More details on the drug testing fiasco and past failures on PWI....
As reported earlier, World Wrestling Entertainment is expected to announce some talent suspensions as a result of various Talent Wellness Program violations within the next few days. On Monday prior to Raw, the WWE creative team was given a list of talent not to write plans for as they will be unavailable for the foreseeable future, starting with next week's three-hour "3-For-All" broadcast. This directive is only done when talent is on the verge of being suspended as it's standard company protocol.
As most of you know, WWE's Talent Wellness Program has a "three strike" rule in place, with the first violation resulting in a 30-day suspension; the second violation resulting in a 60-day suspension; and a third such violation resulting in automatic termination from the company.
Here is how the current WWE talent roster stacks as it relates to publicly known Talent Wellness Program violations. There could very well be more current WWE wrestlers sitting on Wellness Policy strikes as a number of suspensions have fallen under the radar, but this is all that's publicly known.
Raw
» Chavo Guerrero is reportedly sitting on two strikes. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended — reportedly for 60 days — for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. He received, among other drugs, somatropin, nandrolone and anastrozole between April 2005 and May 2006. His apparent prior suspension remains unclear.
» Drew Hankinson, a/k/a Festus, is sitting on one strike. In October or November 2006, while in developmental, he was quietly suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy.
» Randy Orton is sitting on one strike. In August 2006, he was quietly suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy — reportedly due to a drug test failure. Starting in September 2004 through February 2007, Orton received somatropin, nandrolone and stanozolol. In August 2007, company officials reasoned that Orton had already served his punishment due to his drug policy violation from the prior year — thus he was not suspended. However, Orton continued receiving pharmaceuticals through February 2007 — well past the date of his initial drug test failure.
» Darren Matthews, a/k/a William Regal, is sitting on two strikes. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. Between November 2004 and November 2006, he received stanozolol, somatropin, genotropin, and anastrozole. On May 20, 2008, he was suspended for 60 days for his second violation of the company's drug testing policy.
SmackDown
» Charlie Haas is sitting on one strike. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. He was prescribed anastrozole, somatropin, stanozolol, nandrolone and chorionic gonadotropin between August 2006 and January 2007.
» Nick Nemeth, a/k/a Dolph Ziggler, is sitting on one strike. On October 10, 2008, Nemeth was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug resting policy.
» Adam Copeland, a/k/a Edge, is sitting on one strike. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. He received somatropin, genotropin (both HGH), and stanozolol between September 2004 and February 2007.
» Jeff Hardy is sitting on two strikes. In July 2007, he was quietly suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy. On March 11, 2008, he was suspended for 60 days for his second violation of the company's drug testing policy.
» James Yun, a/k/a Jimmy Wang Yang, is sitting on one strike. On June 9, 2008, Yun was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy.
» John Hennigan, a/k/a John Morrison, is sitting on one strike. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. Between June 2006 and February 2007 he was prescribed somatropin, anastrozole, testosterone, stanozolol and chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy. (HCG is taken by anabolic steroid users to stimulate the production of testosterone, which is suppressed as a result of steroid use.)
» Shoichi Funaki, a/k/a Kung Fu Naki, is sitting on one strike. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. He received somatropin in March 2006.
ECW
» Harry Smith, a/k/a David Hart Smith, is sitting on one strike. On November 2, 2007, Smith was suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy — reportedly due to a drug test failure while in developmental.
» Gregory Helms is sitting on one strike. On August 30, 2007, he was suspended for 30 days for receiving pharmaceuticals not in compliance with WWE's Talent Wellness Program. Between November 2003 and February 2007, he received, among other drugs, testosterone, genotropin (HGH) and nandrolone.
Developmental
» Ryan Reeves, a/k/a Ryback, is sitting on one strike. In July 2006, while in developmental, he was quietly suspended for 30 days for his first violation of the company's drug testing policy. WWE released Reeves on January 19, 2007, but re-signed him in the fall of 2008, making him the first talent with a Wellness Program strike to return to the company after being let go.
