"At twenty-six, does Randy Orton realize he's an idiot?" - Bryan Alvarez
"He can't." - Dave Meltzer
Right now in WWE, there are several wrestlers who, for a variety of reasons, seem to be on the cusp. They may have bright futures in the company or they may be fired tomorrow. Neither would come as a great surprise. Chris Masters recently returned to Raw after rehabilitating a pain pill addiction. He lost all his mass, which was largely the reason he was given a spot on Raw in the first place. He has been jobbing like crazy and one can't help but speculate that WWE will either ship him off to Ohio Valley Wrestling or Deep South or even reconsider his employment altogether. Jeff Hardy has made a surprising return to WWE recently. He's hugely popular with the fans but it would not take much for Hardy to get into the doghouse. Namely a regression into his old ways. Shannon Moore has not won himself much praise in the eyes of Vince McMahon lately. Balls Mahoney just failed a urine test for God knows what. The Great Khali could either be pushed as a legitimate main eventer or fired for gross incompetence tomorrow. Wrestling is a funny business.
The biggest name of all the current "problem children" of the WWE roster, the man with the most to lose and the best chance for a successful career is Randy Orton. While many wrestlers' alleged backstage attitudes are difficult to prove by fans and newsletter writers, Orton's transgressions in and out of wrestling are constantly made public. So his behaviour is more than mere speculation. Let's take a quick look back at Orton's past before delving into his various problems this year.
Even before entering the world of professional wrestling, Orton's defiant attitude got him into trouble. During a brief stint in the United States Marine Corps, Orton went AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) on two different occassions. One was for eighty-two days. For these acts, as well as disobeying his commanding officer, Orton was court martialed, convicted, sent to a military prison for thirty days and dishonorably discharged from the Marines. Randy certainly isn't the only wrestler to have a checkered past, though. Was this just a lapse in judgment and a youthful indiscretion or the start of a pattern?
Not long after joining WWE, Orton achieved a small dose of success. He won the Intercontinental Championship, had a great feud and a big win over Mick Foley, and eventually he became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history, just barely edging out Brock Lesnar. However, his on-screen accomplishments were sometimes overshadowed by his backstage antics and cocky attitude. Here is one example. Two WWE divas, Amy Weber and Rochelle Lowen, accused Orton of harrassment. Lowen even claimed that Orton vandalized her belongings, which prompted the ever-present but very difficult to prove rumor (that's probably all it is, by the way) about her gym bags. You know the one. The dirty one.
In April of this year, WWE released a public statement that Randy Orton had been suspended for sixty days for unprofessional conduct. What this meant exactly, we did not know. However, after weeks of digging and even Orton coming clean about some of it in a WWE Magazine interview, much has been made clear. All the reasons probably will never be known but here are a few.
First, the issue with Orton disrespecting women backstage never stopped. After having his trouble with two Raw divas, he was said to be just as rude to their Smackdown counterparts. In said magazine interview, Orton acknowledged this but basically downplayed it a bit. Every major newsletter seemed to indicate that it was more serious than Orton claimed. If he, a main event player at the time, could be suspended for it, logically it would have to be. Second, it was said (but less was made of this) that Orton's attitude rubbed the male locker room the wrong way as well. Third, Orton constantly broke the rules. Most notably the dress code. He was fined many times for it but must have brushed it off as not a big deal because he continued to do it until he was suspended. Finally, Orton may have had "wellness" issues. In the interview, he indicated that part of the reason for his suspension was that he was stooged out by someone for doing drugs. It was said to be only marijuana, so it is likely that this was a small part of the reasoning behind the suspension. It is largely believed that smoking pot in WWE, even in the new climate of the wellness policy, is considered only punishable if it affects a wrestler's work habits or is made very public like it was with Rob Van Dam.
Many wrestlers have been fined for dress code violations. It happens, and if it is rare, not much is probably made of it. Many wrestlers have had backstage conflicts with other wrestlers. It is part of the business. That being said, all of these things must have become so out of control that WWE was forced to suspend -- for a considerably long time, by the way -- their top heel on a brand that was desperately needing ratings. Not only that but Orton was said to have been on his way to another World Heavyweight Championship reign at the time. With all of that baggage, Orton could not be the face of Smackdown.
In fact, when his sixty days were finally up, he could not be on Smackdown at all! A lot of us were surprised by this. Smackdown's top talents were being depleted at the time. Reading between the lines, it can be speculated that his reputation was so tarnished among that roster that he needed to make a fresh start and was sent to Raw. Once he started working on Monday nights again, things started to look up for Orton. He was put in a high profile feud with Hulk Hogan. It could have done wonders for his heel status. Unfortunately, the feud wasn't all it could have been but it was more a creative problem than Orton's. He did his job just fine.
Then...he screwed up again. Orton violated the wellness policy, which probably meant that he failed a urine test. Again, because of marijuana getting a free pass unless it becomes a serious issue, it is probably more than weed. Whatever the reason, Orton was caught violating company rules again, making this the second major disciplinary action taken against him within only half a year. Although, unlike his previous suspension, Orton has not been taken off television. WWE recently amended their wellness policy. Because there were so many violations this year and television was forced to be rewritten too much, the punishments are now mostly short-term financial. Orton will not be paid for about a month. He will still make TV appearances and wrestle matches so as not to ruin the storylines in which Orton was involved prior to his wellness violation. He will be essentially working for no pay.
So where does Randy Orton go from here? The rumor mill says he is being groomed for a feud with Triple H and later a WWE Championship shot against John Cena. Of course, one wonders how many strikes he has left. Orton is in a strange place right now. More than anyone else with heat with management. The next few months could be critical to his career.
Years from now, will Randy Orton be one of the biggest success stories in this generation...or a cautionary tale?
