he illegally prescribed steroids, painkillers and other drugs to Benoit and others.

WWE spokesman Kevin Hennessy declined to comment.

Stearns, the former chairman of the commerce, trade and consumer protection subcommittee, conducted hearings in 2005 on steroids in sports. He also introduced legislation that would establish a national sports agency that would oversee drug testing for Major League Baseball, NFL, NBA and NHL.

Stearns was replaced as the subcommittee's chairman after Democrats won control of the House last year, and he said he doesn't believe panel chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., is interested in scheduling future congressional hearings.

"At this time, I do not believe that the new House majority sees steroid use as a serious issue," he said.

But Carlos Ashenoff, the former World Championship Wrestling champion known as Konnan, pleaded for government intervention into what he describes as a drug-riddled pastime. Many wrestlers, he said, use steroids to build muscle and painkillers to handle the injuries that inevitably come when large men pound each other.

"One baseball player died after taking ephedra and the government banned ephedra. Eighty-nine wrestlers have died and nobody is doing anything about it," Ashenoff said. "I guess baseball players' lives are worth a lot more than wrestlers' lives. Somebody needs to investigate.

"I welcome the congressman's comments and I am definitely available to testify about the exploitation in wrestling. The wrestling life needs to be investigated. It's a draconian work schedule. We're on the road year-round. No other profession is that physical. At least touring rock bands get a few months to recuperate. Baseball players and football players get time off. But in wrestling, you can't take time off to recuperate because you might wind up losing your job.