-- Anthony "Santino Marella" Carelli didn't appear at Saturday night's Raw house show. Though it should be noted that hs is currently out of action due to a shoulder injury he suffered in a match with Umaga at a house show about a month ago. He hasn't wrestled since that time. It was reported by The New York Daily News on Thursday that Carelli was a client of the busted Signature Pharmacy firm, but his name was never implicated in the Sports Illustrated article. He didn't appear on last week's Raw, but it was likely because the creative team had nothing for him on the show. If Carelli appears at tonight's Raw taping, than he was likely cleared of any wrong doing.
-- To sum everything up, judging by the results of WWE's two shows last night, John Morrison, Chavo Guerrero, Mr. Kennedy, Umaga and Charlie Haas appear to be the wrestlers most likely to be suspended. As of tonight, the status of six more wrestlers including Randy Orton, King Booker, William Regal, Santino Marella, Chris Masters and Funaki remains unclear. Two more wrestlers in Adam "Edge" Copeland and Gregory Helms -- who were both listed in the Sports Illustrated article -- are currently out of action indefinitely due to their respective injuries. By process of elimination, we should know if they've been suspended or not sooner or later. Batista has likely been cleared of any undoing because he's scheduled to compete in a match at Unforgiven. Take Batista away, and that leaves thirteen wrestlers implicated by the media as clients of Signature Pharmacy who have yet to be cleared of any wrong doing. According to WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, eleven wrestlers were suspended. At the very least, two wrestlers on the list appear to be innocent.
According to Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch, Randy Orton will not be suspended by WWE despite his name turning up as a client for the corrupt Signature Pharmacy online firm. Things do indeed appear to be in Orton's favor considering that he appeared at last night's Raw house show whereas the other wrestlers listed as being clients of Signature Pharmacy didn't.
WWE is telling people that Orton fessed up to his dealings with Signature Pharmacy a few months ago, and somehow "already did his time." Most of the guys in the locker room are not buying it at all and see this as WWE trying to get out of losing him right now when they need him in his high-profile storyline with John Cena.
Sports Illustrated reported on Thursday night that Orton received Somatropin (HGH), Nandrolone (anabolic steroid) and Stanozolol (anabolic steroid) through Signature Pharmacy from September 2004 until the firm was busted in February 2007. Stanozolol and Nandrolone are anabolic steroids. As noted several times before, buying steroids and other drugs through the Internet is prohibited by the WWE Wellness Policy and should result in a suspension. In Orton's case, it would have been his second offense, which would have called for a 60-day suspension.
Email Updates
Email Story
Print Story
