As we all know by now, WWE has suspended one of its top stars in Roman Reigns for violating the company’s Wellness Policy. The policy was put into place to help the company keep stars off of drugs, which was a problem for the company years back and even resulted in various deaths in the industry. WWE is very serious about the policy, as we clearly see by the suspension of Reigns. The company sees Reigns as their next top guy, despite the backlash from fans.
The suspensions normally result in immediate removal from the company for the span of 30 to 60 days, depending on the first or second violation. A third violation results in the company firing a talent and keeping them away from the WWE for the span of a year. All former and current WWE Superstars are allowed to have free rehab for any drug issue they may have, as well. The sad part is that a suspension like this normally hurts a star’s stock in the company and truly makes the company feel like they have to punish the talent. This makes total sense, but Roman Reigns may not see such action.
The Inquisitr reported recently that the company knew about Reigns’ failed drug test several days before WWE Money in the Bank this past weekend. Most would understand why WWE didn’t immediately suspend Reigns, as they needed a main event for MITB and clearly Reigns could lose his WWE World Heavyweight Title and then get suspended officially. However, the company then had him work WWE RAW and get inserted into a match at WWE Battleground despite the knowledge that they were going to suspend him that Tuesday.
Some reports claim that WWE didn’t want to suspendReigns and was just going to punish him a bit, but those reports have little weight, as WWE has to report all failed tests due to being publicly traded. They do not have to release the information on what he took to fail the test, however. Despite this, the fact that WWE knew they were going to remove Reigns for thirty days and then still allowed him to get into the main event World Title match at the following PPV is completely terrible on the company’s part.
The Wrestling Observer and Ewrestlingnews report that there are people reportedly “rolling their eyes” at the situation, which is completely understandable. In fact, some are calling Reigns Vince McMahon’s “teacher’s pet.” The feeling is that this issue with Roman Reigns sets a double standard for some of the lower and mid-card workers. One person was even quoted in saying…
“If it was anyone else besides Cena and maybe Seth, do you think it would have gone down like that?.”
Interestingly, neither man mentioned above has ever failed a drug test in WWE. Some have continued to assume that John Cena was on something due to the way he looks. However, he has been clean since he came into the WWE years ago, and he claims that he puts his passed drug tests up for people to see at the Tampa gym he uses for motivation. He said there are 60 or 70 of them and that he’s passed them all.
The fact is that, when it comes to Roman Reigns, the company screwed up big time, and fans know it as well as the talent. The problem for WWE will be how to do a storyline around Reigns for Battleground next month. His suspension expires a couple of days before the event takes place, which makes it possible for him to be part of it. However, he will miss all WWE RAWand SmackDown tapings leading up to the event, including the WWE Draft. That said, WWE will have a tough time with the World Title storyline without him being around.
Due to the mainstream press surrounding the suspension of Roman Reigns, including ESPN among the many, WWE will most likely have no choice but to inform the world about Reigns’ suspension on Monday night on WWE RAW . The company then will have to find a way to make an excuse for Reigns to remain in the match.
WWE and fans of Roman Reigns will say that it was just one mistake and that we should forgive him for it, which is fine. However, he has to be punished for the violation, and he’s really not going to be it seems. Clearly WWE does not have to give the WWE World Title back to Reigns and could keep it on Dean Ambrose or have it go back to Seth Rollins. However, don’t be surprised if Reigns is right back in the World Title hunt on whatever brand he ends up on. It will be interesting to see how WWE combats the clear knowledge of everyone knowing Reigns is suspended for a drug violation.
[Image via WWE]