Randy Orton is the first WWE wrestler to fail a drug test under the
WWE Talent Wellness Program's new guidelines - which recently went
into effect. Despite his failure in a recent drug test, he will not
be pulled off the road. He will continue to appear on both TV and
PPV shows, but as a general rule, he is not supposed to appear on
house shows for 30 days. Orton didn't appear at any house shows this
weekend. For that matter, he hasn't appeared at a house show in
about a month.

Under the old guidelines, Orton would have been taken off the road
for 30 days due to suspension. Also, he would have lost one month's
worth of salary. Under the new guidelines, he will continue to work
TV and PPV shows, but he will only have his road expenses covered
and receive no bonuses for the shows. The only non-change in the new
guidelines is that he will have his downside guarantee docked for 30
days.

WWE recently changed their guidelines because they didn't want to
have to interrupt storylines or change PPV matches if a wrestler was
to fail a drug test. WWE officials weren't happy with how things
went down for the Great American Bash PPV back in July, and with the
results for drug tests for RAW talent just now coming in, they
didn't want to risk messing up their plans for the Unforgiven PPV.

credit: Dave Meltzer