Widely published wrestling journalist and author of the book âWrestling Babylonâ, 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.
Itâs already clear that WWEâs response to the Signature revelations â” generated by the district attorney in Albany, New York, and reported by Sports Illustrated and others â” is a joke. Some vague number of the miscreant wrestlers, not named, were âsuspended,â 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. Ortonâs Signature Pharmacy order marked, at the very least, his second âstrikeâ under WWEâs 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 âgotchaâ or even taste (Orton acquired the gimmick âLegend Killerâ after WWE blithely turned Eddie Guerreroâs 2005 death into just another âangleâ). Itâs 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
