R-Truth's exit to become a WWE storyline, legend speculates

R-Truth's WWE departure has been the talk of the wrestling world over the last week. While former WCW President Eric Bischoff was surprised by the news, he believes the 53-year-old's WWE career might not be over.

Truth unexpectedly announced his WWE exit on June 1. The popular star lost to John Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event a week earlier. He also suffered a defeat against JC Mateo on the May 30 episode of SmackDown.

On his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff speculated that the public outcry after Truth's revelation could lead to his return:

"I'm not a hundred percent sold. I would not be surprised to see Ron [R-Truth] back in WWE. I would not be surprised at all to see this situation as the basis for a storyline. I don't know what it would be, I don't even wanna speculate on it, but I'm still not taking it at face value." [2:03:03 – 2:03:25]

Truth, real name Ron Killings, worked for WWE from 1999 to 2001 as K-Kwik. He returned in 2008 and became known as R-Truth.

Eric Bischoff addresses TKO's treatment of R-Truth

In 2022, Triple H replaced Vince McMahon as WWE's main roster creative figurehead. Another major behind-the-scenes change took place in 2023 when Endeavor bought WWE and merged the company with UFC to create TKO.

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Eric Bischoff believes the higher-ups at WWE's parent company were likely reluctant to pay R-Truth a big salary due to his limited television time:

"I don't know this to be a fact. From what I've heard, Vince was a big, big fan of Ron, so Ron may have been making a boatload of money, but he was only used occasionally. It wasn't like he was a weekly storyline and all that, so it may have been a situation where he was just making way more than WWE could justify in terms of a return on the investment." [2:03:33 – 2:04:01]

Truth won several WWE titles, including two United States Championships. He has also held the 24/7 Championship a record 54 times.

Please credit 83 Weeks and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.

About the author

Danny Hart is a journalist who has been reporting on pro wrestling (WWE) at Sportskeeda since 2017. He grew up as a massive fan of football/soccer and wrestling, leading him to pursue a career in sports journalism.

Before assuming his current role, Hart worked as a football writer at Goal.com between 2009 and 2016. He prides himself on writing original content that is fact-based and highly accurate. Hart thoroughly proofreads his work before submitting it and relies only on credible sources for information.

Hart’s favorite pro wrestler is The Undertaker. He admires the 2022 WWE Hall of Famer’s ability to reinvent his character and remain relevant across his decades-long career. If given the keys to WWE’s creative department, he would bring back The Phenom for a farewell bout against AJ Styles in a stadium full of fans. Not only that, but he would love to have the multi-time world champion’s greatest rivals seated at ringside for the spectacle.

When not watching and covering sports, Hart enjoys long-distance running, playing video games, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts.

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Edited by Danny Hart