Does WWE's Talent Wellness Policy Apply To Part-Time Wrestlers Like Brock Lesnar?
In light of news Brock Lesnar tested positive on an additional USADA drug test related to his fight at UFC 200, let's consider whether Lesnar was actually ever drug-tested under WWE's Talent Wellness Policy.
WWE's "Substance Abuse and Drug Testing Policy" contains a brief section explaining who the policy applies to:
17. APPLICABILITY OF THIS POLICY
This Policy, as it may be amended from time to time, is applicable to and binding upon all WWE Talent under contract to WWE who regularly perform in-ring services as a professional sports entertainer ("WWE Talent").
Is Lesnar considered to "regularly perform in-ring services" for WWE? He had eight matches for the company last year, and seven so far in 2016. Compare that to most WWE performers, who usually wrestle multiple times on house shows on the weekend, and once or twice on television tapings that happen on Mondays and Tuesdays. Many talents wrestle more than one hundred times in a year. Certainly compared to most WWE performers, Lesnar does not regularly perform.
WWE CEO (then-Chairman) Vince McMahon was interviewed in December 2007 about the Wellness Policy, which was enacted in February 2006.
In that interview, McMahon said that, at the time (again, December 2007), he himself had never taken a drug test under the policy. Reflecting the language that's still in the policy today, he emphasized that the policy only applies to regular performers:
[David Leviss:] In your role as WWE talent are you subject to the provisions of the Wellness Policy?
[Vince McMahon:] Let me answer where I think you're going. I do not test. I'm 62 years old. The Wellness Policy is a policy designed for talent that's regularly scheduled to compete, which I may wrestle a couple times a year. And not only not regularly scheduled, at 62 I'm not exactly a 24?year?old guy of which we're concerned for his wellness. So I don't fall in the category.
[Leviss:] So you're not subject to the terms of the Wellness Policy?
[McMahon:] No.
[Leviss:] And are you subject to testing?
[McMahon:] If I'm not in the Wellness Policy, then I'm not subject to testing, as I said before. I'm not a regularly scheduled performer. In addition to that I'm 62 years old, not 26. And the Wellness Policy is designed for those young competitors who compete on a regular basis.
So McMahon didn't drug-test because he's not a regular performer. He had eight matches that year, about the same number of matches Lesnar's had per year lately. But McMahon is a lot older than most performers, including Brock Lesnar, who's 39. Does age have anything to do with who the policy is applicable to? McMahon said 'no'.
[Leviss:] Is the Wellness Policy –
[McMahon:] I'm in good health at 62.
[Leviss:] It appears that you are. Is the Wellness Policy age limited by its own terms?
[McMahon:] I don't believe so, no.
[Leviss:] Have you ever been tested under the Wellness Policy?
McMahon:] No.
We contacted WWE when news broke about Lesnar's initial potential drug test failure to ask whether part-time performers like Lesnar have been drug-tested under the Wellness Policy. WWE only responded with the statement it's given many outlets that have asked about Lesnar's status: "Brock Lesnar has not performed for WWE since WrestleMania and is not scheduled to return until Sunday, August 21." WWE didn't respond to specific questions about whether part-timer performers are drug-tested.
It can be reasonably said Lesnar is not a regular performer for WWE. Since his return to the company, Lesnar wrestled two matches in 2012, three in 2013, four in 2014, eight in 2015 and seven so far in 2016. Since he may not be considered a regular performer, based on the language of the policy and the interview with McMahon, it's questionable whether Lesnar has been drug-tested by WWE since that return. Additionally, it's questionable whether WWE has ever drug-tested Lesnar at any time, since the Wellness Policy didn't exist during his first run with the company, from 2000 to 2004.