http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/10415/
Well I guess we were about due for a Wellness violation. Really though, if Rey didn’t juice up to stay the size that he is, he’d quickly get depushed, so his continued use of the stuff even after the Signature Pharmacy fiasco is somewhat understandable. Still, much like Brian Pillman, someone who is naturally 110 pounds or so gassing up to 220 on a regular basis just isn’t healthy.
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220? I don’t think he’s that big. 185, maybe.
The point still stands, though. But if he’s still doing whatever he’s doing after what happened with Eddy, I guess he must feel it’s worth the risk.
Rey has looked unhealthy since he debuted in WWE. His frame just isn’t meant to carry that much weight, and the difference between his WWE physique and his ECW/WCW physique is pretty startling. Whatever it takes to get the push, I guess, no matter how many friends you’ve seen die from doing the same thing.
Sorry to detract the thread slightly but I just read this at http://www.angrymarks.com/index.php?ArticleID=8066 and I wanted to get people here’s take on it:
WWE has added a “Talent Life Skills” section to the corporate WWE website you can check out below.
Personal Life Development
WWE provides our developmental talent with a Life Management workshop. This workshop provides practical skills and solutions to manage out-of-the-ring issues that can adversely effect their careers, particularly during initial adjustment into WWE. The program focuses on communication between personnel and a utilization of resources and is conducted by Dr. Earl Suttle, who administers similar programs for the NFL and NBA. To read Dr. Earl Suttle’s bio, please click here.
Personal Finance Education
Each year, WWE conducts a workshop for our talent that details the importance of financial planning. Conducted by Fidelity Investment representatives, the workshop offers talent an overview on how to save for the long term, balance their portfolios and manage other financial responsibilities. For more information, please click here.
Health Insurance Education
Each year, WWE holds a workshop for our talent that explains the value of obtaining proper health insurance, detailing the unexpected occurrences and costs of healthcare that may arise. It also gives talent the tools to explore healthcare options at any time. For more information, please click here.
Media Training
WWE offers media training to our talent to teach them how to best present themselves and the WWE brand to the media and our audience. Our media training gives them the tools to effectively translate their message and image to all media outlets, both domestically and internationally. The training curriculum is presented by Kathleen Hessert, President of Sports Media Challenge.
Personal Life Development
“Don’t get high and trash hotel rooms. Also, try not to piss off Undertaker”
Personal Finance Education
“It ain’t what you make, it’s what you save. Also, don’t buy a first-class ticket if you’re not a main eventer.”
Health Insurance Education
“Yeah, good luck with that.”
Media Training
“Always remember: when talking to the media, don’t.”
Seriously, all this sounds like a great idea in theory, but who knows if these programs will have any positive effect on WWE and the industry? Wrestlers tend to be screwed-up individuals with addictive and compulsive personalities to begin with, so the idea that a few corporate-mandated seminars delivered by well-meaning yet naive professionals is going to stamp out decades of excess and bad decisions is a bit ludicrous. If the stories of guys like Billy Graham and Eddy Guerrero and Jake Roberts and Ric Flair and countless others aren’t enough to convince the young rookies and established stars to stay away from drugs, buy health insurance and save their money, I don’t think Dr. Suttle has much of a chance.
But I’ll give WWE credit for trying something to address the issues.
Yes, I think this program is more directed at keeping up appearances for potential PG corporate sponsors checking out the website then to actually provide any education for the employees of the company.
And you know this… how?
Remember when Rey was half the size and twice the athlete?
This is maybe the dumbest attempt at making this so called “Wellness” policy seem legit yet. If it’s steroids — then this guy has obviously been juicing for YEARS. He was probably due for a vacation and Vince promised not to fire him if he could use him as an example for this policy. I hope it was for something else, because I will not buy that Vince was in the dark about this.
Everyone hears “Wellness Violation” and assumes it’s steroids. He could have just as likely took a pain pill or a muscle relaxer that wasn’t prescribed to him.
True enough.
However, Meltzer did say he failed a test (audio update), so whatever he took must have been on the banned list.
One would hope it isn’t steroids, seeing as how he’s already been caught before (on the Signature Pharmacy list, and ordering from Benoit drug dealer Dr. Phil Astin) and everything.
Hmm, just double-checked and the Astin thing seems to be only pain pills. Oops.
This is interesting coming about six weeks or so after there was speculation Rey was going to need some time off with all of his pain.
Having said that, I will always remember first seeing him live in a WWE ring for the first time in the summer of 2002. The difference in his body was dramatic. I’m guessing he has, like others, moved away from “gassing” in subsequent years.
Well, this is from http://www.angrymarks.com:
–Rey Mysterio has gone on the record about his WWE suspension with a Mexican newspaper called Record.
In his interview Mysterio claims his suspension was for a drug he was using for his knee and arm which he had a prescription for, but he couldn’t produce a copy of his script in time because he was on vacation and promoting SummerSlam in the UK. I’m not saying I don’t buy it, but I do have a bridge in Brooklyn currently up for bids on eBay.
I found these two on the Torch’s site:
–WWE Intercontinental champion Rey Mysterio says his 30-day suspension was “handled very badly” by WWE and Dr. Black, who runs WWE’s Wellness Policy.
Mysterio claims he had a prescription for an oral medicine for his knee and arm (both resulting from previous injuries that sidelined him for several months) that caused a raised level on a recent drug test.
Mysterio was on vacation earlier this month, then he was sent overseas to Europe for WWE promotional work. He says he was unable to provide the doctor’s script before Dr. Black’s deadline to prove he had a legit prescription, prompting the suspension.
Mysterio says WWE told him they had no choice but to suspend Mysterio for 30 days. He says it was handled unjustly.
“Without a doubt, because they do not give the opportunity to clarify me what happened or to give my version,” Mysterio told The Record newspaper in Mexico. “To me it becomes unjust not of the company, but how they handle the system of anti-doping.”
Mysterio says he’s passed 15 drug tests this year, which he says should have bought him some leeway to provide the prescription. Mysterio says he’s concerned about his public image because he denied accusations of steroid use throughout his career and now he doesn’t know how the public will react.
“In the past they said that Rey Mysterio used anabolics to grow his body, but everything has been only speculations, nothing verified, and this is something that affects to me, mainly mentally, because it concerns much my public to me and I do not know how they are going to react,” Mysterio said.
–WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio claims he was only given one day notice to come up with a valid prescription to excuse a positive drug test or face a 30-day suspension. According to WWE’s Wellness Policy, wrestlers
have up to 72 hours (three days) to provide a valid prescription after being informed of a violation.
Mysterio claims he was initially informed of a Wellness Policy violation on Wednesday. He says was told he had until Thursday to provide the valid prescription from his doctor.
“I was on three weeks of vacation, I returned to work, I went to Spain and Germany promoting Summerslam,” Mysterio told The Record in Mexico. “It was until Wednesday that I returned that the doctor (Dr. Black) says to me that if by Thursday my doctor does not clarify the medicine, he was going to suspend me 30 days.”
Mysterio said in the interview that he thought his personal doctor provided the proper paperwork in time to clear the violation and he was assured that it would be taken care of.
Mysterio says he was prescribed an oral drug for his knee and arm. WWE informed him that his testosterone level was raised and he would be suspended if he could not provide the script. Mysterio suggested WWE and Dr. Black, who runs WWE’s Wellness Policy, did not treat him fairly in the process.
The exact text of WWE’s Wellness Policy for handling a positive test is as follows from Section 13: “It shall be the responsibility of WWE Talent to provide, if not already provided, to the Medical Director, within seventy two (72) hours of notification of a positive test, suitable proof that the substance in question has been taken pursuant to a valid prescription for a legitimate medical purpose given by a licensed and treating physician, and to provide in accordance with the terms of this Policy, copies of the prescription and the name, address and telephone number of the prescribing physician along with a copy of the prescription providing the dosage and duration instructions for proper use.”
Caldwell’s Analysis: We only have information from Rey Mysterio’s perspective on how this went down, but Mysterio is making it sound like he was not given proper notification of a positive test. Complicating the matter is that WWE’s wording is unclear on the “notification” aspect. Is “notification of a positive test” leaving a voice mail when a talent is out of town, or is it actual verbal communication? Mysterio was in Phoenix on Tuesday working the Smackdown TV tapings, so it sounds like he wasn’t informed until he got home from being on the road the next day. Based on Rey’s claims, Dr. Black’s office appears to be in the wrong on how they handled it, but we need to hear from their perspective if there was proper notification and Rey is having selective memory to defend himself against the suspension.
He might very well be telling the truth here, but I think he’d have been better off keeping his trap shut. Granted, WWE may have forced his hand given how they handled the announcement, but criticizing management is never good for career advancement under any circumstance (and especially when you’ve just held the company up for money AND disrupted long-term plans).
And in this age of cell phones and fax machines and e-mail and whatnot, 24 hours sounds like plenty of time to clear up a situation like this one fairly quickly. Plus, if I know I’m being tested fairly regular for ‘wellness concerns’ and my doctor prescribes me something that could cause problems later, you better believe that I’m going carry the official medical documentation with me at all times. And I’d probably make sure I presented someone in charge with a copy of said prescription at the time of testing just to cover all the bases…but to each his own, I guess.