Randy Orton appeared at Saturday night’s Raw house show in Terre Haute, Indiana in a title match with John Cena. Cena retained his title by pinning Orton after an FU. Due to Orton’s appearance at the house show, his WWE status remains highly unclear at the moment. We should know at by the end of tonight’s Raw taping if he’s been suspended or not by the company. If his title match at Unforgiven with Cena is still on, then obviously he hasn’t been suspended. Wrestlers within the company are under the belief that Orton hasn’t been suspended. In a press release sent out on Friday by WWE for the Raw house show, they were still advertising a match between Orton and John Cena. On the other hand, Umaga and Mr. Kennedy were pulled off the press release after apparently being on it before.
Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday night that Orton received Somatropin (HGH), Nandrolone (anabolic steroid) and Stanozolol (anabolic steroid) through Signature Pharmacy from September 2004 until the firm was busted in February 2007. Stanozolol and Nandrolone are anabolic steroids. As noted several times before, buying steroids and other drugs through the Internet is prohibited by the WWE Wellness Policy and could result in a suspension. In Orton’s case, it would be his second offense, which would call for a 60-day suspension.
— Conspicuous by their absence were the previously advertised Umaga and Mr. Kennedy. It definitely appears as though that those two individuals are facing suspensions. This notion especially rings true in the case of Umaga because WWE is advertising an Intercontinental Championship match between him and Jeff Hardy to kick off tonight’s Raw taping.
Mr. Kennedy claimed in a recent interview that he stopped doing steroids cold turkey as soon as the WWE Wellness Policy was instituted in February 2006. According to Sports Illustrated, between October 2006 and February 2007, Kennedy received Anastrozole (which is not a steroid, but used to counter affects of steroids such as development of female breast tissue), Somatropin (a Growth Hormone) and testosterone, which is an anabolic steroid. Regarding Umaga, according to Sports Illustrated he received Somatropin through Sigature Pharmacy between July and December 2006. Somatropin is a Human Growth Hormone drug. Considering that it is a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy to purchase drugs through an Internet firm, one would have to assumed that both individuals are facing suspensions from WWE because both of them did just that.
— King Booker was listed on a press release on Friday, but had never been advertised previously. However, he didn’t appear at Saturday night’s Raw house show. No announcement was made regarding his absence, or Kennedy and Umaga for that matter. It was reported by The New York Daily News on Thursday that Booker was a client of the busted Signature Pharmacy firm, but his name was never implicated in the back-breaking article by Sports Illustrated. For the time being, Booker is innocent until proven guilty, although, Mike “Simon Dean” Bucci faced punishment for being named by the media as he was let go on Friday night by the company, even though his name was never brought up in the Sports Illustrated article. Considering that Booker is a high-profile performer for WWE who appears on television every single week, we should know by tonight if he’s been suspended or not by the company.
— Between August 2006 and January 2007, Charlie Haas was prescribed a multitude of drugs through Signature Pharmacy including Anastrozole, Somatropin, Stanozolol, Nandrolone and Chorionic Gonadotropin. Conspicuous by his absence was Shelton Benjamin’s tag team partner, who didn’t appear on the card. Benjamin wrestled Super Crazy in a singles matchup. Considering that Haas purchased several shipments of drugs over the Internet when that is a direct violation of the WWE Wellness Policy, there is reason to believe that Haas is one of the eleven suspended wrestlers. Haas’ status hinges on whether Shelton Benjamin wrestles on his own or not at tonight’s Raw/Heat taping.
— William Regal didn’t appear at the Raw house show either. Then again, he’s not a full-time wrestler anymore, and the General Managers rarely appear at house show events anyway. According to Sports Illustrated, Regal received Stanozolol, Somatropin, Genotropin, and Anastrozole between November 2004 and November 2006 through Signature Pharmacy. Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid. Somatropin and Genotropin are Growth Hormone drugs. Anastrozole, while not a steroid, is used to counter the affects of steroids such as the development of female breast tissue. Regal’s doings are most definitely in violation of the WWE Wellness Policy because he purchased drugs through the Internet. Seeing how he is the General Manager of Raw, which is a high-profile position that requires him to appear on television every week, we should know his WWE status by the end of tonight. If he doesn’t make an appearance at tonight’s Raw taping, then he was likely suspended.
— Anthony “Santino Marella” Carelli didn’t appear at Saturday night’s Raw house show. Though it should be noted that hs is currently out of action due to a shoulder injury he suffered in a match with Umaga at a house show about a month ago. He hasn’t wrestled since that time. It was reported by The New York Daily News on Thursday that Carelli was a client of the busted Signature Pharmacy firm, but his name was never implicated in the Sports Illustrated article. He didn’t appear on last week’s Raw, but it was likely because the creative team had nothing for him on the show. If Carelli appears at tonight’s Raw taping, than he was likely cleared of any wrong doing.
— To sum everything up, judging by the results of WWE’s two shows last night, John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga and Charlie Haas appear to be the wrestlers most likely to be suspended. As of tonight, the status of six more wrestlers including Randy Orton, King Booker, William Regal, Santino Marella, Chris Masters and Funaki remains unclear. Two more wrestlers in Adam “Edge” Copeland and Gregory Helms — who were both listed in the Sports Illustrated article — are currently out of action indefinitely due to their respective injuries. By process of elimination, we should know if they’ve been suspended or not sooner or later. Batista has likely been cleared of any undoing because he’s scheduled to compete in a match at Unforgiven. Take Batista away, and that leaves thirteen wrestlers implicated by the media as clients of Signature Pharmacy who have yet to be cleared of any wrong doing. According to WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, eleven wrestlers were suspended. At the very least, two wrestlers on the list appear to be innocent.
According to Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch, Randy Orton will not be suspended by WWE despite his name turning up as a client for the corrupt Signature Pharmacy online firm. Things do indeed appear to be in Orton’s favor considering that he appeared at last night’s Raw house show whereas the other wrestlers listed as being clients of Signature Pharmacy didn’t.
WWE is telling people that Orton fessed up to his dealings with Signature Pharmacy a few months ago, and somehow “already did his time.” Most of the guys in the locker room are not buying it at all and see this as WWE trying to get out of losing him right now when they need him in his high-profile storyline with John Cena.
Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday night that Orton received Somatropin (HGH), Nandrolone (anabolic steroid) and Stanozolol (anabolic steroid) through Signature Pharmacy from September 2004 until the firm was busted in February 2007. Stanozolol and Nandrolone are anabolic steroids. As noted several times before, buying steroids and other drugs through the Internet is prohibited by the WWE Wellness Policy and should result in a suspension. In Orton’s case, it would have been his second offense, which would have called for a 60-day suspension.
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt noted on Friday night that only one of the eleven wrestlers suspended is a two-time WWE Wellness Policy offender. Out of the fourteen WWE wrestlers listed as being clients of Signature Pharmacy, only Orton and Masters have previous Wellness Policy violations under their belt. Considering that Orton appears to be safe, it looks like Masters is the mysterious second-time offender. Masters didn’t appear at last night’s SmackDown taping. At last Tuesday’s SmackDown taping, it looked he was starting a program with Chuck Palumbo after he chickened out of doing a Masterlock Challenge with him.
