Roman Reigns Releases Statement Regarding Steroid Accusations
A story involving WWE Intercontinental champion Roman Reigns has been developing in the past 24 hours. Reigns was named as one of the clients of Richard Rodriguez, who was arrested last year for illegally distributing steroids worth around $10 million in the Miami area. Besides Reigns, Rodriguez also claimed that actors Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel were his customers.
According to Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raided Rodriguez’s Iron Addicts gym back in February 2017. Rodriguez was arrested and accused of distributing steroids in the Miami area. He allegedly imported goods from China and manufactured steroids illegally in Arizona.
In an exclusive interview with director John Bravo, Rodriguez said that Reigns was one of his clients and they were introduced to each other by an informant. He just wants to clear his name and one of the ways to do it is by disclosing the people involved in his Wellness Fitness Nutrition company.
“At the end, I’m just trying to clear my name and just make people well aware, there’s a lot more people out there that were involved and are associated with my company that many individuals did not know. One of them in particular is a very famous wrestler by the name of Roman Reigns. He was originally introduced to me by one of the informants.”
In response to the accusations made by Richard Rodriguez, Roman Reigns released a statement through Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet. Reigns denied the allegations made by Rodriguez and he pointed out that he has learned his lesson from two years ago. For those who do not know, Reigns was suspended for 30 days in 2016 for failing the WWE Wellness Policy.
“I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition. I learned from the mistake I made nearly two years ago and paid the penalty for it. Since then, I’ve passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program.”
According to Alfred Konuwa of Forbes, it is still unclear if the WWE will suspend Roman Reigns, who has been the face of the company in the past two years. The WWE acted quickly back in 2007 by suspending 14 superstars named in the Signature Pharmacy steroid scandal. However, the company also has a history of favoring their top superstars.
The WWE did nothing when Brock Lesnar tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2016 while Batista and Randy Orton avoided harsh penalties in 2007 as part of the Signature Pharmacy scandal. It is worth noting that Reigns was suspended for Adderall in 2016 and he has not tested positive for steroids during his WWE career.
Roman Reigns is still the reigning WWE Intercontinental champion. He will defend the title against The Miz on the 25th Anniversary Show of Monday Night Raw. Reigns is also rumored for his fourth straight WrestleMania main event, this time challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.
