On June 1, wresting fans were shocked to see R-Truth post on social media that he’d been released from WWE. Mass confusion followed as some fans took his announcement at face value, others thought it was part of a kayfabe storyline, and some suspected Truth might be playing an April Fool’s Day prank, getting the timing wrong as his character so often has in recent years.
Multiple credible sources went on to confirm, though, that the release was real or at least WWE had made the official call not to renew his contract upon expiration. Whether Truth is truly already done or his days are very, very numbered, it’s nonetheless the right time to look back at his remarkable career with the largest wrestling promotion in the world.
K-Kwik Got Rowdy
In 1999, a young star named K-Kwik debuted for WWE, teaming with The Road Dogg. There’s a fuzzy line on whether the rookie could technically be considered part of DX. The generally accepted wisdom, though, is that Road Dogg teaming up with K-Kwik marked the end of that iteration of the stable (though K-Kwik was part of a Survivor Series team with not only his tag partner, but Billy Gunn and Chyna, further blurring the lines).
Together, the two achieved modest success. Before K-Kwik went on to a more forgettable solo run. Ultimately, he fell victim to the Invasion angle as the roster bloated with WCW stars coming in, and he found himself lost in the shuffle and ultimately released from the company in late summer 2001.
R-Truth Was A Mid-Card Staple
By the time R-Truth returned to WWE in 2008, he was a different man. He had since won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship—TNA’s top prize in the early days of the promotion. That’s in addition to reprising his partnership with Road Dogg there as part of 3 Live Kru and striking up other tag team pairings.
So it was that a returned Truth had a lot more in-ring experience, a more chiseled physique, and a fully realized rapping gimmick that helped him stand out as a babyface who enjoyed two reigns as United States Championship as he was firmly planted in the upper mid-card.
Heel R-Truth Broke Through To The Main Event
In 2011, a twist in R-Truth’s story saw him fall out with tag team partner and friend John Morrison as he broached the main event picture. Sure enough, by summer, R-Truth found himself challenging John Cena for the WWE Championship.
Through not fault of his own, Truth had a credibility problem, as he just wasn’t seen on Cena’s level, besides which it felt like WWE was largely killing time before Cena would return his focus to The Rock in time for WrestleMania 28.
In an even more surprising twist, though, an unhinged version of Truth, fueled by paranoia and conspiracy theories, became half of a top heel tag team with The Miz. Highlights included feuding with the tandems of Triple H and CM Punk, then Cena and The Rock themselves.
R-Truth Reinvented Himself As An All-Time Great Comedy Act
Playing crazy offered a natural conduit for Truth to ultimately return to his babyface ways. Little could anyone expect what an institution he’d become as a comedic wrestler—arguably the greatest of all time—making even the most serious heel acts break on live TV.
This is the run that saw Truth strike tag team gold with Kofi Kingston and much later The Miz. He’d also be an eccentric partner to Goldust and Carmella for different runs. Perhaps most memorably of all, Truth was the MVP of the 24/7 Championship, winning the title time and again in increasingly absurd and genuinely funny moments. In what turned out to be the final stretches of his WWE career, highlights included him quasi-joining up with Judgment Day and feuding with his “childhood hero,” John Cena.
In the end, R-Truth’s legacy comes down to themes of versatility, longevity, and making the most of whatever creative WWE handed him. He goes down as one of WWE’s funniest performers of all time and, no less importantly, a clear backstage favorite given the outpouring of support colleagues went on to show him on social media upon word of his release. There will never be anyone kind of like R-Truth, and that’s what’s up.