- Dave Meltzer confirms in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that former ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero is actually one drug test failure away from an automatic termination from World Wrestling Entertainment, not two. The other two wrestlers in the company in the same uneasy position are of course Jeff Hardy and William Regal.As we all know, Guerrero, along with several other WWE wrestlers were named by Sports Illustrated to be given illegal steroids not in compliance with the company's drug testing policy. Guerrero received somatropin (Growth Hormone), nandrolone (anabolic steroid commonly known as Deca-Durabolin), and anastrozole (the drug used to prevent side effects such as "manboobs" during a steroid cycle) between April 2005 and May 2006 through Signature Pharmacy, an alleged illegal Internet drug distribution network. Because purchasing drugs through the Internet is in direct violation of WWE's Wellness policy, Guerrero was suspended.Unlike the other WWE wrestlers busted in the Signature Pharmacy scandal last fall, they only sat out for 30 days, whereas Guerrero mysteriously sat on the sidelines for just a shade over 60 days. Guerrero was officially suspended on Thursday, August 30 and returned to action on November 3, 2007, which was a Saturday night SmackDown/ECW house show. That was the first scheduled WWE show a wrestler on a 60-day suspension from the August 30th suspensions would have been permitted to appear on. Apparently, Guerrero's first suspension quietly slipped under the radar some time ago and went unreported.Back in July 2006, after a number of SmackDown stars went down with Wellness related issues the week before the Great American Bash pay-per-view, which caused havoc on the card, Vince McMahon made the decision to not pull future suspendees from television because he didn't want sudden suspensions to ruin his heavily-hyped pay-per-view cards. Instead, future suspensions called for wrestlers to miss a month's worth of downside pay, not to mention their pay-per-view bonus. Also, the suspendees would be pulled from all house shows for a 30-day period. The new rule allowed Randy Orton to wrestle Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam, who was suspended in August 2006 for a Wellness Policy violation (he failed for steroids). Last July, WWE reverted the policy to completely ban suspended talent from television as well in light of the aftermath following the Chris Benoit double-murder/suicide**************************************************************************The Big Show: WWE Matches Are Predetermined, Egos Are CheckedWritten by Marc Middleton Got any news or results to send us? Please e-mail it to
WNZ@wrestlenewz.com- The Big Show made the following comments to a reporter from the Reporter-Herald newspaper in Loveland, Colarado this past weekend. Show spoke to the paper to promote a SmackDown and ECW event in Loveland:“First of all, there is no ‘off-season’ in the WWE. We are at it year-round,” Big Show says. “Each match is also predetermined, so the wrestlers know who is to win and who is to lose beforehand.”Although no one likes to lose, Big Show explains that having to lose a match every once and a while on purpose is all part of the business.“Egos are checked at the door here. You don’t think of it as losing or winning. … It’s all about giving the audience a good show.”While the matches may be predetermined, they are far from being staged as Big Show explains.“We just know how to react to certain moves, but we don’t rehearse anything before we go out there.”As with any sport, injury is inevitable and although hesitant to admit it, Big Show has endured several injuries himself.“Well, I actually do most of the hurting,” he laughs. “No, I actually have had knee injuries and lower back injuries that I continue to struggle with.” **************************************************************************Update on the Hogan Car Wreck; The Hulkster Not the DriverWritten by Marc Middleton Got any news or results to send us? Please e-mail it to
WNZ@wrestlenewz.com- In an update on the Hogan family car crash earlier today, the police report for the incident lists Brooke Hogan, not her father Hulk, as the driver. According to the report, a 1997 Toyota lost control while changing lanes, spun into the center lane and struck Hogan's Mercedes. The Mercedes was pushed into the left lane and struck the concrete wall of the lane.In a correction from earlier reports, neither Hulk nor Linda were with Brooke at the time of the accident. An unnamed female friend was with Brooke as a passenger. *************************************************************************Hulk Hogan Involved in Car Crash Today in FloridaWritten by Steve Carrier Got any news or results to send us? Please e-mail it to
WNZ@wrestlenewz.comThe news continues to get worse for Hulk Hogan as TMZ.com is reporting that Hogan was involved in a car accident on the Bayside Bridge in Florida today.According to the report, Hogan was driving a Mercedes at the time and they mentioned that daughter Brooke was there and that Linda showed up afterwards, looking like she was coming "to the rescue."Meanwhile, ABC Action News reported that witnesses said Linda Bollea was driving the Mercedes and Hulk Hogan was on the scene.There were no reports of injuries and the scene was cleared by 5:30 p.m. (Thanks To Justin Bryant)TMZ.com however continues to maintain that it was Hulk Hogan driving, and that an occupant of one of the cars involved in the accident said that the Hogans rear-ended them after a blowout.