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What’s the story?
Disgraced former gym owner Richard Rodriguez, who is currently in prison for distributing steroids to his clients, is alleging that one of his clients is WWE superstar and Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns.
During an interview, Rodriguez, who is said to have prescribed steroids to actors Josh Duhamel and Mark Wahlberg, alleges that he met Roman Reigns through an informant, and referred to him as a ''very down-to-earth person”. Rodriguez was arrested for selling $10 million worth of steroid products from China back in February 2017.
Roman has now released a statement on the allegations, first sent to Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.
In case you didn’t know…
These allegations are related to Roman's 30-day suspension in June of 2016 for violating the WWE’s wellness policy. The then WWE Champion didn't suffer too much in the aftermath, other than dropping the title to Seth Rollins the day before his suspension started on, at WWE Money in The Bank. He regained his big push the following month.
The heart of the matter
Roman Reigns released the following statement:
"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."
There is no hard evidence tying Reigns to these allegations other than Richard's words and, other the 30-day suspension in 2016, details regarding which was never made public. Roman publicly apologized for the incident and hasn't been in trouble since.
What’s next?
More evidence could possibly be released but as of right now it is hard to forsee and most seem to believe Roman. Reigns is currently a heavy favorite to win the WWE Royal Rumble on Sunday, January 28, 2018. Whether Roman wins or loses, he is still planned to challenge WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar for the title in the main event of WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans.
Author’s take
Personally I don't know what to believe but it is hard to believe that Roman would put his entire career on the line by getting involved in an illegal steroid operation.
