September 10, 2007 Observer Newsletter: WWE suspends, cuts wrestlers following Sports Illustrated expose

One of the craziest weeks for bloodletting in WWE history finished with a scorecard of ten wrestlers suspended, three fired, one front office employee fired and two major stars quitting. In the vast majority of the cases, drugs were involved in the decision making.

For the first time in perhaps modern history, the television shows taped on 9/1 in Cincinnati and 9/2 in Columbus, OH, for Smackdown, ECW and Raw, were designed more to write characters out temporarily and make necessary changes in championships due to suspensions, then continue previously crafted storylines and build an already scheduled series of matches on PPV.

The dust hasn’t fully settled at press time, but when it does, a lot of questions have to be asked. The key is, What was the true intent of the Wellness policy? From the appearance of things, based on the loopholes and even the wrestlers who were found in the Signature Pharmacy investigation getting Nandrolone (Decadurabolin), something athletes in a drug testing sport theoretically would avoid like the plague, things are even more fishy than even the most skeptical would have believed.

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