Dirt Sheet History: August 2007

Take a trip back to a memorable timeline in sports entertainment with the most important stories reported as fact in the journalistic world of pro wrestling dirt sheets.

Following the timeline of the last Dirt Sheet History looking back at July 2007 featuring the aftermath of the Benoit tragedy, we get a glimpse into the top scoops from August of 2007 as we read Dirt Sheet History.

Reminder that you can find all past editions of Dirt Sheet History looking at 2004 through 2006 right here. Now enjoy August 2007.

8/1/2007

* Dustin Rhodes is scheduled to do a gimmick called Platinum in TNA. The idea is to slowly morph him into as much of the old Goldust character as possible while avoiding legal implications from WWE. Instead of quoting lines from movies like he did with Goldust, he will be quoting lines from songs. When going through trademarks, they found out that an indy wrestler had trademarked the name, so he might not be called Platinum after all. Rhodes’ return to TNA is a sign that Vince Russo‘s power is growing because he was the one pushing the hardest for his return.

8/2/2007

* WWE released their second quarter earnings to the public today. It was interesting to note the pay-per-view buyrate information that was included in the financial report.

WrestleMania 23 did an outstanding buyrate, as the show sold 1,188,000 shows. That was 230,000 more buys than WrestleMania 22 did last year.

Following WrestleMania, WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view only did 194,000 buys (down from last year’s 213,000). The company then rebounded with Judgment Day which did 242,000 buys which was up from the previous year’s 238,000 buys. This year’s edition of One Night Stand tanked only doing 186,000 buys which was down from the previous year’s 294,000. Vengeance dropped by 96,000 buys from last year doing 243,000 buys.

8/3/2007

* Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart recently appeared on the British equivalent of QVC (a television network dedicated to home shopping) to sale the new Hulk Hogan brand grill. According to a source close to the situation, the appearance helped them sell 12,000 grills, far exceeding their expectations.

* Jimmy Hart, who almost never says anything negative about anybody in wrestling, lashed out again the Pacman Jones to TNA deal. Hart said, “Pacman Jones?! Are you freakin’ kidding me? Oh, my. It’s over [for TNA]. Not Pacman Jones! They’re desperate, man. They’ve lost their minds. After what’s happened to Vince [McMahon] and stuff — Why?”

8/4/2007

* When you go to TNA’s YouTube account, it says that the account has been suspended. Whenever you go to the front page of TNA’s official website, the daily “TNA Today” video — which is hosted on YouTube’s server — would automatically play. They currently have the code for the latest “TNA Today” video embedded on the front page, but it says that it’s no longer available to play. This is the second time in which their account has been suspended from YouTube. In mid-2006, they couldn’t serve the “Global iMPACT!” video on YouTube servers anymore, supposedly because they were using too much of YouTube’s bandwidth. They were allowed to host videos again a few months later.

8/5/2007

* TNA recently sent Konnan a letter saying he had been suspended for no-showing TV. Even after he quit. There is some talk that the company may file suit against him, but others have advised against it because of the feeling that with Konnan, the case could get “really dirty.”

* There was talk about Konnan returning to TNA because they had an angle for him. Vince Russo was trying to smooth things over between Konnan and TNA because he wants to use him on the show. Apparently, they’ve hit a snag as a return to TNA for Konnan is definitely off the cards again.

8/6/2007

* The official TNA website posted the following press release regarding the signing of NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones. There is also a graphic on the site’s front page saying that he’s coming to TNA:

ADAM “PACMAN” JONES SIGNS CONTRACT WITH TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION (TNA) WRESTLING

(August 6, 2007) Nashville, Tenn. – Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling has signed an exclusive contract with one of pro football’s most gifted, yet controversial athletes.

Adam “Pacman” Jones joins the pro wrestling company that features U.S. Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle and such wrestling stars as Sting, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett and Christian Cage.

Jones will make his first in-ring appearance on Thursday, August 9, on iMPACT!, which airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV. He is scheduled to appear on TNA’s “Hard Justice” pay-per-view on Sunday, August 12, from Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., to reveal his plans for the season.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

8/7/2007

* Andrew “Test” Martin now working as The Punisher in TNA Wrestling posted the following in regards to his debut with the company:

“So I guess by now the cats out of the bag and as many of you know, I took my ball to TNA. I never wanted to decieve any of you, trust me I was excited about going but it was something that we tried to make a secret. You have to admit in this day and age that’s hard to do, I mean you guys usually know before I do what’s going on. It’s not that I want to keep secrets from my fans but don’t you guys just miss the old way of a good old fashioned surprise in wrestling? Remember when a WWF guy would show up on WCW and vice versa, it made the show always more exciting no matter what or who it was. Remember seeing Lex luger on Raw and Nitro, the same night?…that was a great surprise. I have to thank all you guys…i have never recieved so many positive messages and reactions from you guys about my decision to join TNA and I want to thankyou for that. I also want to make the fans that were at the Impact Zone in Orlando for the greatest reaction I can ever remember getting in wrestling. Most of all I want to thank everyone at TNA for making me realize why I wanted to be a wrestler in the first place!! Something that had been beaten out out of me by years of politics, ass kissing, back stabbing, empty promises that never came, having to liten to “Vinces YES men” because everyone there doesn’t want to rock the boat…Thankyou for making me realize that I wanted to be a wrestler because it’….FUN!! and I had forgotten how much fun you can have. I know TNA stands for Total nonstop Action but I learned last night it also stands for Totally NO Assholes!! I want to thank everyone for making me feel right at home right away and seeing first hand what a wrestling company really should be. I’m not here to bash any other companies…I have no regrets but in just one night at TNA I felt more comfortable than I did anywhere else. Everyone is so hands on and so positive. I mean I loved watching the guys watch the matches hoping that everyone had a great match, I’m so used to guys watching the monitor, cutting up the matches only to tell the guys when they got to the back “great match”…I’ll be honest I didn’t sleep much Sunday night. I was excited, nervous and wasn’t sure what to expect but that all changed last night when all the TNA fans gave me without question one of the greatest moments of my career with your huge roar,my ears were ringing and inside I had a smile a mile long…thankyou because to be honest I was ready to walk away from wrestling and it would have been a shame because I would never have gotten to experience what a great group there is at TNA. So please tune in to watch TNA every thursday night at 9pm eastern time on spike tv and see what a great company with a group of guys and girls with all heart can accomplish…I know I had a blast!”

* TNA actually wanted Rikishi as their first choice, not “The Punisher” Andrew Martin. Rikishi’s money demands were way too high and so they settled for the former Test

8/8/2007

* Donald Trump made it very clear to WWE that he did not want to be the focal point of the advertising for the WrestleMania 23 DVD. Trump’s deal with Vince McMahon was that he would work for the company until the show and the day of the show, but did not want anything further to do with the company beyond that date. Not wanting to be a deal breaker, McMahon has complied, and has shied away from advertising Trump on the WrestleMania 23 DVD.

* Just when you thought the Mr. McMahon character would be taking an extended period of time away from WWE television – he’s back and at the center of a whole new controversy that will have him back on RAW for the next several months.

This past week on RAW, Jonathan Coachman informed Mr. McMahon that he has been served with a paternity suit alleging that he had “sired an illegitimate child”.

As previously reported, the paternity suit is scheduled to reveal Mr. Ken Kennedy (….. Kennedy) as Vince’s born-out-of-wedlock son. It is still unknown who will play the part of Kennedy’s mother.

The on-air revelation that Ken Kennedy is Vince McMahon’s son will lead to a post-Summerslam feud between Mr. Kennedy and the The Game – Triple H. It is expected that Hunter will acknowledge on television for the first time that he is Vince’s real life son-in-law. The original post-SummerSlam plans to have Triple H feud with Randy Orton have been changed. Orton will likely continue his feud with John Cena into the fall.

For those who don’t know, “Kennedy” is actually Vince McMahon’s middle name. Before Ken Kennedy was called up to WWE from the developmental system, it was Paul Heyman who told Ken to use McMahon’s middle name as part of his ring name as a way to endear himself to Vince. The “Kennedy” name connection will be addressed as part of the storyline.

The “illegitimate child” storyline is a direct response to RAW’s recent ratings erosion. RAW is in a major slump, drawing tis lowest viewership in close to a decade. Vince considers himself one of the biggest draws in WWE and feels that putting himself in the middle of a major “soap opera” storylines is the best thing to turn business around.

8/9/2007

* There is strong interest in Matt Morgan (who may have already signed), Nidia (who just had a kid), A-Train (Giant Bernard in Japan) and Shelly “Ariel” Martinez.

Morale has been affected greatly by all of this, as guys continue to work hard and get rewarded with nothing, and new people are brought in and given strong pushes just because they made a name elsewhere.

It is said that a lot of guys now treat TNA as a job, and a lot of the fun has gone out of working there. There have been reports going around of more and more guys, including some pretty major names (not all X-Division guys) who have asked for their release recently and been turned down.

* Terry Taylor is trying to make a deal with former WWE stars Rikishi and Brian Christopher to have them come in as a tag team. They wouldn’t be able to use the ‘Too Cool‘ name obviously, but they are being talked with to reunite Too Cool.

* After Scott Steiner went down with an injury in June, TNA called Ken Shamrock at the last minute to replace him at the Slammiversary pay-per-view. He said he came close to accepting the deal. Road Warrior Animal ended up taking his place.

* Homicide was fined by TNA for a post he did on his MySpace page. TNA officials weren’t happy with him writing in support of Konnan, who they consider to be a major enemy now. The post has since been removed.

8/10/2007

* WWE actually announced the release of a developmental wrestler on the company website, which is quite rare. The person released was Tomasso Whitney (now Tomasso Ciampa), a wrestler from Ohio Valley Wrestling. He was signed earlier in the year to a developmental contract out of the Massachusetts-based Chaotic Wrestling indy league.

Whitney’s claim to be wrestling fame was playing the attorney of Muhammad Hassan in his feud with Undertaker two summers ago. The reason they put him out on television is because this was on the heels of the previous week’s controversial angle where five masked men armed with clubs and piano wire jumped Undertaker and beat him at a SmackDown taping. Afterward, the masked men lifted Daivari above their heads and carried him away. Three days later, hours before that week’s show was scheduled to air, the London bombings took place. WWE didn’t edit out the segment and UPN pressured WWE to keep Hassan off of their network, effectively removing him from SmackDown. To explain Hassan’s disappearance from the show, Hassan’s “attorney,” who was Whitney, came out to say that Hassan wouldn’t appear on SmackDown until after he defeated Undertaker at the upcoming Great American Bash pay-per-view. Whitney was subsequently chokeslammed and tombstoned by Undertaker. Hassan never appeared on WWE programming again, and neither did Whitney for that matter.

* Dave Meltzer of WrestlingObserver.com is reporting that Bobby Lashley is estimated to be out of action for three to five months. While he did not have a torn rotator cuff as originally thought, he had other injuries that were significant enough that they could not be fixed through arthroscopic surgery.

8/11/2007

* Hulk Hogan is featured today in an interview with The Sun over in the United Kingdom. Hogan blames the low SummerSlam payout he received as the reason why he did not return to WWE for this year’s WrestleMania. He says in the interview that once his promotion gets off of the ground it will beat WWE. The headline of the story is: “Hulk: I’ll defeat desperate Vince.”

* The Tennessee Titans have obtained a restraining order to prevent Adam “Pacman” Jones from participating in TNA’s Hard Justice pay-per-view this Sunday night, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com.

Today, the Titans organization said in a prepared statement, “In June we stated that we didn’t expect to comment on Adam Jones until his suspension was complete. Regrettably, we feel it necessary to explain our action today,”

“Today we filed a motion in Williamson County asking for a court order preventing Jones from participating in any wrestling activity,” the statement read. “All NFL players have language in their contracts that prohibit them from engaging in activities ‘which may involve a significant risk of personal injury.’ We certainly believe wrestling to be hazardous and it is obvious from the player’s conduct that he is ignoring this aspect of his agreements with the club. As an organization, we feel it is our obligation to protect our rights in this instance.”

Jones’ agent Worrick Robinson maintains that his client’s focus is still on football and that he would not do anything with TNA Wrestling that would affect his health.

* We’ve got a major update on that situation – Pacman Jones WILL be allowed to participate, but in a limited capacity.

8/12/2007

* At TNA’s Hard Justice PPV, Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe to capture both TNA World Tag Team titles as well as the TNA X-Division belt. Those championships are in addition to Angle’s TNA World & IWGP titles.

With one man as the sole holder of every championship in TNA Wrestling, the most logical next step would be to vacate the X-Division and Tag Team belts and allow competitors from those respective divisions to compete for the belts. This however is pro wrestling and the rules of logic often to not apply.

Several weeks ago it was reported that Jeff Jarrett was pushing to return to TNA as a face and capture every single belt in the company. While Jarrett has a history of going to great lengths to put himself over at the expense of his company’s well being, the rumor seemed absurd at the time. Now that Kurt Angle holds all 6 championship belts sanctioned by TNA Wrestling, it appears the stars are aligned for Jarrett’s plan to actually happen.

Kurt Angle will face Abyss in the main event of next month’s TNA PPV, No Surrender. It has not yet been announced which of Angle’s titles will be on the line at that show, however Angle is expected to remain TNA World Champion until Jeff Jarrett makes his triumphant return in the coming weeks.

One possible scenario that has been discussed is that Jeff Jarrett will face Kurt Angle at Bound For Glory – the event that will also likely feature the wrestling debut of NFL star “Pacman” Jones.

8/13/2007

* WWE has learned that former World Tag Team Champion Brian “Crush” Adams was found dead today. He was only 43 years old.

8/14/2007

* WWE has come to terms on the release of Sylvain Grenier as of today. We wish Sylvain the best in all future endeavors.

8/15/2007

* Several comic book news websites are reporting that WWE superstar Triple H being considered for the lead role in upcoming “Thor” movie. The Marvel Comics superhero is based on the mythological god of thunder and war.

Unfortunately for Triple H, there is one major obstacle in his way. Director Matthew Vaughn is not happy that a pro wrestler is being considered for the lead role in his biggest project to date. He addressed the rumor of Triple H’s involvement in a recent interview. “I’ll give you two reasons I dont put much stock in the otherwise very interesting rumor – “Chris” and “Benoit”. With wrestling taking its biggest PR hit ever, I would be incredibly surprised if Marvel were to take that big of a risk with Thor.”

* TNA Wrestling is currently in preliminary negotiations with former WWE champion Brock Lesnar.

Kurt Angle is the one who is brokering the deal and bringing the 2 sides together. Angle has a very good relationship with Lesnar and has tried several times to convince him to join TNA.

Dixie Carter has already had one meeting with Lesnar in Nashville to discuss the possibility of working together. Carter made it very clear to Lesnar that she understands Brock’s MMA involvement and would be 100% flexable to his schedule. TNA is hoping to get SpikeTV to help pay Lesnar, as they did for the massive contracts given to Kurt Angle and Sting.

Brock Lesnar actually contacted WWE early this year about a 1-time appearance at WrestleMania. He offered to job cleanly to whoever WWE wanted – but he wanted too much money and Vince McMahon was still furious about the way Lesnar left WWE 3 years ago and the back-and-forth lawsuits that followed.

If a deal is made, Lesnar is expected to start with the company this fall, when TNA iMPACT! expands to 2 hours on Thursday nights. This would be a tremendous acquisition for TNA.

8/16/2007

* Jerry Lynn, Brother Runt, Basham, Damaja, & Matt “Martyr” Bentley are done with TNA Wrestling. Jerry Lynn approached TNA management and asked for a release. The other men were told about their releases by Terry Taylor. Each of them will be welcomed back to the company in the future and booked on a per-show basis (without a longterm contract).

* Karen Angle has signed a contract with TNA, thus meaning that she’s an official member of the roster.

8/17/2007

* Departing TNA superstar Matt Bentley did not have very many good things to say about TNA during an appearance on the Between the Ropes radio show last night in Florida. Bentley, whose TNA deal expires on August 20th, said that the morale of the entire TNA roster is poor. Bentley claimed that there are a number of superstars growing frustrated at the fact that they work hard in the company only to get skipped over by former WWE superstars who get bigger pushes. He said that the names that are brought in are “supposed to be big stars” but the ratings never rise.

Bentley said that TNA used to be a fun place to work but that has changed. Bentley blamed the failure of the Serotonin gimmick on creative team member Dutch Mantel, saying that Mantel hated it and wanted nothing to do with it.

* Andrew Martin has not endeared himself to the TNA locker room at all since his arrival to TNA a few weeks ago. He rubbed many people the wrong way in his first week in the company with his “I’m a big WWE star” attitude.

8/18/2007

* TMZ.com is reporting that Hulk Hogan’s family home in Miami, Florida was robbed of an estimated $100,000.00 in jewelry last night.

According to reports, the jewels were taken while the Hogan family was in the process of moving out of the home. Among the stolen goods were a diamond-encrusted watch and two gold changes.

8/19/2007

* Ken Kennedy recently told The Sun in the United Kingdom that he used steroids while wrestling on the independent circuit but quit because of the WWE Wellness Policy. On The Sun’s web site the headline reads “WWE stopped my steroid use.”

8/20/2007

* Here are the names of this year’s WWE Diva Search contest:

Taryn Terrell – Mandeville, LA
Naomi Kirk – Los Angeles, CA
Brooke Gilbertsen – San Diego, CA
Lena Yada – Los Angeles, CA
Eve Torres – Los Angeles, CA
Jessica Hatch – Houston, TX
J. Kim – Catawba, NC
Lyndy Frieson – Vancouver, BC

8/21/2007

* Backstage morale is said to be at an all-time low in TNA. At a time when TNA’s home grown stars are being featured less and less, the company is dropping huge money and giving valuable television time to former WWE castoffs (Test, Matt Morgan) and disgraced celebrities (“Pacman” Jones). Last week’s Hard Justice PPV was another example that exciting, state-of-the-art wrestling and differentiating itself from WWE are not part of the company’s overall direction.

8/22/2007

* World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms on a developmental contract with Ring of Honor/Wrestling Society X star Matt Sydal. It is still unknown as to when he will report to one of WWE’s developmental territories as he is expected to fulfill all of his independent contractual obligations.

Sydal has been somewhat of a hot commodity since the demise of WSX as both TNA and ROH made major plays for him. Dragon Gate in Japan was also said to be very interested in him. WWE contact Sydal with the offer several weeks back.

* Stephanie McMahon has been pushing hard for D-Lo Brown to be brought up to the main RAW roster in a mid-card storyline. As most of you know, Brown has been working several dark matches with the company.

8/23/2007

* Current plans call for the Mr. McMahon paternity angle to lead to a WrestleMania 24 main-event match between Triple H and Mr. Kennedy. At last word, the plan was for WWE to continue slowly dropping hints that Kennedy is the illegitimate child before finally revealing his identity during a three-hour Raw special in October.

Stephanie McMahon will be returning to television on a full time basis in the near future — likely in October or November. She will be returning because her status as her father’s heiress will become threatened due to Kennedy. Triple H would reveal his real-life marriage to Stephanie, thus disclosing that he is Vince’s son-in-law. This would set the stage for the Raw main event at WrestleMania, which at last word is going to be Triple H as a babyface vs. Kennedy, likely for the title and with all the members of the McMahon family somehow involved. Shane McMahon has been told he won’t be needed in the ring until around Royal Rumble, so he’ll probably be Kennedy’s first family victim.

8/24/2007

* It is believed that TNA is paying Adam “Pacman” Jones $25,000 per appearance. Not bad for 6 minutes of work every few weeks.

8/25/2007

* Apparently, indy women’s wrestler Talia Madison (now Velvet Sky) tried out for this year’s Diva Search. She is well known to indy wrestling fans in the Northeast and also happens to be the girlfriend of WWE star Gregory Helms. On WWE.com, there’s a photo of one of the contestants posing with Talia and two other girls during casting day. You can see that photo at this link. Considering that Talia’s not listed on the site, she obviously didn’t make the cut. She’s been backstage at quite a few WWE shows as a guest of Gregory Helms, not to mention that she’s actually worked a match before on WWE television. She did job duty to Victoria in a match broadcast on WWE Sunday Night Heat a little over two years ago.

8/26/2007

* Expect tonight’s Randy Orton vs. John Cena match at tonight’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view for the WWE Heavyweight Championship to be a long one. The match has been heavily praised during dark main events and live events everywhere so we should be in for a treat as far as match quality. The plan is for the main event bout to go more than twenty minutes.

8/27/2007

* A fan sent in this live report from Summerslam:

I was watching Michael Cole and JBL when the “Cena Sucks” chants started and whenever Orton got in his offense. They were literally shocked, not by the chants but on how much the majority of the crowd ripped into John Cena. At one point I saw Cole shaking his head saying “unbelievable.” I know Randy Orton may seem like the better “wrestler,” but for the life of me I cannot understand why they hate Cena so much. I give him credit; he takes it all in and does the job, I respect his work ethic and the way he sucks up those chants and b.s. big time.

I even saw Lillian Garcia shake her head in disbelief as the people in back of me were chanting “Cena must die” and when Orton had a chin lock on Cena they were chanting “break his neck.” It’s a man thing to hate Cena for some reason because they all were doing it for there own ego. Security confiscated a sign saying “Cena must die” from those same bunch of guys.
John Cena held up a fan sign that said “IF CENA WINS, WE RIOT” in the middle of the ring after the show. Then challenging the whole arena to riot and come to the ring. Like I said, I give the guy credit

8/28/2007

* Tampa’s CBS affiliate is reporting that witnesses are saying that Nick Hogan‘s Supra was racing a silver Dodge Viper right before the crash. However, police say it’s too early to know for sure what led to the crash. Furthermore, Clearwater Police confirmed that Nick’s injuries are non-life threatening. He’s now at home recovering.

According to the grandmother of the passenger in Nick Hogan’s wrecked car, he may have suffered brain damage due to the crash.

* Kip James has mega heat with TNA management after being taken off the Impact tapings two weeks ago. He complained loudly backstage about how the company was wasting money on Pacman Jones and not pushing any of its wrestlers.

8/29/2007

* Brock Lesnar has been in negotiations with Ultimate Fighting Championshp for quite some time. He was in Las Vegas for last week’s UFC PPV and met with UFC President Dana White.

Now, Dana White is GUARANTEEING that Brock Lesnar will be in UFC. Here is a quote from the UFC president himself in an interview he did this week with 15rounds.com:

“I am pretty much going to guarantee you right here that the UFC will get him. Lesnar should have started with us, but we’ll be happy to have him. We are all booked up through 2007, but we would like to have him start after the new year.”

Brock Lesnar actually appeared at a UFC press conference following the PPV, but did not appear on camera.

8/30/2007

* This past weekend when Ring of Honor was in New York City, WWE’s Johnny Ace wanted to have a meeting with ROH Champion and superstar Takeshi Morishima. Ace is said to be very high on the big man and wants to bring him into WWE. The meeting was squashed by NOAH – the Japanese promotion that has Morishima under contract and has a strong working relationship with ROH. This is not the first time WWE has wanted to sign Morishima. They approached him last year while he was training at Harley Race‘s school, but NOAH stopped it from happening then too.

* This week on WWE RAW, the Vince McMahon “bastard son” storyline continued. McMahon stated that he is going to give the mother of his new son until September 10th to reveal the WWE superstar’s identity or Vince will sue her.

What’s interesting about date is that WWE RAW takes place from Green Bay, Wisconsin that night. Green Bay is the hometown of Mr. Ken Kennedy.

It has been rumored for weeks that Mr. Kennedy would ultimately be revealed to be the new McMahon. As things stand, Kennedy is in line for a main event push and is seen as “the next Triple H” by many within WWE.

8/31/2007

* Sports Illustrated has published a list of fourteen WWE Signature Pharmacy clients on their official website, including what drugs each wrestler had purchased and when. A list of most of the suspended wrestlers can now be compiled if you want to presume that those suspended were clients after the WWE Wellness Policy was instituted. The Wellness policy prohibits drug prescriptions over the internet and getting drugs through the Orlando based Signature Pharmacy drug network would be a clear violation of the policy. With the exception of the late Eddie Guerrero, all of the wrestlers listed have gotten drugs from Signature Pharmacy since February 2006 — which is when the WWE Wellness Policy was implemented.

Of the fourteen wrestlers listed, ten are still contracted to WWE. Three are deceased in Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Brian Adams. Another listed wrestler was recently let go in Sylvain Grenier, so he obviously wouldn’t be subject to a suspension. So that leaves you with ten WWE contracted performers listed in the article who have purchased drugs over the internet since the institution of the Wellness policy in February 2006 — which is a clear violation of the WWE Wellness Policy. WWE made the announcement earlier today that ten wrestlers were suspended for violating the WWE Wellness Policy, but refused to cite specific names. It looks like the ten contracted WWE wrestlers listed below are the individuals who were suspended.

Without further ado, here is a complete report of Sports Illustrated’s findings:

– Benoit, who died June 24, 2007, received nandrolone and anastrozole in February 2006. (Anastrozole is used by athletes to counter side effects of steroid use, such as water retention and breast enlargement.)

– Two weeks prior to Eddie Guerrero’s death on Nov. 13, 2005, he was sent nandrolone, testosterone, and anastrozole. Guerrero died in a Minneapolis hotel room due to what a coroner later ruled as heart disease, complicated by an enlarged heart resulting from a history of anabolic steroid use.

– Chavo Guerrero, who found his uncle Eddie dead in the Minneapolis hotel room, received, among other drugs, somatropin (HGH), nandrolone and anastrozole between April 2005 and May 2006.

– Between November 2003 and February 2007, Shane Helms, a/k/a The Hurricane, received, among other drugs, testosterone, genotropin (HGH) and nandrolone. (As previously reported by SI, he allegedly received HGH from an Arizona doctor in 2005.)

– Starting in September 2004 through February 2007, Randy Orton received somatropin, nandrolone, stanozolol.

– John Hennigan, a/k/a Johnny Nitro, a.k.a. Johnny Morrison, is the current WWE Extreme Championship Wrestling’s heavyweight champion. Between June 2006 and February 2007 he was prescribed somatropin, anastrozole, testosterone, stanozolol and chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone produced naturally during pregnancy. (HCG is taken by anabolic steroid users to stimulate the production of testosterone, which is suppressed as a result of steroid use.)

– Ken Anderson, a/k/a Mr. Kennedy, lost to Eddie Guerrero in Guerrero’s final match on Nov. 11, 2005. Kennedy received shipments of anastrozole, somatropin and testosterone between October 2006 and February 2007.

– Shoichi Funaki received somatropin in March 2006.

– Brian Adams, a/k/a Crush, who retired from the pro circuit in 2001, was found dead of unknown causes on Aug. 13. He received nandrolone, testosterone and Somatropin or HGH in December 2006.

– Charles Haas was prescribed anastrozole, somatropin, stanozolol, nandrolone and chorionic gonadotropin between August 2006 and January 2007.

– Edward Fatu a/k/a Umaga received somatropin between July and December 2006.

– Between November 2004 and November 2006, Darren Matthews a/k/a William Regal received stanozolol, somatropin, genotropin, and anastrozole.

– Adam Copeland, a/k/a Edge, received somatropin, genotropin (both HGH), and stanozolol between September 2004 and February 2007.

– Sylvain Grenier received somatropin, nandrolone, genotropin and stanozolol, starting in February 2005 through July 2006.

Following up on Mr. Kennedy, he claimed in a recent interview that he stopped doing drugs cold turkey as soon as the WWE Wellness Policy was instituted in February 2006. Between October 2006 and February 2007, Kennedy received Anastrozole (which is not a steroid, but used to counter affects of steroids such as development of female breast tissue), Somatropin (a Growth Hormone) and testosterone, which is an anabolic steroid.

* John Cena is ranked number one in the 2007 edition of the PWI 500. He was ranked number one last year as well. The other two wrestlers to be honored in two consecutive years as number one in the PWI 500 are Bret Hart and Steve Austin.

– Tune back in next time for more Dirt Sheet History as we continue 2007.

Stories are credited from Rajah, PWTorch, PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer. Month name photo art is by Phillip Martin.

Past editions of Dirt Sheet History are found here.