The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that the Michael Hayes incident that cause Hayes’ 60-Day Suspension from the WWE stemmed from a conversation between Hayes and SmackDown Superstar, MVP. A conversation where MVP jokingly told Hayes that Hayes was "more of a n***** than he was". This little joke that MVP used in privacy with Hayes turned into a big scene when Hayes reiterated the same thing when having a later conversation with Mark Henry regarding a new, livelier character for television. Henry took offense to the derogatory term (unbeknownst to Hayes at the time). To make matters worse (and what possibly triggered Vince McMahon getting involved) was that there were several witnesses to this incident. Later on, Hayes playfully headbutted Henry (as an old sign of friendship from the "Fabulous Freebirds" days) and Henry told Hayes to never do that again, which led to another tense moment between the two. Following this follow-up incident, Mark Henry went to Vince McMahon with the story and to everyone’s surprise, McMahon suspended the seemingly untouchable Michal Hayes for 60 days.
In Hayes’ absence, Ed Koskey & Christopher DeJosephs will temporarily take over Hayes’ writing duties for the SmackDown brand. DeJosephs has been the head writer of ECW (and will remain so, despite helping with SmackDown, also) since the release of Dave Lagana and the departure of Dusty Rhodes to FCW.