Widely published wrestling journalist and author of the book â<80><9c>Wrestling Babylonâ<80>, Irv Muchnick, posted an update on his website claiming that well-placed sources within WWE have told him that Randy Orton recently attempted suicide. Muchnick was a guest on various TV programs when the Benoit tragedy was all over the news.
The following is an excerpt from his website:
A rumor is swirling that World Wrestling Entertainment star Randy Orton attempted suicide within the last year. Very well-placed wrestling sources tell me that the rumor is true. In the wake of the June murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and the scandal involving scads of WWE performers who ordered steroids and human growth hormone from the Internet gray-market dealer Signature Pharmacy, this is serious stuff.
Itâ<80><99>s already clear that WWEâ<80><99>s response to the Signature revelations â<80>” generated by the district attorney in Albany, New York, and reported by Sports Illustrated and others â<80>” is a joke. Some vague number of the miscreant wrestlers, not named, were â<80><9c>suspended,â<80> but the suspension appears to have consisted of simply being downgraded for a few weeks in TV storylines.
From the same evidence, Randy Orton was not touched at all. That is more than a little strange. Ortonâ<80><99>s Signature Pharmacy order marked, at the very least, his second â<80><9c>strikeâ<80> under WWEâ<80><99>s so-called wellness policy, which would have called for a 60-day (rather than a 30-day) suspension.
The suicide whispers mark the problem as more than a game of â<80><9c>gotchaâ<80> or even taste (Orton acquired the gimmick â<80><9c>Legend Killerâ<80> after WWE blithely turned Eddie Guerreroâ<80><99>s 2005 death into just another â<80><9c>angleâ<80>). Itâ<80><99>s a matter of life and death.
Orton, 27, is a third-generation wrestler. He is engaged to marry Samantha Speno, a part-time gymnastics teacher, this fall. Last year Randy and Samantha moved into a country-club estate in High Ridge, Missouri (suburban St. Louis), complete with a gym, a hot tub, and four decks.
Over to you, WWE.
Irvin Muchnick
