R-Truth: Best of 2011? 2012 the Year of Truth?

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

R-Truth was recently suspended for violating the WWE's wellness policy, and will likely make his return on the first Raw of 2012. Unlike some I believe he will be welcomed back, and will not suffer many long-term repercussions from his most recent slap on the wrist. I got thinking, and I realized how good R-Truth has been in 2011. I've always been a big fan of his talent, and more important his look, but this really was a break-out year for Mr. Killings. To review:

Truth had a mediocre start, but after WrestleMania he began fighting his way into the WWE Championship picture. After successfully gaining entrance into a Triple Threat cage match for the title, he lost his spot after risking it to John Morrison. This would eventually lead to one of the best heel turns in recent memory, as Truth destroyed JoMo and lit the cigarette that signified his turn.

After an entertaining feud with Rey Mysterio that Truth won, he went on to face John Cena and all the "little Jimmys" at Capitol Punishment for the WWE Championship. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy this feud (it was un-orthodox, but oddly brilliant) but the match was half-way decent as well. Severely under-rated, most likely because of Truth's lack of popularity at the time, when most fans thought others such as Alberto del Rio deserved the spotlight. I also loved the Tables match that Truth eventually won against John Cena, which would lead to the CM Punk "shoot promo" immediately after.

His teaming with Miz was fairly successful, as the two made an insane tag team. Their ring was was moderate at best, but the dicotomy of their characters was perfect. Over-serious nut jobs reigned supreme, and went on to face not only Triple H and CM Punk in a PPV main event, but John Cena and the Rock at Survivor Series. With the Miz turning on him and laying him out due to the suspension, I await his return with moderately high anticipation. If 2011 was any indication of how WWE feels about Killings, I think 2012 could be a huge break-out year for him as a face.

If the rumor mill comes to fruition and John Cena does turn heel, Raw will need a secondary face under CM Punk and truly believe that Truth could play that role. Had you asked me a year ago if R-Truth could be one of the more successful faces in the business in 2012, I'd have called you crazy. But he has learned how to captivate a crowd with boo's, and simply needs to transition that into a strong face reaction. The crowd hates Miz so much it won't really matter regardless, as a return feud with him could put Truth on the map. I may be completely off-base, and he may be fired as soon as his contract comes to a close. But I think there's a damn good chance R-Truth is one of the break-out stars of 2012.

Thoughts?

 

[The_Sharpshooter]

There's only four people in 2011 that moved up the card to me: CM Punk, Mark Henry, ALBERTO DEL RIO, and R Truth. Out of all those men, R Truth was the least likely to make his move. I remember around WM time when Michael Cole was harassing Truth for his entrance, I was thinking it was a way to start wheening you off of him for his release. Boy, am I glad I'm wrong.

You remember the Conspiracy talk? Best conversation one man had with himself all year. Him convincing Miz that there was something amiss? Brilliant. Then it started to seem like the conspiracy was coming to CM Punk too? Most excited I've been about wrestling all year. Too bad that came to nothing, but the point is R Truth was making quality television.

Only problem I have with OP is the face turn. All the things that made him an entertaining heel are things that only heels can do.

"Don't WHAT me!"
"You should be booing yourselves!"

I don't see anyway to turn him face, but I do see him as a good rivalry for Ryder if he ever gets the US belt. He could even be one of the 6 men in the Elimination Chamber. Truth WWE Championship matches will be few and far in between, but he should still be an upper card player when he comes back talking to his shoulder.

 

[drobs85]

Your on point. But to me, R-Truth was buried at Capitol Punishment. It was like someone stated the best heel turn in recent memory had all this unbelievable heat, and momentum, and just like that it was buried by a drink in his face. Then after that he loses several times to Mysterio, Cena, gets destroyed by Orton, ends up with Miz and now is at home. If WWE buried me the way they buried Truth I'd probably be smoking a joint to. What a waste of what could have been something special. But your absolutely right. If WWE really thinks after all of this they could turn Truth back face then there smoking as well. He'd never be received he'll always be "the Little Jimmy" heel. And let's face it he's much better as a HEEL.

 

[Amarillo del Bosque Verde]

I don't think so.
He's over. He's entertaining. As a heel. All of his catchphrases. All of his mannerisms that make him, him. Are heel things. I can't see the transition to a face being very good for him. Vince has said that he wants there to be Little Jimmy merch. I can't see that going over well. :l

 

[Iversen]

Truth has been a hell of a lot more entertaining in the last few months that he has ever been in his career but I still just can't see him as a top face or heel in the company. A good mid carder yea but I just could never picture him with the title around his waist. I would have no issue with the WWE maybe giving it a go once and making him a transitional champ and seeing what comes of it.

Saying all that if you'd asked me at the start of the year I would have had him on the my list of people to release as I thought he was one of the stalest people on the roster. So taking that into account I won't rule it out but yea I can't personally see him as being one of the top guys in the company.

 

[IHW]

This was definitely R-Truths break out year. But, I'm not sure about it 2012 being the year of the truth. He does have a nice gimmick.... but i think the farthest he can go is a championship match, but never a one on one again. He may be thrown in a 3 or 4 way, probibly the Elimination Chamber. But thats as far as i see Truth going.

 

[Dagger Dias]

It comes down to whether WWE plan on pushing Truth or not upon his return following his suspension. He made a mistake by violating the wellness policy and I would not be surprised if he gets squashed then future endeavoured once he comes back. There is always a small chance that he returns as a face version of his little jimmy hating persona. He interacts well with the crowd under his new character and it's funny when he acknowledges the "WHAT" chants. I doubt he will get pushed any further when he comes back but I will definitely say this.... A push for a face version of Truth's 2011 character would be far better than the "what's up" rapping we were stuck with at first. A breakout year for Truth in 2012 is a long shot, although we should never say never.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I remember seeing Truth come out at Elimination Chamber in Oakland earlier this year and praying that he would have a strong showing in the match, but ofcourse after about a 30 seconds tear where he was successful he got destroyed and eliminated. It was something I was getting used to as a Truth fan, being dissapointed by him getting oppertunites and then getting crushed was a normal thing. But when he developed the mentally unstable heel role and beat the shit out of Morrison I was marking out like never before, I was so happy that he was finally being sold as a legit threat, and that continued strong for most of the year. He really did have an excellent year, I was really thinking he'd get a short reign with the WWE title but maybe I got my hopes up a little too high on that one. Either way 2011 was great for Truth, but ofcourse just like Christian the end of his best year in the WWE has not been great. Unlike Christian with his injury, Truth is 100 percent to blame for his being out right now, he's been on such a roll and he went and screwed the remainder of his best year in the company.

I do believe that Truth can and will be successful in 2012, but I think that he won't be half as hot as he was in April and I believe if he ever had a chance at the WWE Championship it was then. I believe his time has passed for that oppertunity and he'll be upper midcard for the remainder of his career.

 

[Notorious718]

I've been a vocal supporter of Ron Killings for a very long time and was pleasantly surprised to see him get pushed as much as he did after Wrestlemania. I expected little of the guy above mediocrity but since April, we've seen some of his best work in his entire career. He played his mentally unstable heel role to absolute perfection and provided me with some of the best laughs I had from WWE this year. His mic skills and crowd interaction, most notably in regards to the "WHAT?" chants, has been top notch and his in-ring work has been great. I admit, I was afraid that when Morrison came back from his injury I thought Truth would only serve as fodder to get Morrison over. I'm glad that's not what ended up happening. If Truth's push gets derailed after his comeback, then it's his own fault. Hopefully that doesn't happen though because I'm a fan of his and I'm really hoping 2012 becomes a much better year for him than 2011 was and that says something considering his year hasn't been bad at all despite a mediocre start through Wrestlemania. Would I want to see him as a face when he returns? Like Dagger said, I don't want to see Truth revert back to his "WHAT'S UP?" face character if he should turn face upon his return. I'm not sure how his Lil' Jimmy hating persona can be molded into a face character but as much as possible, I'd like to see him keep that gimmick due to how well I thought he played it. I've yet to see a heel vs heel feud I liked but that might be how it should be if Truth is to get revenge on Miz while retaining his current gimmick.

 

[Foshinzo]

I think Punk wins heel turn of the year in Pro Wrestling. I've said it before, but they took one of the most annoying characters in wrestling and made him entertaining. He became unique and strangely fun, and I applaud the WWE for that.

But, unfortunately, I think Truth has hit his ceiling. With yet another suspension, Truth has probably shot himself in the foot for the last time. I seriously doubt that Truth would get fired or anything, but I think he's betrayed the faith of the front office for the last time. They're not going to bump a guy back up to the main event when he's getting himself suspended for violating the wellness policy. Truth has never been untouchable, looking at his previous run as K-Kwik, and I doubt he'll ever get past the sub-main event, again.

 

[RicoLen]

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think R-Truth could get over as a face, yet. Nor should he, I think he should more or less ignore what happened with him and Miz and start feuding with Zack Ryder for the European Championship after Ryder takes the title from Ziggler.

For 2012 I want to see CM Punk vs The Miz and Zack Ryder vs R-Truth.

Ryder vs Truth can be absolute gold, especially if Ryder hypes up that feud and works with Truth on the Z True Long Island Story. The pure genius of R-Truth is that he is the heel version of the PG-Era John Cena. He is ALL about the little kids and interacts with them better than anyone ever has as a heel.

Go and talk to any kid and ask them who their favorite bad guy is in the WWE and I promise you they'll tell you it's R-Truth (or the The Miz). THIS PROMO was an absolute classic. It was Truth's first promo as a heel, and it gave us so many classic lines like: "Little Jimmy!" "Don't boo me! You should be booin' yerselves!" "Ya'll pissing me the hell off!" "Don't What!? me!" and "The Truth has set me free!" This was the promo that got him over and got him tons of heat from the crowd.

THIS PROMO however was probably the best promo of the entire year. Yeah I know most people will probably say it was CM Punk's Shoot Heard Round the World, but this one was R-Truth's Little Jimmy promo + Christian's One More Match promo + The Miz's Really Awesome promo and it made "Really, Riley, Randy, JIMMY!"

After this promo aired, my kids wouldn't shut up about playing out "Really, Riley, Randy, Jimmy!" with each other. If you look up that phrase on youtube, you're going to get nearly as many videos of parodies of that skit as you are that promo itself. For all intents and purposes it really was the most successful promo all year long, and had The Rock not returned and created a huge buzz, and CM Punk not done his worked shoot, it wouldn't even be a close contest.

Personally I would have rather seen R-Truth attack The Miz, and have The Miz turn neutral (no, not using that other word) and he could start working the crowd a little differently and have it be ok that the fans like him (did you notice that "Awesome" chants turning the RRRJ skit?) and it would have made for a very good feud between him and CM Punk and their differences in style in getting over and into the main event for WM28.

Meanwhile, Truth is chased off by Miz with a steel chair and threatened not to come back, and once Truth finally does they can leave that feud more or less alone. Miz could have said something along the lines of "Fine, you're back, you stay out of my business, and I'll stay out of yours." and call it good. That way, when Ryder finally beats Ziggler for the US Championship, Truth can move on to that feud, which would be an extremely entertaining feud for him to be in too.

Then Ziggler can move into the World Heavyweight Championship scene, and hopefully win that title at WM28. But that's probably just me I guess.

But at the end of the day, I really think it'd be a bad idea to have R-Truth as a face, and I swear to god I'm going to be pissed if he gets buried because he was my favorite star of the year in 2011.

 

[Captain Morgan Freeman]

Am i the only one who thinks a face turn could work for Truth?
Im sure Vince is salivating at the idea of "little Jimmy" merchandise flying of the shelves if Truth can get over as a face. When you think about it Raw is very thin on faces. Cena weather he turns heel or not will be in a program with The Rock until Wrestlemania meaning the only faces left on Raw are Punk, Ryder and Mason Ryan. If you put Truth in a feud with The Miz when he comes back they can turn Truth face while getting Miz over as a major heel in time for Wrestlemania.

I can understand peoples concerns regarding Truth's latest wellness policy violation but guys like Triple H, Jericho and Ryder also found themselves in the dog house at some stage in their careers and they all rode out the storm and their careers prospered as a result. Vince is always willing to welcome guys back if there is money to be made. Truth has been gold on the mic since he turned heel and if he puts the same amount of effort into getting over as a face as he did back in April then i don't see why it shouldn't work.
Im not saying he going to win the WWE title anytime soon but he could certainly keep himself at the same spot he had up until Survivor series, an upper mid carder who can slot into the main event when the WWE need him to.

 

[RicoLen]

Am i the only one who thinks a face turn could work for Truth?
Im sure Vince is salivating at the idea of "little Jimmy" merchandise flying of the shelves if Truth can get over as a face. When you think about it Raw is very thin on faces. Cena weather he turns heel or not will be in a program with The Rock until Wrestlemania meaning the only faces left on Raw are Punk, Ryder and Mason Ryan. If you put Truth in a feud with The Miz when he comes back they can turn Truth face while getting Miz over as a major heel in time for Wrestlemania.

I can understand peoples concerns regarding Truth's latest wellness policy violation but guys like Triple H, Jericho and Ryder also found themselves in the dog house at some stage in their careers and they all rode out the storm and their careers prospered as a result. Vince is always willing to welcome guys back if there is money to be made. Truth has been gold on the mic since he turned heel and if he puts the same amount of effort into getting over as a face as he did back in April then i don't see why it shouldn't work.
Im not saying he going to win the WWE title anytime soon but he could certainly keep himself at the same spot he had up until Survivor series, an upper mid carder who can slot into the main event when the WWE need him to.

How are they going to get Truth over as a face though? His whole gimmick is about being a paranoid schizophrenic who blames everything on the kids. I think they can sell just as many Little Jimmy shirts with Truth as a heel as they can with him as a face. They could even make the shirt a part of his storyline and use the shirts to heckle him. It'd be kinda like back in the day when people used to chant "IRWIN!" over and over again to heckle I.R.S. and he'd get all pissed off when they chanted his name.

I agree they need more faces, but then that's why they turned Ryder and Sheamus face. I think they need to turn Ziggler face, have him ditch Vicky and start competing for the WHC, and really I think The Miz should become neutral ala Piper/Austin.

Truth just can't get over as a face. He already proved that. This time a year ago everyone had him on the "Future Endeavored" watch list. He was in the exact same position as John Morrison, and now see what's happened to the two of them? Truth needs to be a heel for a good long while still. At least that's the way I see.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I've enjoyed R-Truth through much of this year. His acknowledgement of the "What?" chants and his reaction to them have been pretty funny at times and I do like how he's been able to switch from a funny mode to a menacing mode so quickly in his promos. He's always been very solid in the ring and I was surprised to see that he's actually been pretty decent on the mic.

As for 2012 being his year, I think the odds are against it. When Truth returns, it'll be just after the beginning of the year and WWE will be heading into serious build for WrestleMania and I think there's a good chance that he could be lost in the shuffle when you look at what's going on. Some are saying Chris Jericho will be coming back on January 2, some think it's The Undertaker. You've got Cena vs. Rock, you have the build for Taker's WM match, there's talk that Miz is going to feud with CM Punk for the WWE Championship, Dolph Ziggler looks like he's ready to possibly move up to a higher spot at anytime, Zack Ryder is all but guaranteed to be the next United States Championship, there's talk of maybe doing something with Cody Rhodes against Goldust, maybe it'll be Rhodes against Booker T instead, Sheamus, Christian, Wade Barrett, Big Show, it looks like Henry vs. Bryan at WM for the WHC, etc. On the surface, it just looks to me as if there are just a lot bigger things that the WWE will ultimately be focusing on for the first several months of 2012 than R-Truth.

I could be 100% wrong about that however. Like I said in a Santino Marella thread, Mark Henry's success in 2011 has taught me to never just write someone off. Depending upon what WWE decides to do, Truth could return and be thrust right in a high profile feud with Miz and he could wind up being a potential WWE Championship contender by the time WrestelMania rolls around. Maybe WWE will surprise us and not bury Truth because of his Wellness Policy violation. Didn't Truth test positive for synthetic marijuana? After all, it's not as if that's in the same league as many other drugs and it's not steroids either, so maybe Truth will ultimately get a slap on the wrist. On the other hand, Vince could drop a lung if he thinks there's a chance of Truth indulging in artificial whacky backy could hurt the WWE's image with sponsors.

 

[wrestlingaddict91]

You are way off. R-Truth will not be superstar of 2011. Yes he changed and became different but sadly Cena buried another star. Other than that time what has he done. Talk about spiders, little jimmys, and shadow the miz until two weeks ago. Let's look over who should be rising superstar of the year and here are a few of them. Shall we?

CM Punk: Obviously his very controversial promo he cut back in July against WWE. It had everyone fooled (including myself) by having everyone think that he had gone crazy, but he was simply cutting a promo the way he does it. The way I see it after that moment he made me interested in wrestling like i should be. He made an impact on the mic and in ring skill. That is what you have to do to succeed in the wrestling business. Stand out more than the others. Without a doubt he should be the superstar of 2011.

Mark Henry: What aggravates me about people that complain about mark henry saying that he is slow and does not wrestle well. First of all Big Show doesnt do many huge moves because of his size and people like him. The fact is Mark Henry is over. Period. If you are over with the crowd good or bad then you will get pushed. Henry is over when he is a heel and not when he is a face looking like the kool aid man and being sexual chocolate sleeping with mae young. Now henry has been pushed to where he is not one of the dominating forces in the wwe today. Henry is at his best time at his career and i applaud his work. Very proud of how they have pushed henry. Hey i like him better than cena so he cant be too bad.

Alberto Del Rio: I do like him. Money in the Bank winner. Since then he has become a way bigger star. He has a hell of a character and damn good in the ring. Fact is he gets an reaction. That is what matters in this business.

Those are list of the top 3 I think really stand out. Ive rambled enough. Thanks for reading

 

[#1HEEL]

You are way off. R-Truth will not be superstar of 2011. Yes he changed and became different but sadly Cena buried another star. Other than that time what has he done. Talk about spiders, little jimmys, and shadow the miz until two weeks ago. Let's look over who should be rising superstar of the year and here are a few of them. Shall we?

CM Punk: Obviously his very controversial promo he cut back in July against WWE. It had everyone fooled (including myself) by having everyone think that he had gone crazy, but he was simply cutting a promo the way he does it. The way I see it after that moment he made me interested in wrestling like i should be. He made an impact on the mic and in ring skill. That is what you have to do to succeed in the wrestling business. Stand out more than the others. Without a doubt he should be the superstar of 2011.

Mark Henry: What aggravates me about people that complain about mark henry saying that he is slow and does not wrestle well. First of all Big Show doesnt do many huge moves because of his size and people like him. The fact is Mark Henry is over. Period. If you are over with the crowd good or bad then you will get pushed. Henry is over when he is a heel and not when he is a face looking like the kool aid man and being sexual chocolate sleeping with mae young. Now henry has been pushed to where he is not one of the dominating forces in the wwe today. Henry is at his best time at his career and i applaud his work. Very proud of how they have pushed henry. Hey i like him better than cena so he cant be too bad.

Alberto Del Rio: I do like him. Money in the Bank winner. Since then he has become a way bigger star. He has a hell of a character and damn good in the ring. Fact is he gets an reaction. That is what matters in this business.

Those are list of the top 3 I think really stand out. Ive rambled enough. Thanks for reading

Did I read this correctly? ADR gets a reaction? Mate come on, for somebody who has been the WWE Champion and/or # 1 contender for all of 2011 he does not get a reaction, his ring announcer, he gets a reaction but Alberto is dull and stale, and definately not the superstar of the year.

The Superstar of Year generally goes to Cena, even when he doesn't deserve it, but this year for me, it comes down to 3.

1. Mark Henry - reasons for this are obvious, best heel champion in years, most dominate heavy weight champion since Batista IMO.

2. Randy Orton - lets not forget what Randy has done this year. Fued with CM Punk - EPIC, 2 x WWE champion, excellent fued with Christian, he made Mark Henry relevant again, he has been putting over Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes.

3. CM Punk - 2 x WWE Champion, shook the WWE to it's core and made the fans love him. On paper for CM Punk it's not alot, but in reality we all know he made the biggest impact to us in 2011.

 

[Captain Morgan Freeman]

How are they going to get Truth over as a face though? His whole gimmick is about being a paranoid schizophrenic who blames everything on the kids. I think they can sell just as many Little Jimmy shirts with Truth as a heel as they can with him as a face. They could even make the shirt a part of his storyline and use the shirts to heckle him. It'd be kinda like back in the day when people used to chant "IRWIN!" over and over again to heckle I.R.S. and he'd get all pissed off when they chanted his name.


I agree they need more faces, but then that's why they turned Ryder and Sheamus face. I think they need to turn Ziggler face, have him ditch Vicky and start competing for the WHC, and really I think The Miz should become neutral ala Piper/Austin.

Truth just can't get over as a face. He already proved that. This time a year ago everyone had him on the "Future Endeavored" watch list. He was in the exact same position as John Morrison, and now see what's happened to the two of them? Truth needs to be a heel for a good long while still. At least that's the way I see.

But to be fair no one thought he would get over as a heel either. Like you said back in April he was on everyone's future endeavoured list and look how far he has come since then. Truth is a good in ring worker and is funny enough on the mic to make the transition to a face if given the chance. All it takes is good booking from the WWE and a few small tweaks to his character. Sheamus, Orton and Punk have proved that you can change from heel to face without radical change to your character.

Im not necessarily clamoring for him to turn face, im just saying that i think he could get over as a face.

I disagree on Ziggler though. They seem to be pushing him as a show off and show offs aren't liked. Vicky is too much of a heat magnet to take away from him though, i wonder would he get as much heat from the crowd if he didn't have Vicky shouting "Excuse me!" every time he goes to do a promo.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

Truth had a very good year, and if he achieves nothing else, he should remember 2011 fondly. He became an interesting heel who feuded with two 'over' faces (Mysterio and Morrison); he had a championship match vs. the top face of the company in Cena, he formed a very entertaining heel team with Miz causing havoc on Raw and they faced off in the SSeries main event against Cena and the Rock (one of the most popular performers the WWE has ever had). That's not to say there wasn't any problems. Miz and Truth should have gotten a tag title run and the team might have been split up prematurely due to his failing the wellness program, but it still was a pretty good year for him.

Can he be made into a face ? I think he can. He pulled off the heel experiment off very nicely, and with Miz as the most likely first opponent, the two together can probably work with each other to deliver an entertaining feud. I'd like to see him wear gold, but with his constant trouble with the wellness program, it might be a while before he gets the big belt.

I think the year belonged to Punk. He gets buried while facing Orton, goes on to win the title from Cena, faces Triple H at SSeries then faces Del Rio and wins the belt back. He also gave the promo of the year on Raw, so he would get my vote.

The biggest surprise has to be Mark Henry. I mean who would have thought the guy who was supposedly screwing Mae Young (in a storyline on Raw, ik) would end up playing a monster heel on SD ? He really did a solid job.