The WWE won’t have to worry about finding Randy Orton a new opponent at No Way Out. The company officially announced on WWE.com that Orton has been suspended for 60 days due to a second violation of the company wellness policy.
[adinserter block=”2″]”In accordance with its Talent Wellness Program, WWE has suspended Randy Orton for 60 days effective today for his second violation of the company’s policy.”
This is a crushing blow to the WWE and Orton. Orton now becomes the second headliner to earn a suspension in the last week. Chris Jericho was suspended over the weekend after an incident at WWE show in Brazil. Rey Mysterio was also suspended a few weeks ago although Rey is currently not wrestling.
Orton is now a two-time offender of the Wellness Policy and could be fired with a third infraction. Three years ago I would have expected this kind of behavior from Orton. However, it appeared that Orton had really turned his lifestyle around over the last couple of years. I became a big Orton fan after watching his DVD which showed the devotion Orton had to his family. Additionally, Orton seemed a lot more mature than his previous wild days. The news is certainly a surprise to me.
Orton’s problems with drugs have been well documented. Orton covered his past drug issues on the DVD mentioned above. Orton described an experience on the DVD in which he almost died. Between that and his recent history of concussion issues, one has to wonder how many more years Orton has or wants in the pro wrestling business.
In addition to his out of the ring maturity, I felt that Orton turned a corner last year. I nominated Orton as the Wrestler of the Year for 2011 on the Camel Clutch Blog. I felt that Orton had his best series of matches last year with Christian, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, and others. I expected Orton to get another title run on SmackDown. He didn’t and I’d be shocked if he gets one in the near future.
[adinserter block=”1″]Orton should be back in time for SummerSlam 2012. Ironically he was at one time considered to be an opponent for Brock Lesnar on the show. I’d imagine that he won’t be trusted with anything nearly as prominent after the suspension.
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The way I see it, this is really an opportunity for someone else to step up and take the ball. With this being Orton's second Wellness suspension (well, fourth, if you count the other two that were also drug-related), there's a good chance Orton's main event status is going to go bye-bye, if for no other reason than to teach him a lesson.
I don't know why WWE athletes can't do whatever they want to their bodies. It's acting! No one says that we gotta get the Coke outa Hollywood.
Let them do drugs until they kill themselves for our entertainment!
Ziggler's gotta be pissed about this. Any chance, though, that Orton might need the time off anyway and WWE is covering tracks by announcing the suspension of a top guy as if to say that no one is untouchable?