Just when you thought that Sin Cara was out of the doghouse for his perceived attitude problems and he was safe to return as soon as his 30 day suspension for a failed steroid test was up, this story has taken yet another perplexing turn. Yesterday, in a subscriber only update, f4wonline.com broke the news that Cara would be returning earlier than originally reported, at the Smackdown tapings this coming Tuesday night in Sacramento. WWE hasn't always rigidly stuck to the terms of their own Wellness policy, so the initial explanation for this strange development was that they were shaving time off his suspension.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case. As Bryan Alvarez later clarified, in order to abide by Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde's suspension but still have the Sin Cara character appear on the tapings, FCW developmental wrestler Hunico may don Cara's costume and pretend to be the real Sin Cara until he's ready to return. For those unfamiliar with Hunico's background, David Bixenspan of Bleacher Report explained why Hunico is the only wrestler on WWE's roster that could potentially pull off such a ruse. He actually used the Mistico gimmick in Mexico first as a local wrestler in Ciudad Juarez, before CMLL stole the ring name for Alvirde in 2004 who they wanted to repackage and give a major push to, and CMLL somehow was able to use their influence to stop Hunico from using that name.

It still seems bizarre that WWE would be so impatient to get the Cara character back up and running that they'd use a doppelganger for a week, even though they are touring some cities in California with large Hispanic populations during that week. Like Dave Meltzer on yesterday's Wrestling Observer Radio, I smell shenanigans. I think this is being done to send a message to Alvirde that he's replaceable if he doesn't buck up his ideas and stop being a "real jerk" who acts like his sh*t doesn't stink in their locker room. If no-one notices that it's someone else under the mask, then WWE may even decide to fire Alvirde and give the position to Hunico full time.