With just a week passed since the suspension of reigning United States Champion Andrade, there could be more members of the WWE roster missing time due to violations of the company’s Wellness Policy, a new report suggests.
In a tweet shared on Monday night and cited by WhatCulture , the WrestleVotes Twitter account wrote that based on sources who were at this week’s Monday Night Raw , there may be “more suspensions” to follow. Not too many specifics were mentioned, and it was stressed that the rumors have yet to be fully confirmed, but WrestleVotes added a clue that could point to the identity of at least one of the alleged violators.
“Must be something in that Southern California water (hint hint).”
According to WhatCulture , this clue has led to speculation that Samoa Joe — a Southern California native who was not on television on this week’s Raw — might be the wrestler that was being referred to. Although reports from last week suggested that Joe suffered a concussion while teaming up with Kevin Owens in a match against Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy, the outlet wrote that many fans now believe that the injury might be WWE’s way of justifying the former United States Champion’s extended absence.
Not long after the above rumors first swirled, Joe’s representatives, through a tweet from Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, “vehemently” denied that the 40-year-old is among the superstars who may be getting suspended in the coming days.
. @FightOwensFight and @SamoaJoe throw it all on the line in a chaotic #RAW Tag Team Title Match against @WWERollins and @WWE_Murphy. pic.twitter.com/H6sCSywILv
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2020
In addition to Joe, another veteran wrestler from Southern California has been brought up by fans as one of the possible suspended competitors from the red brand. As explained by Sportskeeda , Rey Mysterio was taken out on this week’s Raw by the debuting Angel Garza, who planted him onto the concrete floor in the same way that Andrade was written off TV in the prior week’s episode.
In the event Mysterio gets to miss time, this will mark his third violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy, following previous infractions in 2009 and 2012.
Aside from Andrade, a number of other wrestlers have been suspended by WWE for alleged consumption of substances prohibited under the promotion’s Wellness Policy. Toward the end of 2018, a pair of Friday Night SmackDown superstars — Primo Colon and Robert Roode — both missed 30 days of action, with Colon reportedly remaining in his home country of Puerto Rico after his suspension ended and Roode immediately returning to the blue brand’s programming as one of “King” Baron Corbin’s villainous lackeys.