Where did it all go wrong with R Truth?

[MisterRob]

Around 2011 R Truth was gaining momentum with his character development, nearing and even reaching the main event picture, and was a pretty prominent wrestler on WWE television. He even teamed up with the Miz, forming Awesome Truth, and headlinedSummerslam against John Cena and The Rock.

Even after Awesome Truth ended, in 2012, he still was a pretty relevant character as he wrestled for the WWE Championship in the Elimination chamber and even won the Tag Team championships with Kofi Kingston.

At one point R Truth had a heel character that was really over with the WWE Universe and he was being pushed quite well. His stock seemed to be rising consistently for years.. so when exactly did that stop? Where exactly did things falter, go wrong, and drop him to the obscurity he has been at for quite some time now?

I'm curious about what people think abot R Truth's rise and fall.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I don't see where it's gone wrong for Truth at all. In fact, he's had an excellent run in WWE.

When he made his return to the promotion did anybody think he'd become a multi-time champion in the company? Feud with Cena? Headline a PPV against The Rock? Nope. R-Truth has done so much more in that promotion than anybody ever thought he would. Little Jimmy & his heel turn was only ever going to be a short term thing. He's now at his natural level after overachieving for several years.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Think it's a age thing really. He doesn't look like it since he's in such great shape, but he's in his 40's and while I don't see him going anywhere it's still better to push younger talent, that talent being guys like the Shield, Wyatts, Big E, Cesaro, etc. But he had a pretty good run considering, and at least he's not totally jobbing like other guys on the roster.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The only time I've been interested in R-Truth was during the initial weeks of his heel turn. I dug his intensity and aggression and I think he could've become a top heel. I might be wrong, but it's the impression I got.

However, personally, I think things went south for Truth when they turned "Little Jimmy" into an imaginary friend. That turned Truth from a guy who seemed a little unbalanced with misplaced anger at fans into a comedy act and people don't take comedy acts seriously. I won't lie and say that I didn't laugh sometimes, but comedy guys are strictly low to mid-card. I knew that Truth's run as anything resembling an upper mid-card guy was over when he & Miz were made to look like a couple of buffoons against Rock & Cena during the build to their Survivor Series match.

 

[Pedigree1]

The little Jimmy thing is what went wrong with him.. R-Truth when he was at his little unbalanced act,was perfect for him.. Mumbling to himself,talking gibberish when asked a question,that was absolutely perfect for him.. People are not really into Imaginary friends and that did R-Truth a major disservice!

He belongs now where he always did. He had a feud with Cena,the Rock he is what you could call an overachiever! he has done quite well more than anyone has expected

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Umm...wellness violation? It came at the worst possible time. He executed his heel turn on John Morrison very well. From there he was gaining good momentum. He had just main evented against Cena and Rock. His wellness violation stopped all that dead in its tracks. He killed all that momentum.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

For someone who used to wrestle as K-Kwik; Road Dogg's tag team partner and would rap "get rowdy" - his career from then has gone from strength to strength. So what went wrong? not much!

 

[Mustang Sally]

When he made his return to the promotion did anybody think he'd become a multi-time champion in the company?

For all we know, Truth was given the same deal as Christian. Perhaps negotiations to get them back from the rival company went like this: "Okay, come back from TNA. For us, we get a chance to weaken them by taking away a popular performer. For you, there'll be one more shot at the top; a nice push which should get you some fun time in the spotlight while it kick-starts your merchandise sales, which you get a piece of. The push will be temporary, but we'll put a lot of our resources behind it. Then, it's back to the mid-card for the rest of your WWE career. Whaddaya say, Ron, huh?"

Okay, so he agreed to the plan, got the push and can now spend the rest of his time here earning 630% of what he got in TNA. Good deal for all.

 

[TheLogan27]

It all went wrong when he turned face. Honestly he is much more credible as a heel then as a face. He had a lot more time as a heel. A lot more could have been done. WWE missed out on that one. I just hope the race card wasn't played. His promos as a heel were his best ever. His in ring work as a heel in my opinion were to 5 in the company. I think he's better suited as a heel. He should have never turned face

 

[Mongoose McQueen]

He was a very entertaining heel and those backstage skits were very interesting. I suppose the wellness violation screwed him at the time when he was working with The Rock and John Cena so it does not surprise me that he might aswell be working elsewhere.

 

[Justin Satiable]

I don't think the Summer of Punk helped him very much. He lost to Cena at Capitol Punishment and then went over Cena on Raw in a Tables match. If you've rewatched it as many times as I have, you're probably very familiar with the image of Cena lying in the remains of a broken table while CM Punk sets the world to rights at the top of the ramp.

I agree with Jack-Hammer though. The Little Jimmy stuff was gold until they took it too far and turned Little Jimmy into an actual "on-screen" character. Does anyone else remember the brilliant promo with Christian, Truth and Miz on Raw after they'd all lost at Capitol Punishment?

 

[Ryan1025]

What happened to R-Truth? CM PUNK

R-Truth was red hot heading into Capital Punishment against Cena for the title. Then CM Punk threatened to leave WWE. R-Truth's push was halted so that Punk could win the title at Money in the Bank. He never really recovered after that.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Once they decided to turn the aggressive, angry, crazy-eyed, heel R-Truth into a joke.

Honestly I think the dude could really go in the mic and really bring a lot of charisma and personality into a mic duel. Heel or Face.

As a heel in those first few weeks he really excelled and I think it really suited him.

I felt really disappointed when he became a joke, it was the kinda disappointment I felt when MVP had that great promo with the Miz in the middle of the ring and he was getting really over as a face and his new theme music caught on with crowd as well, and then suddenly he left. I just hate when a lot of potential is wasted like that.

Did I have delusions of grandeur for R-Truth once he turned heel? Not really. I thought he would be at least an upper-midcard guy and he wouldn't be a bad guy to build the midcard around, since he could go in the ring and on the mic ( if given smth serious to talk about not "Little Jimmy" ). Some maybe didn't see nothing in him and that's fine, I just always saw him as someone they could use seriously for a few years, get all that they could from him and then make him put over more talent and maybe transition him to a backstage role or smth.

 

[Tripleb2k1]

he seemed to be on a part time schedule since he was gone for a few months after his sister passed away from cancer

http://www.wwe.com/inside/r-truth-sister-passes-away-26127085

 

[RedRegan1005]

When they turned him heel I was actually really interested and thought his whole little jimmy thing was cool when it started. Going into Capitol Punishment I was actually wishing they would give him the belt. But i felt like they never really invested in R-truth as a heel when they had their chances. He lost in an unmemorable match at Capitol Punishment. Then the whole CM Punk thing took off and he just didn't fit in the title picture anymore. HOWEVER, WWE had another chance to push him as a credible, crazy, and threatening heel when he formed Awesome Truth with the Miz. But instead they never did anything to make that tag team look like a threat to Cena or The Rock. They had the cool moment at hell in the cell with the whole locker room trying to get into the cell after he and miz ambushed the WWE title match. After I saw that thought I thought wow WWE could really push them a dangerous, and unpredictable tag team that the WWE should be prepared to face. But like I said, from that point on they made them look like second rate wannabees compared to Cena or The Rock. Hell I remeber wondering why the hell would I wanna purchase Survivor Series? WWE did more than enough to convince me that John Cena could beat the two of them on his own, so why would he need The Rocks help? Then after that they put the final nail in the R-Truth Heel character coffin as they turned the whole Little Jimmy thing into a comedy act. It sucks. I think WWE missed the boat on that one.

 

[Dagger Dias]

He even teamed up with the Miz, forming Awesome Truth, and headlined Summerslam against John Cena and The Rock.

I think you mean Survivor Series.

Anyways.... Truth was never going to be a main eventer. He never had the potential. I give WWE credit for trying with him in summer 2011. The weird heel who ranted to Little Jimmy about spiders and other bizarre promos was a welcome departure from the horrendously annoying WHAT'S UP rapper persona that he had for a few years. Truth had his chance and he wasn't good enough, plain and simple. That's where it "all went wrong". WWE realized it would be a mistake to push him further. Truth was better off in tag teams such as Awesome Truth with Miz or Air Truth with Kofi anyway. I say keep him around as a jobber or put him in another tag team.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I think R-Truth could have been a consistent Main Eventer (not necessarily winning the WWE Championship). He could've been a top player with his heel gimmick and could have been booked against top level opponents. It seemed that way for a while. He's pretty good on the mic and cut some good mic work while in TNA, so that was no problem. He could also go in the ring. Truth is a funny story though. He fluctuates between losing against opponents that you wouldn't expect him to and winning against opponents that you wouldn't expect him to as sporadic as that might be. That's what I got from him all throughout his second WWE career. Maybe they should just repackage him into a no-nonsense aggressive type like what Sheamus was when he first started out as a heel. Or maybe that's too generic and it's too late for R-Truth to get another run like that of 2011. He's getting old and the road is always be paved for younger guys. I enjoyed his Tag Team Championship reign, but that's about it when it comes to post-heel R-Truth. After the l'il Jimmy thing caught on as a comedic act with the fans, Truth was back to being another conventional Mid-Carder on the roster. You know that's true when he gets his old entrance theme back.

 

[Judah's Lion]

Does anyone else remember the brilliant promo with Christian, Truth and Miz on Raw after they'd all lost at Capitol Punishment?

-really?!?!
-really?!?!
-Riley?!?!
-Randy?!?!
-Riley?!?!
-Randy?!?!
-Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy!

freaking awesome/awkward promo. those three guys were all so disturbed and unbalanced and made it work so well. it was perfect.

like so many others have already said, R-Truth had a pretty decent heel turn and initial run in 2011. but the Summer of Punk put a major halt on that. then his team with Miz was also pretty promising at first. but getting dominated by Cena alone and then re-dominated by Cena/Rock at Survivor Series killed any and all momentum he ever had.

the final nail in the coffin (eat your heart out, Vampiro!) was turning the paranoid Little Jimmy angle into an actual character as R-Truth's imaginary friend. upper mid-carder with some main event experience and continued potential reduced to comedy jobber. it happens.

i think all that's left for R-Truth at this point in his career, given his age, legal issues (can't travel out of the US if i remember correctly), wellness violations, etc, is to be in a tag team and/or stable.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Nothing, really. When WWE pushed him to face Cena for the WWE title, he was near enough 40 years old. He'd never shown signs of being at that level before and his heel turn and run was so successful partly because it came from absolutely nowhere. But they weren't going to make him a top dog at any point. He got his run, more than most guys with more age and upside on him have ever done, and he did well with it.

Look at Mark Henry. Successful turn and great run but he's back where he was before now more or less, and that's how it should be. He can't be a long-term representative for the company.

I loved Truth's turn and his run and his character and it was genuinely one of my favourite things about wrestling in the last 5 or more years, but he's back where he ought to be and I doubt he's too unhappy with what he accomplished. But just for those who don't remember:

[YOUTUBE]QSekJ3CGQAA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Trill Co$by]

I don't see where it's gone wrong for Truth at all. In fact, he's had an excellent run in WWE.

When he made his return to the promotion did anybody think he'd become a multi-time champion in the company? Feud with Cena? Headline a PPV against The Rock? Nope. R-Truth has done so much more in that promotion than anybody ever thought he would. Little Jimmy & his heel turn was only ever going to be a short term thing. He's now at his natural level after overachieving for several years.

While I never expected to see R-Truth as a main event player, to say that he belongs to be in a spot where he barely even makes the card is completely disrespectful. R-Truth makes for a great talent and should be treated as the mid-carder he is. He should be given more US and IC title shots, with a few Tag Title runs thrown in there. The guy's got a decent following and can work a crowd, as evident by his heel turn.

The only problem is that WWE doesn't like black people getting over. You can make all the excuses you want, but name ONE WWE Champion that was black. Dwayne doesn't count because he embraces his Samoan side and rarely does the same for his black side. Mark Henry and Booker T held the second rate World title, and Bobby Lashley only amounted to the US Championship with a fourth rate ECW title run as well.

If the people in WWE really paid attention to "fan support" then Kofi Kingston would've at LEAST been looked at as a serious contender, instead of being squashed by whoever's being pushed. And R-Truth would be able to be utilized as more than just a joke.

 

[daddyJ_t]

Around 2011 R Truth was gaining momentum with his character development, nearing and even reaching the main event picture, and was a pretty prominent wrestler on WWE television. He even teamed up with the Miz, forming Awesome Truth, and headlinedSummerslam against John Cena and The Rock.

Even after Awesome Truth ended, in 2012, he still was a pretty relevant character as he wrestled for the WWE Championship in the Elimination chamber and even won the Tag Team championships with Kofi Kingston.

At one point R Truth had a heel character that was really over with the WWE Universe and he was being pushed quite well. His stock seemed to be rising consistently for years.. so when exactly did that stop? Where exactly did things falter, go wrong, and drop him to the obscurity he has been at for quite some time now?

I'm curious about what people think abot R Truth's rise and fall.

it stopped when evan bourne threw his ass under the bus for supposedly smoking spice. bourne got hit with a wellness violation and threw truth under the bus for the same thing. thats when it stopped. his breakup with miz was the vehicle to write him off tv so he could serve his suspension. do u really think that the beatdown miz gave him was bad enough to sideline with injuries for a month? no not at all. they used it to write him off and turned him face when he came back to do a badly done fued with the miz. rtruth is damn talented and it was believable when he was kicking the hell out of i cant wrestle cena and the title match had a pathetic weak ending. and since then, as a jobber or tag partner of new guys, he has used as an enhancement talent

 

[BrockTheBeast123]

After his face turn I should say as a heel he was feuding with Triple H,CM Punk,John Cena,to even The Rock.After that it was a mini-feud with Miz a tag title run and jobbing to only winning to people like FANDANGO.So yeah basically.On a side note I loved his WWF run as K-Kwik with Road Dogg.