Wrestling Journalist Claims Randy Orton Attempted Suicide

RebelRockChick

Well known wrestling journalist and author of the book “Wrestling Babylon”, Irv Muchnick claimed today in a blog post on his web site that well-placed sources within WWE have told him that Randy Orton recently attempted suicide.

Below is an excerpt from his web site:

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.

It’s already clear that WWE’s response to the Signature revelations — generated by the district attorney in Albany, New York, and reported by Sports Illustrated and others — is a joke. Some vague number of the miscreant wrestlers, not named, were “suspended,” 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. Orton’s Signature Pharmacy order marked, at the very least, his second “strike” under WWE’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 “gotcha” or even taste (Orton acquired the gimmick “Legend Killer” after WWE blithely turned Eddie Guerrero’s 2005 death into just another “angle”). It’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

Fozzy

He's got an update from today here:

Orton: Further Notes
Brian Stull invited me onto his “Stranglehold” show Tuesday night on KFNS radio in St. Louis to discuss the blog report on Randy Orton’s rumored suicide attempt.

Off the air, Stull had spoken with Cowboy Bob Orton, Randy’s father. Bob Orton told Stull the report was false. Bob Orton also said he had spoken with his son, and Randy said he had no idea where this rumor started.

I have little doubt that the story is substantially true, though the time frame of my original blog item (http://muchnick.net/babylon/2007/09/18/did-randy-orton-attempt-suicide/) was mistaken. The Randy Orton incident, whatever it was, occurred in the spring of 2006, shortly after he was suspended by World Wrestling Entertainment for “unprofessional conduct,” and a few months before he was suspended a second time, in August of last year, for failing a drug test.

I compared notes on this with another journalist, who not only has unimpeachable credentials but also had looked into the same story last year on the basis of a tip from a completely different direction. Independently, we each had the name of the St. Louis area hospital where Orton was said to have been taken (and, no, it’s not some generic name like “St. Louis Hospital”).

Likeliest explanation: Randy was depressed and OD’d on something.

The Orton camp’s contention that there is neither smoke nor fire here is, sadly, not the case. Indeed, WWE’s vice president of talent relations (now senior vice president) John Laurinaitis was concerned enough about the rumor last year to investigate it himself. Laurinaitis talked to Randy and others, and concluded that there had not been a suicide attempt. I would say that such a finding is hardly dispositive, given the company’s nonexistent reservoir of credibility these days.

Like his many fans, I hope Randy Orton will be OK. If he is relying solely or largely on the WWE wellness policy to regulate his drug use and mental hygiene, however, I am not confident on that score.

Suicide attempt or not — and I stand by the report that there was one in the spring of 2006 — WWE needs to explain why Randy Orton was not suspended for 60 days upon exposure of his role in the recent Signature Pharmacy dragnet. The explanation that Orton’s August 2006 suspension already covered this wellness policy violation does not wash, since the evidence shows that he continued to receive Signature shipments as late as February 2007.

Are these questions impertinent three months after the Chris Benoit horror?

Or would a fair-minded observer agree that they are newly urgent?

Irvin Muchnick

I suppose it might help explain why WWE didn't want to take him off tv during his biggest run in years, but I wouldn't expect any conclusive story to emerge

Vince135792003

I think this should have been kept private. Releasing the names of people who fail a drug test is one thing but this obviously something different.

If its true, I hope he gets or has gotten the help he needs.

I'd be a little cautious about the source though. He's been on figure four a few times (and will be on today) and I've not been that impressed by him. He's an intelligent guy but I've seen people refer to him as the ambulance chasing wrestling journalist which I think is a good description of how I feel about him.

Even his own website is a bit "Look at me" and of course when you have a book on Benoit coming out publicity always helps. Here's his website: http://wrestling.muchnick.net/ Again though it could very well be true but maybe somethings should be kept private.

ShawnRaven

Mneh, I'll take this with a pinch of salt. This was like Kurt Angle's suicide watch in 2005!

VR!

DRakE

hope its not true

krudler

heard an update on this apparently Orton attempted to repeatedly kick himself in the head and after several failed attempts put a resthold on himself for 10 minutes but got bored

ShawnRaven

krudler wrote:

heard an update on this apparently Orton attempted to repeatedly kick himself in the head and after several failed attempts put a resthold on himself for 10 minutes but got bored

Actually i heard this one too believe it or not!
I also heard Meltzer rated it *****'s too!

VR!

Double C

I heard what happened was someone called Orton a legend and instantly he tried to kill himself.


**This may or may not be someone else's joke.**

nacho libre

Double C wrote:

I heard what happened was someone called Orton a legend and instantly he tried to kill himself.


**This may or may not be someone else's joke.**

Terry

The suicide whispers mark the problem as more than a game of “gotcha” or even taste (Orton acquired the gimmick “Legend Killer” after WWE blithely turned Eddie Guerrero’s 2005 death into just another “angle”). It’s a matter of life and death.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but hasn't he been using the "Legend killer" gimmick for a bit longer than that?
That just looks like sensatonalism to me.

Vince135792003 wrote:

I think this should have been kept private. Releasing the names of people who fail a drug test is one thing but this obviously something different.

I disagree.
Suicide should not be swept under the rug.

If someone with a high profile attempts suicide, all the details leading to it should be released. It may actually help others.

Aside from that, whether it is true or not, it just looks like tabloid journalism at best.

Vince135792003

Would it help Orton though (assuming its true and by going on what I've read further by Muchnick on his sources and Ortons history, its not a great leap to make)? I'd have my doubts about that. It's his mental health and well being at the core of this and thats why I think it should be a private matter.

If he agreed to it and was willing to talk about what he'd been through after he felt he had gotten through it, I'd agree with you. He could help others by talking about it by giving the issue a public face. But Irv Muchnick doesn't know how Orton's metal health is right now and I think you've got to treat the issue with more respect than he did.

My gut feeling was at the time when I read it was if I was Randy Orton, how would I feel if this had been leaked out when up to now its been private. I think it should be Randy Orton's decision to make it public. Not Irv Muchnick in a blog.

ShawnRaven

Terry wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but hasn't he been using the "Legend killer" gimmick for a bit longer than that?
That just looks like sensatonalism to me.

You're not wrong. He started using it a few weeks before Survivor Series 2003.
VR!

Terry

Vince, you make a good point there.
I concede to your better judgement.

Fozzy

Terry wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but hasn't he been using the "Legend killer" gimmick for a bit longer than that?
That just looks like sensatonalism to me.

The guy who reported it posted an updated story a few hours after the one quoted above, saying that he'd gotten e-mails from people saying that Orton was using the legend killer gimmick before then, but he said it's fair to say that an added emphasis was put on it in the wake of Eddie's death