Jim Ross' opinion:
Source: Jim Ross' Blog.
William Regal's Suspension: "I do not know the details of his recent 60 day suspension but I do not think that Regal has 'fallen off the wagon' and retreated to his misdirected ways of years gone by. Nonetheless, something went awry and the WWE Wellness Program, which is more thorough and organized than ever before, dropped the hammer on the talented Brit. With no pay for 60 days, two strikes against him and a family to care for, Regal finds himself in a challenging position. Some weak minded individuals could 'poor me' it and say to hell with it and revert back to those aforementioned issues, but, I do not think Regal fits into that category."
A Lesson to be Learned: "This should be a great lesson for every one on the roster.. be careful of every thing one ingests, including over the counter supplements that might contain even traces of banned substances. Education again becomes a key term in this issue as it is incumbent on each individual with which this program applies to know what is banned and what is not."
Williams Regals opinion:
Source: Lords of Pain.
-- Regarding William Regal's reaction to his second Wellness Policy violation, he is said to be "understandably deflated," reports prowrestling.NET. Regal was in the midst of the biggest push of his wrestling career and it is quite obvious to him that the timing of the suspension couldn't have come at a worse time. Regal, who has been battling addiction problems for a number of years, was not showing any signs of a relapse according to several witnesses. World Wrestling Entertainment never releases specific details regarding drug testing violations, so there's no way of knowing what he did to trigger the suspension.
And info on the Wellness policy:
Source: Lords of Pain.
-- If you're wondering about the names of the 30+ WWE suspensions, here is an updated list of the history of the program's drug offenders (at least that became public knowledge): Randy Orton (in August 2006 for failing a drug test due to steroids; continued receiving packages from Signature Pharmacy until February 2007, but wasn't suspended again because he had to wrestle John Cena for the WWE title at Unforgiven 2007 and WWE felt that he had "already served his time;" also, openly smoking marijuana backstage at a show in March 2006 was a behavioral suspension and didn't count as a strike), Joey Mercury, Rene Dupree (two-time offender), Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam (due to a drug possession arrest), Kid Kash, Ryan Reeves, Ryan O'Reilly (call-up to ECW roster relinquished), Balls Mahoney (for painkillers), Drew "Festus" Hankinson (when in developmental in late 2006), Andrew "Test" Martin (later fired), referee Chris Kay (two-time offender, later fired), Jeff Hardy (two-time offender), Chavo Guerrero (may be a two-timer, as he returned as soon as 60 days passed in November 2007), Chris Masters (two-time offender, later fired), Edge, Funaki, Gregory Helms, Booker T (two-time offender), Charlie Haas, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, William Regal (two-time offender), John Morrison, Gene Snitsky (apparently a drug failure as his name never came up during the Signature Pharmacy scandal), Harry "DH" Smith, Derrick Neikirk (later fired), Neil "Chet the Jet" Bzibziak (later fired), and Afa, Jr. (for attempting to cheat on a drug test with a realistic prosthetic penis). By my count, that's 27 Wellness Policy offenders (at least that we know of) and at least 32 individual drug suspensions, so the WWE spokeswoman was being truthful when she said that there have been over 30 suspensions in the policy's history.
-- Starting on November 1st of last year, WWE tweaked the Wellness Policy so that all future drug failures would be publicly announced by the company. Before then, WWE never publicly announced drug suspensions, and the only way to find out about them was through insider wrestling websites. Since that time, there have been a total of seven Wellness Policy violations; Harry "DH" Smith, Chris Masters, Derrick Neikirk, Neil "Chet the Jet" Bzibziak, Jeff Hardy, Afa, Jr., and William Regal. Seven months in, it averages out to about one WWE drug suspension per month.
Source: Jim Ross' Blog.
William Regal's Suspension: "I do not know the details of his recent 60 day suspension but I do not think that Regal has 'fallen off the wagon' and retreated to his misdirected ways of years gone by. Nonetheless, something went awry and the WWE Wellness Program, which is more thorough and organized than ever before, dropped the hammer on the talented Brit. With no pay for 60 days, two strikes against him and a family to care for, Regal finds himself in a challenging position. Some weak minded individuals could 'poor me' it and say to hell with it and revert back to those aforementioned issues, but, I do not think Regal fits into that category."
A Lesson to be Learned: "This should be a great lesson for every one on the roster.. be careful of every thing one ingests, including over the counter supplements that might contain even traces of banned substances. Education again becomes a key term in this issue as it is incumbent on each individual with which this program applies to know what is banned and what is not."
Williams Regals opinion:
Source: Lords of Pain.
-- Regarding William Regal's reaction to his second Wellness Policy violation, he is said to be "understandably deflated," reports prowrestling.NET. Regal was in the midst of the biggest push of his wrestling career and it is quite obvious to him that the timing of the suspension couldn't have come at a worse time. Regal, who has been battling addiction problems for a number of years, was not showing any signs of a relapse according to several witnesses. World Wrestling Entertainment never releases specific details regarding drug testing violations, so there's no way of knowing what he did to trigger the suspension.
And info on the Wellness policy:
Source: Lords of Pain.
-- If you're wondering about the names of the 30+ WWE suspensions, here is an updated list of the history of the program's drug offenders (at least that became public knowledge): Randy Orton (in August 2006 for failing a drug test due to steroids; continued receiving packages from Signature Pharmacy until February 2007, but wasn't suspended again because he had to wrestle John Cena for the WWE title at Unforgiven 2007 and WWE felt that he had "already served his time;" also, openly smoking marijuana backstage at a show in March 2006 was a behavioral suspension and didn't count as a strike), Joey Mercury, Rene Dupree (two-time offender), Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam (due to a drug possession arrest), Kid Kash, Ryan Reeves, Ryan O'Reilly (call-up to ECW roster relinquished), Balls Mahoney (for painkillers), Drew "Festus" Hankinson (when in developmental in late 2006), Andrew "Test" Martin (later fired), referee Chris Kay (two-time offender, later fired), Jeff Hardy (two-time offender), Chavo Guerrero (may be a two-timer, as he returned as soon as 60 days passed in November 2007), Chris Masters (two-time offender, later fired), Edge, Funaki, Gregory Helms, Booker T (two-time offender), Charlie Haas, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga, William Regal (two-time offender), John Morrison, Gene Snitsky (apparently a drug failure as his name never came up during the Signature Pharmacy scandal), Harry "DH" Smith, Derrick Neikirk (later fired), Neil "Chet the Jet" Bzibziak (later fired), and Afa, Jr. (for attempting to cheat on a drug test with a realistic prosthetic penis). By my count, that's 27 Wellness Policy offenders (at least that we know of) and at least 32 individual drug suspensions, so the WWE spokeswoman was being truthful when she said that there have been over 30 suspensions in the policy's history.
-- Starting on November 1st of last year, WWE tweaked the Wellness Policy so that all future drug failures would be publicly announced by the company. Before then, WWE never publicly announced drug suspensions, and the only way to find out about them was through insider wrestling websites. Since that time, there have been a total of seven Wellness Policy violations; Harry "DH" Smith, Chris Masters, Derrick Neikirk, Neil "Chet the Jet" Bzibziak, Jeff Hardy, Afa, Jr., and William Regal. Seven months in, it averages out to about one WWE drug suspension per month.
