R-Truth Suspended - Controversy

We noted late last night here on WrestlingINC.com that a source told us "there was a big reason" for The Miz & R-Truth splitting up on this week's RAW. As you know by now, WWE suspended R-Truth this morning after failing a WWE wellness test.

Just before WWE Survivor Series went live on Sunday night, we posted a report stating that Evan Bourne's suspension for his first violation of WWE's Talent Wellness Program had generated a great deal of controversy amongst talent as some feel a double standard is in place.

Bourne, who's real name is Matthew Korklan, was suspended for thirty days on November 1, 2011 after testing positive for Spice, a synthetic marijuana brand. The Wrestling Observer reported that Bourne and another wrestler higher up the card smoked the marijuana substitute drug at a party, yet he was the only one of the two to be suspended. The other wrestler was told he had failed for marijuana, which results in a $2,500 fine, as opposed to a thirty-day suspension for synthetic marijuana. According to the source, the wrestler in question was a participant in the Survivor Series match featuring John Cena and The Rock against R-Truth and The Miz. We can now confirm that person was indeed R-Truth. It should also be noted that Bourne and Truth had been traveling together in recent months so it adds up.

This has obviously led to questions about whether WWE's drug testing procedure is flawed or whether talent are treated differently depending on their status in the organization.

There are people rolling their eyes backstage at the SmackDown! tapings today due to the fact that WWE immediately suspended Bourne for failing the test and waited to suspend R-Truth because he was in the main event of Survivor Series. There are some who feel that if the report about Truth failing the test never came out, he would likely not have been suspended and nobody would have known anything. Obviously, it's a complete double standard and many say it happens more often than you think. People within the company feel Truth should have been suspended at the same time as Bourne despite his main event match at Survivor Series.

This would not be the first time in which WWE reprieved a top-level talent who had violated their Talent Wellness Program. On August 30, 2007, Sports Illustrated named Randy Orton as one of fourteen contracted and former WWE performers to have purchased pharmaceuticals from an online pharmacy (Signature Pharamacy), a violation of the Talent Wellness Program. Specifically, Orton received somatropin, nandrolone, stanozolol between September 2004 and February 2007, which occurred after the "no drugs from online sources" rule was instituted. However, Orton was the lone contracted performer not to be suspended by WWE. WWE did not suspend Orton because he had already been suspended for a drug policy violation in August 2006, resulting in double jeopardy. The ruling, however, appeared nonsensical since Orton continued to receive pharmaceuticals following the suspension. WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt claimed last year in a letter to Irv Muchnick that "no action was taken against Randy Orton because he was not on any customer list for Signature Pharmacy ever provided to us by District Attorney Soares."

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2011/1122/546934/r-truth/

Surely the same rules must apply to all wrestlers. They all know the rules, and if they break them they must face the consequences. Isn't it about time WWE pulled their finger out and treated them all the same, whether they are advertised for a main event or not?

Until you get an independent body monitor this you'll always get this.

They can manipulate the rules however they want.

Vince as the promoter has a responsibility to put on the advertised card for the fans. If Truth gets the same punishment as Bourne what is the issue when he serves his punishment?

What happens if the night before Survivor Series Rock fails a test? Do you think the fans/board of directors would of been ok with Rock being suspended?

But the responsibility and accountability for what happens does not fall on the WWE for enforcing the punishments, the responsibility is down to the individual wrester that fails the tests. With this lax attitude, wrestlers wont take the WWE seriously. The problem needs stamping out once and for all, and the only way that can be done, is to take a hard line approach with the wrestlers.

Its no good banning some instantly, even if they are booked for Raw and Smackdown, but delaying a ban for others just because they are advertised in a main event etc. The wrestler involved must take responsibility for their own actions.

I really haven't got an issue on this one & think it's getting blown well out of proportion. If the shoe was on the other foot Bourne would on been at Survivor Series & Truth would of been banned 1st it's simple a business decision to protect there commodity, in this case Survivor Series main event....

It's a cannabis substitute, I'm guessing most people on this board have probably smoked a bit of pot no big deal.

It's not about the substance itself Brady, it's about WWE completely undermining its own policy. What is the point in having a wellness policy if the company picks and chooses punishments to suit its own convenience?

There is no deterrent to wrestlers because they know that - if they are in a good enough spot - they'll still get their payday and then rest up for 30 days. Look at the Truth situation: He will probably get the biggest payday of his life for Survivor Series, he gets 30 days to rest his body, and he can return as a hot babyface in a hot angle with The Miz. Where is the punishment? Ok, so he's only smoked synthetic marijuana, but what about if he was taking steroids, or if he'd been on 30 somas a day? Would it have really been any different?

I think this is proof, once more, that the company puts profits way ahead than its wrestlers' wellbeing and, more importantly perhaps, a sense of decency.

No controversy for me.

Fans have paid £15 a pop to see Awesome Truth vs Rock and Cena. The only people ultimately punished by an immediate suspension would be the fans.

In this case there is no favour shown to R-Truth. A decision has clearly been taken out of necessity. He is still receiving his suspension, and for all we know he may be receiving a hefty fine too - one that could wipe out his "pay-day".

You make good points Demon, but where is the deterrent to the wrestlers?

As I said, if the wrestlers are in a good spot, they are fully aware that there will be no real punishment. Truth may indeed be fined heavily, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If wrestlers truly thought that, by breaking the rules, they could incur the wrath of not only Vince McMahon for ruining his main event, but also the fans who paid to watch said event, the roster might think ten times harder about breaking those rules in future. Imagine what a bold statement of belief in its wellness policy WWE would have made had Truth been removed from the match and replaced with another heel (and, let's be honest, nobody was paying money to see Truth. Besides, it's part and parcel of PPV that sometimes the advertised main event gets derailed and the card is always subject to change).

It would only have to happen once to get the message across to the rest of the locker room, if WWE genuinely wanted to stamp out the use of banned substances.

I know the comments above are idealistic, but the fact is that WWE has a wellness policy it does not really believe in, and the wrestlers know that too.

It isn't about whether you favour the wellness policy or not (and I know a lot of people are ambivalent about it), it's about WWE's hypocrisy. They can't crow to the media about their drug policy and sending Scott Hall to rehab because he's "still part of the family", but then show no real committment to deterring wrestlers from violating it.

Surely one could argue that is there own responsibility to avoid things such as weed as its recreational. People complain about this country being a nanny state and all that but then the WWE is expected to do it. If I took drugs at work I would be fired. End of!

I think juciing which is perhaps more in line with the trade should be enforced by the WWE and such they be actively testing for it. The NFL for example is a joke. They give prior notice for testing for HGH (Human growth hormone) despite the fact it only takes a day to leave the body...its almost as if the Wellness is just for show...

Electric Demon wrote:No controversy for me.

Fans have paid £15 a pop to see Awesome Truth vs Rock and Cena. The only people ultimately punished by an immediate suspension would be the fans.

In this case there is no favour shown to R-Truth. A decision has clearly been taken out of necessity. He is still receiving his suspension, and for all we know he may be receiving a hefty fine too - one that could wipe out his "pay-day".

You've hit the nail on the head son. You can't just boot out a member of a at the time prolific tag team at such a big event. It wouldn't make sense from a business standpoint. He's suspended now and so to me, this is all a big fuss about nothing.

To be fair, if it was for Steroids or a severe abuse of things like Soma's then I think he would have been suspended ASAP, but rightly or wrongly, rightly in my opinion, what he tested positive for wasn't serious enough to warrent immediate suspension, it wasn't serious enough to put a high profile main event of a major PPV up in smoke, we already found it hard to believe the result wouldn't go to the favourites without stamping out any lingering hope.

I'm highly critical of a lot of 'office decisions' WWE make but I just can't fault them here, they did the right thing in my opinion, they weren't the ones who screwed up, they found out a talent, at the time a high profile talent failed their Wellness test, they fulfilled their obligation to the fans who bought Survivor Series and concluded the storyline in a somewhat logical manor, they then punished him, I also wouldn't say it's without harm to the guy himself, R-Truth has now got a strike against his name, he is only two mistakes away from the sack.

I think the WWE have a history of dealing with these pretty sharply, in 2008 while he was the hottest guy in the company and set to win the MitB about a week later the WWE suspended Jeff Hardy and gave him his 2nd strike, months of build up just ruined.

If they can do that to a much bigger star heading into their biggest event and to someone they had serious long term plans for then they can do it to R-Truth, I just feel that Truth's Wellness wasn't deemed as serious

Davieswasacrippledtart wrote:It's not about the substance itself Brady, it's about WWE completely undermining its own policy. What is the point in having a wellness policy if the company picks and chooses punishments to suit its own convenience?

There is no deterrent to wrestlers because they know that - if they are in a good enough spot - they'll still get their payday and then rest up for 30 days. Look at the Truth situation: He will probably get the biggest payday of his life for Survivor Series, he gets 30 days to rest his body, and he can return as a hot babyface in a hot angle with The Miz. Where is the punishment? Ok, so he's only smoked synthetic marijuana, but what about if he was taking steroids, or if he'd been on 30 somas a day? Would it have really been any different?

I think this is proof, once more, that the company puts profits way ahead than its wrestlers' wellbeing and, more importantly perhaps, a sense of decency.

In the case of R-Truth I think it is to do with this substance itself. WWE are literally scared to death about having another death on its watch, if it was one of the drugs you mentioned I think Truth would have been suspended immediately.....


But I do agree with what you are saying on the whole.... The top & bottom of it is its corrupt, its policed by the company itself & in my opinion is more about being used as a succesful PR tool as it is rehabilitating the wrestlers. How many times have you heard of the company's 'A list' wrestlers such as Cena & Triple H being wellnessed? This is despite from a cosmetic stand point having the most abnormal physique....

If they really cared about the wellbeing of wrestlers they'd incorproate some kind of off season into the schedule

I absolutely agree Brady. Mandatory time off for the whole roster (staggered of course - split the roster into a top 6, a next 6, and so on, and give one wrestler from each group a month off twice a year) would benefit both the wrestlers and WWE in my opinion, and independent drug testing would prove that WWE is truly interested in its wrestlers' "wellness".

As for synthetic marijuana, I don't really know why it's banned but on the face of it synthetic marijuana sounds like one of the best things a wrestler could use to deal with the physical stresses of the job and the emotional stress of being on the road.

I remember you came up with a plan a couple of years ago that highlighted how easy it was to schedule time off for wrestlers

The time off wouldn't be hard to incorporate into storylines. Something like a simple rotation policy you've suggested Crips would suffice.

I suppose when your boss is a workaholic insomniac he expects the same of his employees

You don't even have to do angles to get a guy off TV, after a guy is finished with a big time hot feud just take him off TV after his final loss, no need to do injury angles or other storylines, it would be good at times but no need all the time, particularly guys who just come out a main event run, it helps preserve their character

Miz would have done well getting off TV after his world title run with Cena in May, he had been the top guy since November/December, his schedule was hectic since he was main event of Mania, he carried the title on tour and then dropped it and had his re-match with Cena, after he lost he should have been given time off, he had nothing to do anyway and ended up in a boring feud with Alex Riley who made Miz look like a bum and has barely made TV since

the-gaffer wrote:You don't even have to do angles to get a guy off TV, after a guy is finished with a big time hot feud just take him off TV after his final loss, no need to do injury angles or other storylines, it would be good at times but no need all the time, particularly guys who just come out a main event run, it helps preserve their character

Miz would have done well getting off TV after his world title run with Cena in May, he had been the top guy since November/December, his schedule was hectic since he was main event of Mania, he carried the title on tour and then dropped it and had his re-match with Cena, after he lost he should have been given time off, he had nothing to do anyway and ended up in a boring feud with Alex Riley who made Miz look like a bum and has barely made TV since

Great points. Miz's drawing power was diminished because WWE feels the need to keep everyone around all the time. If he'd disappeared after May for a couple of months, he would have been entrenched in the fans' minds as The Man Who Retained The World Title At Wrestlemania. When he came back, it would have been the return of The Man Who Retained The World Title At Wrestlemania, rather than what he had actually become by July, which was The Ex-Champion Getting Beaten Up Regularly By His Former Lackey.

It would actually be really interesting if a wrestler just disappeared for a month or so, the fans would miss them and would wonder where they'd gone. The commentators could also drop in the occasional comment, "wondering why we haven't heard from X, Y or Z recently". Look how well the Undertaker character has been served over the years because he hasn't been a permanent fixture all year round on every PPV. Obviously he's a bit of a special case, but it's an example of how much easier it is to keep someone over if they aren't given the time to get stale.

And look how stale Cena has got because he is wheeled out on TV every single week. Of course, this is because he gets good ratings, but long-term it's a killer. The fans are just so tired of him.

A lot of this is probably an inditement of WWE's booking and business practices; it's quite telling that wrestlers can get over better by taking a month off than being on TV every week! But it also makes sense in general wrestling terms; it goes without saying that we as fans get excited seeing someone we haven't seen for a while. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

They should make you a WWE booker.