A Mysterious Suspension...Or Not?

The big story in WWE land this week occurred outside of the ring as Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio was suspended for 30 days by the company for a Wellness Policy violation. The suspension became effective on Wednesday, which allowed Mysterio to participate in the Smackdown tapings. I will not reveal what happened at this point, but it definitely will be worth watching tonight based on reports I have read. The ‘net was clamoring for details as to what happened and speculation was running rampant. After watching “The Rise and Fall of WCW” DVD, I actually thought that they might have caught Rey on the juice. If you look at Mysterio back in his WCW days, he looked extremely small and not very muscular. Looking at Rey now, my opinion is that he has bulked up very noticeably. Now I am not trying to accuse Mysterio of juicing and hey, it could be possible that he has worked out like a mad man over the years and legitimately put on the muscle, but it is my opinion that he is carrying more on his small frame than he should be. It turns out though that the WWE did not bust Rey for steroids, but rather painkillers.

Reports started to surface that Mysterio gave an interview with Spanish language newspaper The Record and he claimed in the interview that he was not at fault for this; it was the WWE’s fault. Wow, big mistake there Rey. Mysterio told the newspaper that he had a legal prescription for the substance that triggered a positive result. Now under the WWE’s Wellness Policy, a wrestler has up to 72 hours after a positive test result to produce proof that the substance in question has been taken for a legitimate medical purpose and they have a prescription for it. Mysterio claims that his doctor failed to clarify one of the discovered substances and that when the WWE asked for the proof, Rey was out of the country promoting Summerslam. When he returned to the states, he was informed of the suspension and was also told his doctor would “take care of it”, but that did not occur.

The fact that these details have emerged and that Rey vehemently denies he is at fault could be the least of his worries. The interview that Mysterio gave to The Record was not authorized by the WWE, so you can just imagine how Vince McMahon felt about that. All interviews that WWE performers give need to be cleared by management and Rey did not get clearance for this one. As you could expect, McMahon was extremely mad and reports indicate that there was a conference call held to determine what they could possibly do to “send a message” to Mysterio and other talent. Consideration was given to unmasking Mysterio on Smackdown. This did not occur and I feel that was the right move. If they did not pull the trigger on that during Rey’s hot feud with Chris Jericho, then it would make absolutely no sense to do it over this. Mysterio’s unmasking could still make the company money at some point in the future, so that was a smart decision. There was also talk of making Rey’s exit a “blink and you’ll miss it” type of thing, but that did not happen either. It seems like the one thing that was decided on was to publicize the incident instead of burying it. On WWE.com on Wednesday, Mysterio’s suspension was the top headline. Usually in the past, suspensions did not make the front page and could only be found in WWE’s corporate section. So this could have been part of the punishment. No other word has come out in regards to additional penalties, but I would not be surprised to see Mysterio buried down the card and losing matches when he comes back.

So with all this said, the big question is: who is really at fault in this situation? After giving it some thought, I think I side with the WWE on this one. First of all, they have a clear Wellness Policy that the talent should be well aware of by now. You can make jokes about how effective this policy really is, but the fact remains that it does exist and performers have been suspended in the past. Because of this, Rey Mysterio can not claim any sort of ignorance on the matter. Second, why did Mysterio not inform the WWE when he first got the prescription? Correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn’t a wrestler (or any athlete in any sport for that matter) let the company know about what drugs they will be putting in their body right away, especially when drug testing is in place? I say the answer is yes and either Mysterio or his doctor dropped the ball. If this was a legitimate prescription in the first place, then why not be upfront about it?

But let’s say fine, Mysterio did not have to report this right away and he felt he was doing nothing wrong. That’s all well and good, but what happened to the 72 hour period to produce proof then? I think Mysterio is just making his international trip into an excuse. Don’t we have phones? Don’t we have fax machines? If Mysterio was alerted to his positive test, why wasn’t he on the phone right away with his doctor and telling him to send the WWE proof of the prescription? It seems to me that Mysterio was too lazy or too cocky and he dropped the ball. Or maybe there is more to this story. Maybe the prescription that Mysterio received was something he should not have gotten in the first place. I don’t know and I am not going to try and crucify the man, but it seems clear that he messed up on this, not the WWE. All the WWE was doing was trying to abide by their policy and not make it into a joke by letting a popular performer slide.

Reports also indicated that Mysterio was expected to talk to management at the Smackdown tapings in an effort to explain his side of things and try to get the suspension overturned. Obviously, that did not occur and I believe it would have been very foolish if the WWE even entertained the idea of overturning it. If they were to do that, it would open up a bad can of worms, so to speak. It would allow for other wrestlers to try and skirt the system and take whatever drugs they want and then come back later and say “my doctor forgot to send you the prescription” or some other excuse. Rey got caught being dumb or lazy and even if this wasn’t totally his fault, he now has to pay the consequences.

I have to wonder if all of this could have been avoided. If Mysterio had injuries still nagging him, then he should have asked for time off. I am a little sick and tired of hearing the notion that a guy will “lose his spot” if he takes time off. Rey must realize how popular he is and how much the WWE wants him to connect to their Latino audience. I think it would be highly unlikely that he would “lose his spot” if he took some time off to heal up a little. Look at what Chris Jericho did. He took 2 years off and came back to a pretty good spot. People are also speculating that Jeff Hardy is now going to do the same. I think it is foolish to believe you will become a nobody if you need to take some time off to rest your body, especially when you are the top Latino star in the company. And maybe if the WWE just allowed Rey to lose the IC Title to Dolph Ziggler and not drag it out so long, then Mysterio could have done that and then took a few weeks off.

All in all, this is just seems like a sad situation that probably did not need to happen. It is my belief though that the responsibility ultimately fell on Rey Mysterio and he messed something up. Even if he did not intend to “cheat”, I think he would have had proper time and opportunity to fix the situation before he got a suspension. I hope that Rey uses the time off to rest his body and hopefully he can come back and not be made a joke of. It would benefit both parties to fix the situation and be professional about it from this point on.

The Game’s Quick Hits

Ravens Notes: The Ravens had their final preseason game last night and defeated the Atlanta Falcons 20-3 to finish the preseason 4-0. As everyone knows, the last preseason game does not feature significant playing time for the starters and coaches mainly use the game to figure out which players will make the cut and be on the 53 man roster. So there is not much to report from last night, although I did like what I saw in the 1st quarter. The Ravens mostly sent out the second unit defense, but LB Terrell Suggs did see his first action of the preseason after recovering from injury. Suggs looked pretty good and was able to record a sack. This definitely bodes well for the defense and it looks like all systems are a go for week 1. QB John Beck also did a nice job driving the offense to a touchdown on their first series. I was encouraged by the play of WR Demetrius Williams. He looked pretty good and caught some nice balls, so maybe he will be able to step up and be the productive #3 WR that the team needs behind Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton. Another consistent target for QB Joe Flacco will only help get the Ravens where they want to go.

Boise State/Oregon Recap: The college football season kicked off with a marquee matchup between #14 Boise State and #16 Oregon. Many said that Boise State had to win the game to have any hopes of a BCS bowl game and if they did win, they would have a shot at going undefeated. Well it seems that Boise State was ready for the challenge as they beat Oregon 19-8. The first half was dominated by Boise State as they took a 13-0 lead into the half. Boise had no trouble moving the ball on offense and actually should have been up by 20+ points. Trouble in the red zone prevented this however. Oregon looked absolutely horrible in the first half, recording no 1st downs and developing no rhythm on offense. In the second half, it was more of the same as Boise State drove right down the field to score and make it 19-0. Oregon finally made a 1st down midway through the 3rd quarter and they were able to get some momentum and scored to make it 19-8. The game got very sloppy after that though and both teams traded turnovers and missed opportunities as the clock ticked down to zero. Boise dominated the game in terms of time of possession and ball control while Oregon looked completely overmatched and not prepared for the game and that is surprising to see from a highly ranked Pac 10 team. I am not sure that Boise can beat the elite level teams this year, but they got the win they needed to start the season. And on a final note, that idiot Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount should be suspended for at least one game for that cheap sucker punch he pulled on a Boise State player. There is no place for that crap and his ass wrote a check with his mouth that his ability could not cash on the field.

- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski Thursday morning and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Greg Olson. Jagodzinski turned down the Bucs offer to take over as the quarterbacks coach. If you remember, Jagodzinski was formerly the head coach of Boston College and was fired when he went against the university’s wishes and interviewed for the New York Jets head coaching vacancy that ultimately went to Rex Ryan. Sources are saying that conflict has been brewing since early in training camp and Jagodzinski was not suited to be an offensive coordinator and his style of teaching and general coaching philosophy was made for head coaching. Well gee, that shouldn’t take a genius to figure out. It seems like Jagodzinski really screwed up in this situation. He had a great job at Boston College, but he obviously let ambition get in the way. He reached for an NFL head coaching job too early in his career and he had to move down to a coordinator position that now seems like he was not suited for. This will not reflect well on him and I don’t know if he can expect to get another good head coaching position like he had at Boston College. I think he has now set his career back a few years and it was a dumb move for him to make.

- Back to the Michael Vick watch around here…Vick was expected to see extensive action and start the 2nd half at QB for Philadelphia in their final preseason game Thursday night. Sources reported that Vick did in fact meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to talk about his possible full re-instatement to the league for the regular season and it was announced in the afternoon that Goodell would allow Vick to be eligible again in week 3, effectively suspending him for 2 games. So it looks like the speculation was true on this and I think the decision is a fair one. Vick seems to be adjusting well and I have heard no reports of Vick taking any missteps. On the field Thursday night, Vick scored his first touchdown since returning to the field. He was able to score on a 2-yard run after faking a handoff early in the second quarter which gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead at the time. But that was as good as it got for Vick. He looked rusty and was sacked 4 times, threw an interception and lost a fumble. He was 7 for 11 for 26 yards and ran the ball 7 times for 35 yards. Obviously, you could not expect a magnificent performance after so long away, but it is clear that Vick is far from being dynamic right now. He will not be able to get back on the playing field for three weeks, so the Eagles had better hope Vick is able to shake off the cobwebs and perfect a few gadget plays in practice because he won’t help Philly if he plays the way he did tonight.

- Other NFL News and Notes: In an interview with USA Today, Bengals WR Chris Henry says that the suspensions he has received from the NFL have helped him to focus and try to improve himself to be a better professional. Henry has been arrested 5 times and has missed 14 games due to his conduct since being drafted in 2005. QB Carson Palmer says he has seen the changes in Henry and Henry has been Cincinnati’s best WR in the preseason. This is good to hear and I hope Henry stays on the right path. Under normal circumstances, I would say that this guy doesn’t deserve any more opportunities, but he has “done his time” with the suspensions and if he has truly learned his lessons and has grown up, more power to him…In shocking news, Vikings QB Brett Favre will not play in the team’s preseason finale against Dallas on Friday. Wow, who could have predicted that? Feel the sarcasm people! There were also reports coming out that said the Vikings were gauging interest in the trade market for QB Tarvaris Jackson. I’m not sure if this is such a wise move. Jackson has shown slow improvement and potential and he may inherit the starting job next year if Favre moves on. However, it seems unwise to keep 4 QBs on the roster, so maybe dealing T-Jack is the best move. Time will tell…

- One of the NBA’s great defensive players retired on Thursday as Bruce Bowen called it a career at the age of 38. Bowen helped the Spurs win three NBA championships this decade and was named to the NBA all-defensive 1st or 2nd team every year from 2000-2008. Bowen decided to step away to pursue off-court business and community projects and is also considering a career in broadcasting. I wish Bowen well in whatever he decides to pursue. He was one of the classy guys in the NBA and one hell of a defender on the perimeter. Bowen is the kind of player that every team needs to be successful and his legacy will be cemented with the great Spurs teams of this decade. Congratulations to him on a fine career.

- In order to spice up the world of golf, it seems like Tiger Woods wants to create a little verbal sparring and cause some controversy…well, maybe. On the eve of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Tiger said that Ernie Els did not work hard enough after undergoing major knee surgery back in 2005. He said that Ernie is not a really big worker physically and that you need to work hard to come back from an ACL injury. I am not sure what prompted those comments or what Els might think of them, but Tiger is probably right. Since 2006, when Els announced he had a 3 year plan to challenge Tiger for the #1 world ranking, Ernie has only gone backwards in the rankings and is now just starting to show signs of regaining his form. No one works harder at his craft than Tiger Woods, but that seems like a pretty good shot he is taking at Els. I think it is the truth though because Ernie Els was great in the first half of the decade and he has been slowly sliding downward since then.

- Reports are saying that the New York Mets will not change the dimensions of Citi Field for the 2010 season despite the lack of home runs being hit. Injuries are hurting the cause of course, but the Mets have hit only 77 home runs and Citi Field is averaging 1.67 HRs per game compared to 2.15 in Shea Stadium last year. I’m wondering why this is even being debated and talked about. I realize that fans want to see the excitement of home runs, but no one ever said that hitting homers is a guarantee. The ballpark is how it is and people should stop complaining. There is a great deal more to the game than jacking out home runs and if they bring the dimensions in, then the opposing teams will have a better shot at hitting them just like the Mets will. The Mets should focus on building a better team that doesn’t choke every year instead of worrying about the ballpark. Be happy you have a brand new facility and play the damn game.

- U.S. Open Update: American Melanie Oudin pulled off the biggest upset of the U.S. Open so far by beating #4 seed Elena Dementieva 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. This was then followed by #5 seed Jelena Jankovic being ousted in a 3rd set tiebreaker by Yaroslava Shvedova. Women’s #1 seed Dinara Safina again needed 3 sets to survive and advance past the 2nd round. Seems like it is only a matter of time before she gets bounced and I would pretty much guarantee she will not win the tournament. At this point, who knows who will win on the women’s side with all these upsets happening? One the men’s side of the draw, it was business as usual once again with no major upsets occurring and #5 seed Andy Roddick moving on.