WWE announced the suspensions of eleven wrestlers on Thursday, August 30. If the suspensions started on the very same day of the announcement, then the 30-day suspensions should have ended on Friday. The wrestlers on 30-day suspensions should be eligible to return as early as today. Although, they’re not holding any Raw house shows this weekend, so it’s moot point, but the Raw wrestlers should be able to return to the ring this Monday at the Raw taping in Cleveland. WWE’s holding a SmackDown/ECW house show tonight in Peoria, Ill. and another one tomorrow night in Hammond, Ind. Anyway, two of the eleven suspended wrestlers are definitely not returning this weekend.
King Booker is currently serving a 60-day suspension, so he’s still got another month before he is eligible to return. Had he not a failed a Wellness test earlier in the year, he would only be serving a 30-day suspension for his involvement with Signature Pharmacy. The other wrestler not returning this weekend is Chavo Guerrero. It doesn’t appear that he was suspended for 60 days, but they’re holding off his return a little bit longer due to the “I Quit” stipulation in his write-off match with Rey Mysterio a few weeks ago. They’re going to be holding off Chavo’s return to the ring until early November.
The status of Chris Masters is still unclear. He was one of the eleven suspended wrestlers, but it is unknown as to how long his suspension is going for. If he returns sometime within the next month, then him being put in rehab in May 2006 doesn’t count as a drug issue and that Masters never actually failed a Wellness test. But if he isn’t back within the month, then that issue he had last year counted against the Wellness policy. There would then be two strikes against him. One more violation of the Wellness policy would result in an automatic termination from the company for Masters.
The other wrestlers that should be able to return to the ring this weekend include Charlie Haas, John Morrison, William Regal, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga and Funaki. Edge and Gregory Helms are still out with injuries, though Edge should be returning to action soon.
One more wrestler to watch is Gene Snitsky. It’s interesting to note that Snitsky hasn’t appeared on a WWE show since the last Raw show before the Signature Pharmacy scandal story broke out. His last appearance in a WWE ring was on August 27 at a Raw/Heat taping. We haven’t heard anything about him suffering some sort of injury or dealing with a non-wrestling related matter. It would seem really peculiar if he suddenly returned to television this week along with the other guys. However, it should be noted that Snitsky’s name didn’t come up in a single media report regarding the Signature Pharmacy drug scandal, so this could all just be a mere coincidence and the creative team just doesn’t have anything for him at this time, but this is definitely something worth pondering about.
