WWE News: Darren Young Suspended for 30 Days for Failing a Drug Test

WWE.com has posted that two time NXT Rookie Darren Young (real name Fred Rosser) has been suspended for his first violation of the WWE Talent Wellness Program policy (also known as failing a drug test in real world terms).  As per the terms of the policy, he has been suspended for 30 days effective yesterday.

As usual, WWE didn't name the substance that Young tested positive for.  All we know is that it's not alcohol or marijuana, as testing positive for them results only in a fine.

The last public suspension was of head referee Mike Chioda (the referee who cut a promo on Raw this week) the day after SummerSlam.  Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine was also reportedly suspended that week, but he was never named by WWE.

There has been speculation that Leavine wasn't named because he's under a developmental contract, as opposed to a standard booking contract.  That doesn't make sense, as developmental wrestlers have had their suspensions announced on WWE.com in the past.

Young was first called up to the main roster last year as one of the "Rookies" in the first season of WWE NXT.  He was arguably the least impressive of the newbies, and was eliminated about halfway through the competition.

He didn't really stand out in any way other than his goofy hairstyle and sometimes eerie resemblance to John Cena, if John Cena was a black man.  Cena eventually acknowledged the resemblance in an awkward promo where he said that Young looked like the product of his mother's affair with Buckwheat.

A week after WWE ended the first season of NXT, all of the "Rookies," led by competition winner Wade Barrett, hit the ring to ambush John Cena, CM Punk and everyone at ringside.  It was a heated, wild angle that got a lot of buzz online, in addition to getting Daniel Bryan temporarily fired for breaking WWE policy about choking people with weapons on TV (he was rehired before his severance pay period ended).

The new group became known as The Nexus and their feud with the WWE kept going well for a couple months.  A Nexus vs Team WWE elimination tag match at SummerSlam ended up being the climax of the feud.

In a miscalculation, Team WWE won the match.  The feud had legs, but it got killed dead there.  Making things even worse, time management issues sped up John Cena's comeback after a brutal looking DDT on the bare floor when he was the last Team WWE member standing, and it made The Nexus look ineffective.

The Nexus continued to feud with Cena, but they lost any steam they had.  Young was kicked out of the group during this period.  He became a bottom of the card babyface on Raw before returning to NXT in March for the "NXT Redemption" season.

NXT had been off American TV for six months since Syfy refused to carry it in addition to SmackDown.  It's become a lame duck show, as the original concept often seems like it's been abandoned, and the Redemption season seems destined to never end.

In addition, two NXT pros (Chavo Guerrero and Vladimir Kozlov) have been released from their WWE contracts during its run.  Now, one of the remaining three rookies (the other two are Derrick Bateman and Titus O'Neill) is suspended.