Evan Bourne's Suspension Details
Posted by David Damage on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Under: News
Evan
Bourne's suspension for his first violation of WWE's Talent Wellness
Program has 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. 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 a source, the wrestler in
question is a participant in tonight's Survivor Series match featuring
John Cena and The Rock against R-Truth and The Miz.
This has
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.
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."
In : News