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SPECIAL BONUS SECTION: ALL OF THE FACTS IN THE WWE SUSPENSION-GROWTH ENHANCEMENT STORY, FULL COVERAGE FROM THE BEGINNING

WITH TV TAPED AND WWE'S MOVES MADE, IT'S TIME TO LOOK AT THE PLAYERS IN THE GROWTH ENHANCER SCANDAL AND WHERE THEY STAND
by Dave Scherer @ 3:00:50 PM on 9/3/2007

Note: This article contains spoiler information from this week's TV.  If you want to be surprised by TV, stop reading now.

In the wake of the WWE growth enhancers story that broke last week in Sports Illustrated (and other news outlets), I did a piece looking at the names mentioned and what the implications of them being tied to the Signature Pharmacy investigation were.  While WWE has not confirmed who was actually suspended, the feeling around the company was that by the time TV was taped, we would have a pretty good idea who was going to be missing the next 30 days (and in one case 60 days).  

The one big question going in was how would WWE deal with the suspensions from a storyline standpoint?  It appears that those questions were answered over the past two days as talent were apparently able to work one last TV shot to tie up loose ends in their programs.  Personally, I think that is only right for WWE to be able to do, for a few reasons.  For one thing, they have a product that they need to produce and continuity is important.  More so than that however is that all of these violations happened more than six months ago.  There wasn't an urgency to act on them, as long as action was taken.  Obviously, that is the case since 11 people have been announced as being suspended.

So, let's take a look at how the people who were named fared as well as our best guess as to what it means going forward.  Luckily, starting on November 1 the company will finally start doing the right thing and release the names of people who test positive and the guess work will no longer be an issue.  But for now, it's just educated guesswork.  Let's get to the lists.

Sports Illustrated:

Chavo Guerrero.  Chavo got laid out in an injury angle at the hands of Rey Mysterio, giving Rey a revenge win and putting Chavo on the storyline shelf.  This one seems pretty obvious to me.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.

Shane Helms. He is out rehabbing an injury so there is nothing definitive here.  If he is on the list, we probably won't ever know unless he were to have a later suspension and be sent home for 60 days instead of 30.

Best guess: See ya when the injury heals.

Randy Orton.  This was one of the most interesting names on the list.  Some people even speculated he was the one guy who would get 60 days off.  Instead, he's in the main event of Unforgiven against John Cena.  While this is not confirmed, I have been told by a few people that Orton either already told WWE about this or already served a suspension for it, so he was off the hook here.

Best guess: He's in the clear.

John "Morrison" Hennigan.  Dave Lagana probably cried in his coffee for the past few days as his pet project hit a serious bump in the WWE road. Hennigan lost the ECW Title to CM Punk on Saturday night, ironically enough a man who does a "straight edge" gimmick.  In truth, Punk should have already won this belt and now the right thing has happened for the wrong reason, at least for a month.  

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.  The way they took the belt off of their boy here tells you it's not much of a guess either.

Ken "Kennedy" Anderson.  Ah, the "company man" was all set to be Mr. McMahon's storyline son and get the push of his life.  Not so fast there Ken, it's been alleged you have done some things in the past that you swore you stopped doing.  After last night's Raw taping, creative had to change plans and someone else will now get the plum role of Vinnie's kid.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.  Like John Morrison, this one isn't much of a guess either.

Shoichi Funaki.  He didn't get any TV time but what does that mean really?  He's so far under the radar no one will miss him either way.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.

Charlie Haas. He took the pin in last night's tag title number one contenders match.  The writing seems to be squarely on the wall there.  WGTT's loss is Brian Kendrick and Paul London's gain and now Shelton Benjamin has bleached hair for nothing.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.

Edward "Umaga" Fatu. Umaga lost his IC Title to Jeff Hardy last night, ironically enough after Hardy had just spent his own month away from the WWE rings.  This one seems as cut and dried as it could possibly be.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.  Like John Hennigan before him, when titles don't change hands on the biggest PPV of the summer but do on free TV a few weeks later, there isn't much guessing being done here.

Darren "William Regal" Matthews.  His plum spot as Raw GM was taken from him and put on the always resilient and always dependable Coach last night.  There is no reason that would have happened in that manner if WWE wasn't forced to do it.

Best guess: See ya in 30 days.  This is another one that couldn't be more obvious.  On another note, let's hope Matthews finally learns.  I can't believe he was listed here, I really can't.

Adam "Edge" Copeland. He's in the Shane Helms boat.  Losing a month's pay when you are rehabbing sure has to be considered a lot less embarrassing than getting sent home.

Best guess: See ya when the injury heals.

Suspension List Update: If you assume that the injured Copeland and Helms were suspended, that is nine of the 11.

New York Daily News:

The News had many of the men listed on Sports Illustrated's list so let's look at the other names that they had.

Robert "King Booker" Huffman: He didn't work Saturday's house show and did not appear on Raw last night.  That seems very telling.  The Raw workers are headed to South Africa, where Booker and his wife Sharmell were set to get married again.  If he is indeed on the list, it will be interesting to see if he goes to Africa anyway.

Best guess: If the rumors are true and Booker chooses to walk away from WWE if he was told he was going to be suspended, I would be shocked.  I think in the end, a cooler head would prevail.  So I say, see ya in 30 days.

Anthony "Santino Marella" Carelli: He didn't fare very well at TV last night, that's for sure. But, he wasn't totally written out either.  So, this could be going either way.

Best guess: This one is 50/50.

Suspension List Update: This brings us up to at least 10, and maybe all 11 of the list.

ESPN:

Dave "Batista" Bautista.  He is in the Smackdown main event next month and was very angry to have his name mentioned in this scandal.  He has threatened legal action.  It sure looks like ESPN got this one wrong to me.

Best guess: He should have never been mentioned in the first place and that isn't a guess.

Chris "Masters" Mordetsky.  It would appear that the last suspension would be either him or Santino Marella.  He didn't get any TV time so it's hard to say either way.  Since ESPN seems to have erred in listing Batista, it's possible that they did with him as well.

Best guess: This one is 50/50.

Suspension List Update: Masters is either number 11 or not on it.

Also released, but not named:

Nick "Eugene" Dinsmore.  This doesn't appear to have anything to do directly with the Signature scandal since Dinsmore was sitting in a talent meeting and was released suddenly. 

Cryme Tyme.  Mike covered their release on his hotline today.  Again, this wasn't a Signature issue. 

The message being sent here with the firing of these three men is that now is the time for all of the wrestlers to toe the line and not cause any problems, of any kind.  Those are words everyone in the company better heed because with the Congressional hearings coming up later this month, WWE has to be squeaky clean going forward, McMahon bravado notwithstanding.

It's a new day in WWE and things will not be going back to the way that they were any time soon.  WWE is sending their workers a very clear message about the company's new culture.  Now, it's up to the workers to hear it.

 

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