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.