Main-event WWE SmackDown! wrestler Randy Orton was suspended indefinitely by WWE (with a sixty day minimum) this past week following a major incident that only worsened his already poor backstage reputation.
According to the Wrestling-Observer Newsletter, the final incident occurred at some point in Chicago-it is being called a “near disaster,” and the feeling is that if Orton were not a top name, he would have been fired for his actions.
But by no means was this an isolated incident. It was Orton’s behavior that initially prompted WWE management to give Kurt Angle the title vacated by Batista.
And, while Orton avoided a suspension due to being booked for the WrestleMania main-event, an incident after No Way Out forced WWE to nix giving him the title at the ‘Mania pay-per-view.
These individual incidents only increased management’s disapproval of Orton’s behavior; he was specifically notorious for disrepecting female WWE workers.
Although the feeling is that by posting news of his suspension, WWE is practically confirming Randy Orton will come back, other insiders are not so sure that is the case and are even less sure that it will be in sixty days. There is already feeling within WWE that SmackDown! needs to create a new top heel; a returning Ken Kennedy could receive the chance to fill that slot.
