Cornell’s Meyer Shapiro might just have made the comeback of the tournament. He headed into the NCAA championships less than a month after he was put in a coma. “I almost died,” the 21-year-old later revealed. Despite his health troubles, he even made it quite far in the tournament, ultimately claiming fifth place after losing to Nebraska’s Antrell Taylor and then to Penn State’s Tyler Kasak. But Shapiro wasn’t happy with his result—after he placed third last year—as he made some controversial comments in a post-match interview, that have now garnered all the attention.

Currently wrestling in the 157 lbs weight class, Meyer Shapiro was asked about the possibility of moving to a different weight class for the 2025-26 season. But when asked, Shapiro also alluded to the widespread steroid use in the league. “You know as much as I want to wrestle 165, I could be a 49 pounder for all I wanted to be,” began the Cornell star. He then added,“Some guys, if they’re taking steroids or they’re not taking steroids, wink wink, it’s just crazy,” giving no indication of who exactly he meant but seemingly making an inside joke about a supposedly obvious phenomenon.

This led to former Penn State wrestler Jason Nolf‘s very frank X statement.“No one in college wrestling is taking steroids,” Nolf wrote, which was pointedly aimed at Shapiro’s comments and the dialogue that erupted as a result of them.

As expected, Meyer Shapiro’s casual and rather tongue-in-cheek remark sparked outrage across the wrestling world. After all, his comment didn’t implicate anyone but was vague enough to sow the seeds of suspicion. And it wasn’t just Nolf; several figures in the community made sure to dispute the comments. And why did he say what he said in the first place?

Meyer Shapiro’s comments about steroid use divide the community

During the post-match interview, when Shapiro made that remark, his comment felt like a pointed jab at one of his competitors, as Shapiro seemed to actively call out a trend in wrestling culture, even hinting at it being a widespread phenomenon. Nolf wasn’t the only Penn State alum who took issue with the comment. Former Nittany Lion Matt McCutcheon tweeted out, “Throwing shade on athletes and a program for using steroids with no basis other than “speculation” is weak sauce.”

The problem is, however, it was also seemingly baseless and very confusing for that reason. On a Flo Wrestling panel later on, Christian Pyles commented on the incident by calling out Shapiro, saying that this baseless comment really puts “the sanctity of the sport in question,” adding that people have been doing this for years, “They want to activate the snitch hotline,” he said, “but won’t give any information about it.” 

The truth is, there has been talk about steroid use in college wrestling for years. The rumors and the Reddit thread discussions run rampant on the subject. However, perhaps there is a responsibility on the shoulders of the wrestlers themselves to refrain from making baseless comments? As this will only lead to further confusion around the subject?

But, maybe Meyer Shapiro can catch a break this time, considering he genuinely had an unreasonably difficult start to the year. Remember, he competed in the NCAA Championships less than a month after he was out of hospital. Shapiro had been admitted after suffering three seizures, then went into a coma in mid February. He also suffered a severe lung injury that was nearly fatal! Undoubtedly his post match interview was influenced by his own health, right?

Meyer Shapiro has high ambitions for his wrestling career, with his next goal being making the U.S. Olympic team. This isn’t the last we’ve seen from him, but maybe next time someone should get this guy a manager, is all, and a good PR person.