OO Column: Online Onslaught by Rick Scaia (Pro Wrestling News, Analysis, and Commentary... WWE, WWF, WCW, ECW, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Divas, RAW, SmackDown, WrestleMania

ONLINE ONSLAUGHT
WWE Suspends Rey Mysterio
August 28, 2009

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

On Thursday evening, WWE.com announced that current InterContinental Champion Rey Mysterio (real name: Oscar Gutierrez) will be suspended for 30 days due to a violation of the company's Wellness Policy.

Due to the circumstances of Rey's current title reign, the company also invoked the "Orton Clause" of the Wellness Policy to timeshift Rey's suspension. Rather than beginning his suspension immediately, Rey will begin serving it effective Wednesday, September 2.

That means Rey will be allowed to perform at next week's SmackDown TV tapings on Tuesday, where it's widely assumed he'll drop the IC Title. The most logical option would be to have him lose it to Dolph Ziggler, who just won a #1 Contenders' Match to earn a PPV title shot against Rey; they could simple move that match up a couple of weeks and do the change on next week's SD.

The timing of Rey's suspension is unfortunate for a couple of reasons. One is that Rey had spent the last month or so acting up backstage, and getting on management's nerves with various demands and political manueverings. For starters, Rey campaigned (successfully) to retain the IC Title at the Bash PPV, when the original plan was for him to lose it. Then, after retaining said title, Rey decided he wanted to take a vacation: he successfully got himself several weeks off of house shows and at least one week where he didn't even have to show up at TV (again, all while being the reigning IC Champ). Pulling that crap and then going and getting caught on a Wellness Violation is NOT a way to endear oneself to management.

A secondary issue here is that Rey will be going away for one month at exactly the same time that Jeff Hardy begins his little vacation. Losing the two of them at the same time dramatically impacts SD's babyface roster. Though the return of the Undertaker partially offsets those losses, he is still only one man; he can't completely replace two. And on top of that, the charm of SD lately has been the awesome displays of in-ring talent. What Taker brings to the table is way different from what fast-paced whirling dervishes like Rey/Jeff bring.

As far as continuing the in-ring awesomeness into the Fall goes, SD really only has Johnny Morrison on the babyface side who they can rely on for those types of matches. The "SmackDown Six" of Edge/Jericho/Punk/Jeff/Rey/Morrison has now been halved. That kinda sucks.

September may not be quite the same on Friday nights; luckily, Rey's only gone for 30 days... Jeff's expected to only siesta for a couple months himself... Edge should be back around the New Year... and then we'll be right back to where we want to be. We'll just have to ride it out till then...

OO will continue to cover this story, so check back for any additional developments over the weekend (they'll be added to this page if deemed significant enough), or for more in depth thoughts/analysis on Rey's situation in a full-length OO next week. As always, if you appreciate what you get here at Online Onslaught, you're encouraged to help us keep things running by making a donation to our cause (PayPal is our processor, but all credit cards are accepted). Thanks.

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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH. He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.