R-Truth Reveals Why He Dropped His Ron Killings Persona In WWE

There aren’t many WWE wrestlers whose release caused an uproar like R-Truth’s did back in June. Not only were the fans furious at WWE for releasing a legend like him after so many years working for the company, wrestlers backstage were also not happy with this decision.

Almost every time someone mentions R-Truth’s name during an interview, it’s always in a positive light. This shows that everyone liked having him around in the locker room. When Truth was let go by WWE, it hurt morale backstage as well. Although WWE was quick enough to backtrack on their decision, as he returned just a week later as Ron Killings. This is the name he previously used in WWE, and is a different character as opposed to R-Truth’s comedic one.

He returned at Money in the Bank 2025 and later cut his hair, adopting a serious persona than before. But just like many other angles in WWE, they completely dropped the ball on this one and had him revert to his previous ring name and gimmick.

R-Truth Reveals Why Reverted To Previous Gimmick

Fans criticized WWE for not committing to the Ron Killings character and capitalizing on his momentum. But the wrestler himself defended his move during an interview with CBS Sports recently.

Truth said that the Ron Killings character served its purpose after returning, and that fans themselves wanted him to bring back the Truth moniker again.

“It went where it was supposed to. Ron Killings created R-Truth. Those hundreds of millions of fans who spoke and up-roared. They wanted R-Truth back. Ron Killings was the rebellious one who spoke up for R-Truth.

Ron Killings has been around for years, but people had never come together in lockstep like that. They did that for R-Truth. You feel me? I wanted Ron Killings to go where he was supposed to go. He made a statement; he had eyes on him. When John Cena came back, R-Truth came back. Ron Killings was the cavalry.” (Credit: CBS Sports)

Upon Truth’s return, there was a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that said the wrestler himself demanded a name change before signing the contract. Truth confirmed in the interview that this was indeed the case, and called it a “selfish move.”

But apparently, fans wanted him to go back to his previous character, so he had to listen to them.

“I think [Ron Killings] was a selfish-type deal, more of a selfish move. I had more than 100 million views that wanted R-Truth. If numbers are real, that was the power of numbers.”

Many fans feel WWE wasted everyone’s time by not giving them enough time to develop an opinion on the Ron Killings persona. The initial promo was great, and it caught everyone’s attention, but WWE didn’t do much afterward.

Right after Cena turned babyface again, Truth also dropped the gimmick in favor of his old comedic one.

Main image credit: Diego Serrano, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons