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Friday, September 14, 2007

The WWE "Wellness" Program

I promised myself that I would not blog about wrestling here any longer, but after all the reading I have done recently regarding the controversy surrounding the WWE Wellness Policy, I felt compelled.

This past week the WWE went on a suspension and firing spree. Ten wrestlers were suspended, most of which for there involvement with Signature Pharmacy (which is under investigation for illegal distribution of steroids..in total, fourteen WWE wrestlers appeared on the investigators list of Signature customers). I believe three wrestlers were fired (I know of three for sure). Those being Mike Bucci (formerly Simon Dean and Nova in ECW), and Cryme Time (a tag team, so two people got the boot here). All were fired for there behavior and not drug use. I know most of what I have read, including the ESPN article that recently appeared on the front page of ESPN.com, has sighted the recent suspensions as a sign that the WWE is starting to take the health of it's wrestlers seriously. I would argue that this could not be more far from the truth.

The suspensions were not done as a way to punish the wrestlers, as much as it was a way to make it look like they did something. Most of the wrestlers suspended will not be missing from TV or PPV, as the suspensions typically only apply to house shows. This does affect the wrestler's income, especially those wrestlers that have small down side guaranteed money and count on the house show income to supplement. However, if a wrestler is still appearing on TV and PPV, I would hardly call him "suspended." The funny thing is, and I can't believe that someone in the "mainstream" media has not picked up on this, one of the WWE's worst offenders wasn't even punished. Randy Orton is the only wrestler on the Signature Pharmacy list to have a past drug test failure for steroids. Yet nothing has happened to him...nothing.

The Wellness Policy has so many loopholes it's ridiculous. Never mind the fact that the wrestlers know in advance when they are being tested. But any wrestler with a valid percription for the drug they tested positive for, regardless of the amount that's found in there system, is given a pass.

Eventually, this all will blow over, as I have read that Congress is pleased with the actions that the WWE has taken thus far, despite the fact that the testing policies are ridiculous.

Something lost in all this is the fact that two wrestlers recently turned in there notice. King Booker and Ric Flair, for reasons unrelated to the steroid controversy, have quite wrestling. The fact that there will most likely be no big deal made of Ric Flair retiring is ludicrous...but that is a blog for another time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is mandatory that the wellness programs should follow strict guidelines, so that enviropnment would be safe. These wrestlers could also lead a healthy living, if the policy is strict.