NY Daily News & ESPN release names of wrestlers, WWE reaction - info

Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 7:01 PM EST

T.J. Quinn of the New York Daily News received a list of WWE wrestlers who were clients of Signature Pharmacy and were as follows:

* Randy Orton
* Charlie Haas
* Adam Copeland (Edge)
* Robert Huffman (King Booker)
* Shane Helms (Gregory Helms)
* Mike Bucci (Nova/Simon Dean)
* Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella)
* John Hennigan (John Morrison/Johnny Nitro)
* Darren Matthews (William Regal)
* Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy)
* Chavo Guerrero

ESPN also produced the following three names as well:

* Dave Bautista
* Shoichi Funkai
* Chris Mordetzky (Chris Masters)

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that based on records obtained through sources a few months ago, Adam "Edge" Copeland's last reported prescription came many years ago when he was recovering from neck surgery.

So, it is likely many of these incidents took place before the Wellness Policy was implemented in February of 2006. It is said to be well known that Orton and Helms' transactions took place well before the WWE's new drug policy and that the Helms & Copeland transactions took place during injury rehab. It also may not be the smartest thing to jump on Ken Anderson already, depending on the date, as he admitted to steroid use prior to February of 2006.

It should be stressed that it was not confirmed that any of these men are among the 10 wrestlers that were suspended by WWE earlier today (those names will be made public on November 1). For those who remember the Sports Illustrated investigation earlier this year, WWE was very aware of the names involved and chose not to suspend anyone at the time because the time frame took place before the Wellness Policy was put into full gear. It is possible WWE could still suspend these wrestlers even if dates took place before February of 2006 due to media and government pressure. Chris Benoit, Brian Adams and Eddie Guerrero were also on the list as well. Several more WWE wrestlers were said to be on the list as well, including one wrestler who was scheduled to be hired this week.