R-Truth: A Huge Missed Opportunity?

[Mustang Sally]

Originally Posted by Chuck Finley

Truth is hilarious, plays his character very well, and is extremely entertaining. He is a perfect guy for the mid card.

That's about the size of it. His psycho gimmick was fun for awhile, but stuff like that doesn't have a very long shelf life; I thought it was getting a little tired after a few months. Even now, while he hasn't totally abandoned "little Jimmy," he's doing a toned-down version of it.

The gimmick didn't fail.....in fact, it succeeded. Truth wrestled at the top of the card for a time and acquitted himself well. The problem is, he's not really a main event performer. He's a decent singles wrestler and works well as a tag partner, but Ron Killings has never been star material. I believe his career has proceeded exactly as it should.

[Jack-Hammer]

I enjoyed what they were doing with R-Truth but, in all honesty, I don't think I could see the guy as a main eventer, at least not in the long term. If I'm not mistaken, Truth did compete in a few WWE Championship matches here & there during his push last year. But as a consistent presence in the main event spot? Personally, I don't see it.

That's not to say that Truth wasn't doing a great job. I liked he how could instantly go from being goofily funny to threatening & menacing at the snap of a finger. At the same time though, I don't believe most people really took Truth all that seriously. I believe most people were enjoying what he was doing but, then again, it seems that most people also enjoy what Santino & Hornswoggle do, and neither of them have main eventer written on them either.

[shooter_mcgavin]

Originally Posted by Psyclone

again the people you mentioned were all already main eventers when they had problems.... When truth got his suspension the writers were forced to split miz and truth up thus de-facto turning truth face... I'm sure they did not want to do that (at least that early) but they had to do it quickly and because it was so sudden it kind of killed his crowd reaction (at least from what it was beforehand)...

When the 30 days were up he wasn't getting the same reaction he had before and thus he's stayed mid card....

He wasn't getting the reaction because they turned him face. I mean with that gimmick it was almost like 1996/early 1997 Mankind. Turning him face probably halted the momentum.

I don't see why the suspension would force him to part with The Miz. It's not like an injury, when you belong to a stable, is going to change your face/heel affiliation. Just write them off for a month.

Also regarding the previous violators. Jeff Hardy was not a main eventer yet. He was an upper midcarder that was on the verge of breaking the class ceiling but not a main eventer.

Edit: also i don't see why the level of punishment should be different for people caught taking drugs. Especially at the time when mainstream reports were linking drugs with Wrestler's deaths. This was huge news imagine I live in a 3rd world country in South East Asia and this whole drug issues made it to our local papers. With this issue escalating in a world wide scale, deciding to have a lighter punishment (or in some cases no punishment) just feels wrong IMO.

[Negrodamus]

When he first started his Heel Gimmick when it had the subliminal angry black man feel he had the crowd.

Then they turned him just crazy which IMO was the beginning of the down slide. his character began to suck then the pairing with Miz and further made him look like a crazy idiot.

Then they wanted to make money off of the little jimmy t-shirts and made him a face they should have kept him heel and sold the same amount of shirts.

You always hear the same thing about them they are athletic, they can put on good matches but I dont know why they cant get over blah blah blah

For a black character to make it they have to become heel and use the race card to further their character or an over the top black stereotype and get known get some real heat they need to find a way to connect with the predominantly white crowd.

Then the one that can stand out can go face and make it if they have mic skills like the rock when he changes his ways.

Its nothing racist but to be over you have to have some kind of connection with the crowd something they can relate to something they understand and can root for or against.

[jeritroll94]

Yep, they did drop the ball with The Truth.

I wish they never broke up The Awesome Truth! The whole conspiracy storyline was very good up until Survivor Series against Cena and Rock because weeks leading up to it saw Cena get the better of them by himself! Awesome Truth was very entertaining and the crowd loved to boo them but also have a laugh with R-Truth's ridiculous comments (Miz I just had an epiphipanany).

R-Truth's heel turn came out of nowhere which is what was so good about it at first. In my opinion it was the one of the best heel turns since Jericho in 2008. We thought that he would finally get his chance until Jo-Mo got involved and beat him for his spot in the triple threat. Then he just went beserk and brought this new crazy mean streak which is what made him an upper card player.

[gasM]

I really enjoyed his work when he came over from TNA. This was shortly before I fell out of love with wrestling for a year or two, and he was one of the few guys I looked forward to seeing wrestle - even if the faux-rapper gimmick was a bit of a cringefest.
I came back to wrestling in the build up to Wrestlemania 28 and I couldn't believe that he hadn't progressed in the card. I missed the whole heel turn and Awesome Truth story, so perhaps his work has gone majorly downhill, but I always thought he'd be a SmackDown! main eventer, moving around the WHC picture and maybe some upper midcard feuds on Raw, not being used as a jobber.

[DX Mols]

I think R-Truth sucks. His crazy routine got old as soon as he came back from suspension as a face. As a heel, it was perfect. They should have brought him to the ring in a straightjacket a la Mankind or Abyss and unlocked him for his matches. That would have been a great gimmick.

Now he's just someone who needs to be future endeavored and sent back to TNA.

[Luthien]

I really enjoy watching R-Truth, he is very good at what he does. He puts on a good mach, is good on the mic and plays the mental character very well.
As to whether WWE dropped the ball...
As good as I think he is, R-Truth is not right for the main events in WWE at the moment. There are no gimmicky Superstars at the top of the ranks anymore, and so having someone who could be a comic book super-villain up with them just wouldn't work, regardless of their skills.

Unfortunately, due to his age, it probably won't happen, but with the influx of more gimmicky Superstars, and rebranding of a lot of the original non gimmicky ones, he may well have fitted in with the main eventers in a few years time. Right now I don't think the ball was dropped.

[TheChosenOne10]

idk if Truth would have ever won a world title but he could easily could have been a guy who was viewed as a viable threat. He was great as a heel, the whole conspiracy angle, also the smoking thing was an interesting part. Him needing breaks during matches was comical but very heel worthy. He would have fit over on SD very well. I was surprised how fast he moved up and i was loving it. It was fresh and different. But instead for some reason Miz had to attack him splitting them up and having a pathetic non existing feud that lead nowhere. They should have just pulled them apart by having HHH send Truth to SD to split them up and continue to keep him a heel.

[asiatic7]

I hate to say this, but the heel R-Truth got over too good. It forced him to react to what the fans wanted ("Don't 'WHAT' me!... OK you can 'WHAT' me.) He played up the fans antics and it turned him face again and now, he's back where he started before the John Morrison angle. He's dancin' and rapping and that shit got him nowhere! Sure he still has Little Jimmy, but it's not the same. I think his time came and went sadly enough... His career just got...GOT!