10 Most Unlikely Main Event Acts In WWE History
2. R-Truth
The thought of R-Truth wrestling in a WWE PPV main event seems completely absurd in 2017, but it actually happened in 2011. At Capitol Punishment, Truth faced-off against John Cena for the WWE Championship. He lost, of course, and the match was a stinker, but he made it to that level, and that’s more than most wrestlers of his ilk can say.
WWE tried to build Truth up as a credible opponent too. They put genuine effort into establishing his conspiracy theorist character following a heel turn, and went as far as having him bully a young Cena fan live on Raw. It didn’t work; after years in the doldrums, it was hard to treat him as anything other than a transitional challenger ahead of Cena’s next big rivalry.
The idea that WWE actually counted on R-Truth to sell pay-per-views is nuts, but his main event run was fortunately short-lived. He’d rub shoulders with the likes of Cena again, but he never headlined another pay-per-view, and slid back down the card. Perhaps Truth’s push wouldn’t have felt so forced it if had benefited from a slower build, but it didn’t, and he stands as one of the unlikeliest headliners of all-time.