Planet Kayfabe: What’s Up With R-Truth and TKO Thoughts

Planet Kayfabe:  What’s Up With R Truth?
By: KCA Paul Matthews
June 2025

Hello and thank you for reading Planet Kayfabe. It’s June, and I guess we are officially entering the summer season in wrestling. Money in the Bank is coming up. I suppose that’s exciting. The push toward SummerSlam will be happening any day now after two months of boring and redundant post-WrestleMania programming. Just hang in there. Things will get better… I hope.

Yeah, 2025 hasn’t been that good. First, the build to WrestleMania left people wanting more. John Cena’s heel turn is a good lesson in timing and not shooting an angle some 13 or 14 years after the best possible time to do so. The Boyhood Dream came true for Jey Uso and he’s been alright. People still like the Yeet. WrestleMania next year was supposed to take place in New Orleans, but in an unprecedented move, WWE decided to stay in Vegas. I thought that would be the PR disaster to turn fans against WWE after a few years of building up good will but it didn’t seem to have any sustained outrage. It was more shock and surprise, although, I’m sure the people who planned to go there and attend the show aren’t thrilled.

No, it seemed the tipping point would be R-Truth. This past weekend R-Truth went on Twitter to announce that he is being released by WWE and it sparked an emotional reaction from both fans and current and former WWE wrestlers. An outpouring of support over social media would dominate the day and all wrestling talking points on social media. Understandably so. R-Truth, Ron Killings, he’s been in WWE for 20 years. Think about how long that is. If you are in your 30s, you were still in high school or college when he returned to WWE under the R-Truth name. If you’re a wrestler in WWE, unless you’re Randy Orton or The Miz, R-Truth has always been there. A fixture of the WWE locker room for an entire generation of talent and then some. Think about it. When R Truth debuted, the young wrestlers were still considered Generation X, then came the Millennials, now there are Gen Z talents in WWE right now. R Truth even wrestled Mr. Perfect back in the day. Ok, he’s been around a long time. You get the point.

While R-Truth said he was released, that’s inaccurate. If it was a political move on his end to use that word, then it is genius, but his contract is simply not being renewed which is the same end result, but at least he has his dignity and isn’t released with a bunch of nameless NXT guys and performance center dwellers, plus, in having his contract run out, he is allowed to sign anywhere he wants immediately instead of waitinging out the non-compete clause. However, in using the word “released,” it sparked a certain emotion, and the “damage” was done and WWE looked poorly coming out of it and suddenly R Truth is the most over babyface in wrestling.

My thoughts are mixed. On one hand, I find it pretty cold. I know Vince McMahon could be cold and certainly had his share of cold releases. Many of which would never spark the same reaction from the internet. I’m talking guys like Jim Johnston and Mark Yeaton who were WWF/E lifers that were just released from their deals out of nowhere. The Mark Yeaton one even caused Steve Austin to remark about it on his podcast. How about when the pandemic started? This company reports record profits and decided it was time to cut ties with Gerald Brisco of all people. But hey, that’s business, I guess.

It was around that time when AEW started up and suddenly WWE contracts inflated big time. I’m sure Killings, given his seniority, had a pretty nice deal, but its WWE so we don’t know who makes what. We just know that when AEW started waving big deals around, WWE answered with some big deals of their own. Around the time Vince was looking for buyers of the company, he was getting out of some of those big contracts and ever since TKO took over, they’ve wanted to get out of some of those big deals, too and they did.

I’m sure in Ron’s case, it has less to do with Paul “Triple H” Levesque not having anything for him and more like the penny pushers at TKO see Truth as a 53 year old man who is barely ever used (14 televised matches in the past year) and is making a lot of money for a guy so low on the card. It’s still early and not all the details are out, but I’m already hearing chatter that Truth was offered a deal, but it was significantly less than his current deal, so he just didn’t re-sign. Again, its crappy, but that’s business.

Do I feel bad for R-Truth? Not really. I think he’ll be fine and I think its highly likely he is brought back in WWE. Maybe even as a backstage agent. He’s 53 and had a 20-year run with the company. You can’t take that for granted. How many people are with WWE that long? Even if you only count his run as R-Truth that’s 17 years. I’m sure in his 50’s it had to be in his mind that his years of having big dollar and long-term contracts were probably done especially since he’s not a top guy. I understand people are worked up, but I think everyone needs to relax. R- Truth will be fine.

I do have to point out some IWC hypocrisy, though. I know WWE boasts about their record profits, and everyone says “Why not just pay him? They can afford it.” Yeah, that’s nice to say, when its not your money and your business, but it’s not how actual business people think.. They aren’t sentimental about your favorite wrestlers. They’re looking at them as business investments. It may sound cold, but you can’t be upset about WWE & TKO making tough decisions to part ways with talent people like because they feel it’s not good business to over-pay for them, while at the same time mocking AEW’s Tony Khan for over-spending and throwing money around at everything and everyone just because he can afford to do so. People have been saying for years that Tony has to learn to be a tough businessman and make tough decisions even if its going to hurt a few feelings. Well, that’s what TKO is doing with WWE, right?

I’m not making excuses. I think WWE is price gouging their fan base and doing very little in return to enhance the fan experience and at least give them their money worth (the business side, that is, not the talent side) but as much as we all like R-Truth how much money a year would you pay for a wrestler that is in his mid-50s. Is not a big star. Is not a main eventer. Had recent serious injuries. Doesn’t wrestle that often. How much? Because apparently, if you believe the rumors, WWE offered him a new deal and he didn’t accept, so maybe he wants to see what Tony Khan is willing to offer him first before he goes back to WWE. That’s just smart business. Truth plays an idiot on TV, but he’s been around this game for 30 years. He knows what he’s doing.

Raw this past week was filled with “WE WANT TRUTH” chants all throughout. Again, he’s had 14 televised matches in the past 365 days so I’d like to know where these fans were with their chants and signs before. However, if Tony Khan offers R-Truth 3 million dollars a year, I hope you all tune in to TNT and buy a ticket to watch him.

Assuming its over for R-Truth in WWE, lets end on a more positive note. Truth was great in his role. He had incredible comedic timing and never fell back into the same patterns. He continued to be unpredictable. The WWE 24/7 title was a complete joke and the belt itself was ugly. That title was dead on arrival because they brought out Mick Foley to unveil, leading fans on to think they were getting the Hardcore Championship back, but instead they groaned when they saw the 24/7 title. It was perfect for R-Truth, though; he made it work and it became a fun part of the show during a time when there weren’t many fun reasons to watch WWE.

That’s something you need to understand about wrestling. Not everyone who isn’t given a main event push and a world title is “under-utilized”. If Truth was world champion, you wouldn’t be that into it and you know it, but he was great in these comedy roles and his knack for comedy is what kept him employed for 20 years. Pro wrestling is not a sport. It is entertainment. Entertainment is all about finding your niche and R Truth was not Steve Austin. He was not The Undertaker. He was not Rey Mysterio. He was not Mark Henry. He was not Randy Orton. He’s R-Truth and he found his niche and made it work and had himself a great career. I’m sure everyone will miss him backstage and I’m sure he was a great guy to have around but people were talking about him like he died. He’s not dead. As I said, he could talk to Tony Khan, get an offer, go back to WWE and negotiate and be back on Raw or Smackdown before the summer is even over. If not? He had a great run and will likely end up in the Hall of Fame.

I’m not saying you can’t be upset or that you can’t be a bit mad at WWE, but as I said, this is part of the business. If it were my business, I would have cut a bunch of randos that you know will never be stars and keep one of the more beloved veterans in the locker room on the payroll, but it’s not my company, and as I said, I don’t think it was a Triple H move. I think it was TKO who isn’t there on the road and they aren’t backstage and they don’t care about locker room morale. They care about how much money they’re making. This also happens in real sports, too, where aging fan favorite players are let go or even traded to other teams at the end of their careers, just because it doesn’t make sense to keep them on the payroll. You can chant and bring signs showing your support, but don’t act like WWE did him dirty. WWE could have released R-Truth a decade ago. They could have released him when the pandemic started. TKO could have cut him the moment Vince, who loved Ron, was out of power. They didn’t, though. His old deal ran up and either he wasn’t offered a new one or they couldn’t agree on a new one. It happens all the time. I do hope they work something out, though. Not so much because the show will never be the same without him, but it is good to have guys like him backstage who are universally loved and respected.

That’s all for this edition of Planet Kayfabe. All the best to Ron Killings in the future. He had a great run and gave us many good memories. If he doesn’t go to AEW, I’m sure he’ll do great at signings, perhaps podcasting, maybe just indy spots here and there. Its not a sad ending for R-Truth at all, but for all the people who want to oversimplify things and say “he’s 53 and not drawing you a dime”, well, there’s value in having guys like him backstage. No great roster needs 50 dime-drawerers. Even in the Attitude with those ratings and even houseshows selling out arenas, it wasn’t because your favrite midcard act be it Val Venis or The Godfather or Crash Holly were such big draws, yet they all had a nice spot on the card and were often a fun part of the show. If you released evenone that wasn’t a true needle mover, then you’d like like 5 people on the roster and two of them would be John Cena and The Rock. Someone like Natalya is also loved backstage with the female roster and what house did she draw? What hot shirt did she ever sell? There are other important factors here, and, TKO should see that as well before they just decide to cut ties with induviduals that have been a conststant fixture backstage for about as long as some of these executives’ wives have been alive.

Take care, everyone. Follow me on X @PlanetKayfabe