7 Ups & 4 Downs from WWE Raw (9 June - Results & Review)

3. The Whole Truth

How to characterize and assess Monday’s return promo from Ron “R-Truth” Killings?

Truth’s journey this month has been nothing short of a rollercoaster, being released and then rehired, suddenly being inserted into the main event of Money in the Bank as a surprise run-in. Monday, he made his return to Raw by interrupting the announcers and thanking the fans for bringing him back to WWE.

From there, Truth started referring to himself in the third person, which sounded odd until it became clear he was talking about “R-Truth” as a different persona, someone who he said could be “too funny, too nice, and too forgiving.” He questions whether he was a sideshow act or a gimmick before cutting off his hair, declaring that “the truth shall set you free.” He announced that he would go by Ron Killings and demanded fans “put some respect on my name.”

First, it’s wonderful that Killings was rehired – he probably never should have been let go in the first place - however, what’s the end game with Truth here? He’s a 53-year-old comedy act who was last a serious wrestler a decade ago. Fans fell in love with this comedy act, not the original iteration of the Awesome Truth where Killings and Miz tried to run roughshod over Raw.

How serious of an act will this be? Symbolically cutting the hair associated with the R-Truth gimmick points toward a pretty dramatic tonal shift in character. How will fans react when he doesn’t crack a joke, dance, or get thoroughly confused, but instead is deadly serious about fighting John Cena or someone else? Will they just grow tired of this and want him to be the clown prince of WWE again?

If this ends up being “Truth with an edge and a bit less sophomoric humor,” this could work but WWE’s track record during the past year has fallen off, so this has to get an initial “down” based on the available evidence. There’s always hope that this becomes a big success for Killings, who deserves one good run here.