In a surprising turn of events, one of the top stars of the WWE Monday Night Raw roster will not make it to TV for several weeks to follow. WWE officially confirmed that the current United States Champion Andrade has been suspended for 30 due to his first WWE Wellness Policy violation, earlier this month. WWE has not disclosed any additional details on this matter but he won’t be appearing on Raw while serving this punishment.
Here’s the official statement released on WWE.com regarding this,
STAMFORD, CONN., January 28, 2020 – “WWE (NYSE: WWE) has suspended Manuel Oropeza (Andrade) for 30 days effective immediately, for his first violation of the company’s talent wellness policy.”
WWE has suspended Andrade (Manuel Oropeza) for 30 days effective immediately for a first violation of the company's talent wellness policy.https://t.co/54rJ8fjkAM
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2020
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Backstage updates reveal that Andrade was tested positive for a banned substance in the WWE doctor’s list. The doctors learned about the result only on this Monday morning. As per consequence, he was let known of the same and henceforth removed from the scene following the post-Royal Rumble episode.
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Andrade was also written off TV on this week’s episode of Raw after Humberto Carrillo dropped him with a DDT on the exposed concrete after their title match. Andrade retained his championship over Carrillo during Sunday’s Royal Rumble pre-show. He also did the same on Raw with Zelina Vega’s interference and left for the suspension period with his championship intact around his shoulder.
It’s mine!! #RoyalRumble2020 ?????? pic.twitter.com/3Ppa8aEOlX
— “EL IDOLO” ANDRADE (@AndradeElIdolo) January 25, 2020
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Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio on the backstage story of Andrade’s suspension. The creative team learned about it before Raw and had to adjust the angle so that the Mexican star can be written off as the champion. Here’s more from a carried report by wrestlingINC.com,
“There’s no word yet on when the positive test came back, but only Vince McMahon and other WWE high-ups knew about the violation before yesterday. Meltzer also noted that no one knew of the violation on Sunday, before Andrade retained over Carrillo on the Royal Rumble Kickoff pre-show, but maybe the WWE higher-ups in Vince’s inner circle. It is possible that Vince and the other higher-ups didn’t find out about the suspension until Monday.” (courtesy wrestlingINC.com)
The executive director of WWE Raw, Paul Heyman is high on Andrade who is touted to be the next top heel of the red brand. So Heyman did not want to take the US belt off El-Idolo within one month of the title win that would harm his strong status. There’s no update available when he will eventually return on TV.
