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It has been a very bad week for Ariane Andrew, the first week Tough Enough dropout who was miraculously signed to a WWE contract soon thereafter and quickly brought up to the main roster as one of Brodus Clay's Funkadactyls, Cameron. It came out on Tuesday that Cameron had been arrested for a DUI in the early morning of August 24th in her hometown of Tampa, Florida. This shouldn't have been a major problem for her, as many WWE performers have been arrested on similar charges without being punished by the company, but she handled the incident in the worst way possible.
According to TMZ, Cameron failed to notify WWE about what happened and even tried to bribe one of the police officers who arrested her with $10,000 to release her without any charges being filed, apparently because she was so afraid that this screw up could lead to her being fired by WWE. I'm staggered at the jaw dropping naïveté that Cameron displayed by believing that if she kept this quiet her employer's would be none the wiser in this day and age where police reports are published online.
By the time WWE had the chance to investigate the DUI reports, Cameron had already flown to Australia for WWE's tour of the country and performed on the first show in Brisbane, but was mysteriously absent from the second event in Sydney.
We now know that Cameron was sent home from the tour before the third and final date. According to f4wonline.com she has been suspended for 15 days and the suspension will end on Friday, September 14th. Mike Johnson of Pwinsider.com explained the reasoning behind the punishment and whether it will even end there:
There was a lot of heat on her for the company finding out about the arrest from online reports, as opposed to her informing them of the issue. Another factor was the embarrassment of being part of the first act featured on the new WWE children's series, Saturday Morning Slam.
We don't have a confirmation on the length of the suspension but as one person joked, "They suspended Tiffany too, and we never saw her return, so who knows if Cameron will, either?"
Personally, I think she'll be back, because she doesn't bring the emotional baggage with her that Taryn Terrell had at the time she was arrested for getting into a physical fight with her then husband, Drew McIntyre, at a hotel they were staying in.
Though I don't think Cameron should lose her job over this mistake, I don't think the punishment is harsh enough. I think being arrested for a DUI should be treated with the same severity as violations of their Wellness policy are and every WWE performer who gets caught driving after drinking should get an automatic 30 day suspension. In recent years, there has been an epidemic of DUI convictions involving WWE wrestlers and WWE should be making a more serious effort to stamp it out. We know all too well that someone could end up getting seriously hurt or killed.