R-Truth is a beloved WWE star who has brought hilarity to screens on a regular basis.
An accomplished multi-time former world champion with a stellar in-ring career behind him, Truth is unquestionably a huge all-round asset.
His career achievements include two reigns as United States Champion and as well as being a two-time tag team champion in WWE alone – where he has also, more farcically, held the 24/7 title on 54 occasions.
It’s showing no ill will towards the 52-year-old old, however, to state that the focus of his work in more recent years has shifted away from the grunt and grind of the wrestling ring and onto the comedic side of WWE’s entertainment package.
Charismatic and naturally funny, Truth has accrued a reputation as someone who has an uncanny knack for making WWE stars break character – not least Brock Lesnar.
In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, the North Californian grappler admitted he was recruited by Paul Heyman to effectively ambush Lesnar on the mic when the two were in the ring together in 2020.
Long-time Lesnar aide and confidant Heyman apparently told Truth that figures backstage ‘had a bet going’ that he could make Lesnar laugh – humour not regularly featuring in Lesnar’s character work.
He explained: “I come to Gorilla [the area before wrestlers go through the curtain] and Paul was there. He’s like, ‘Hey, we got a bet going on [that] you can make Brock laugh… ‘We’re not going to tell him what you’re gonna say, we don’t want to hear what you want to say. We just go.’
Truth, who succeeded in getting Lensar to crack before taking an obligatory beating afterward, added: “That was the most impromptu thing that just came off like sliced bread. It was just great.”
The former NWA World Champion, successful rapper and film star remains very much at the heart of WWE’s programming almost five years after that stunt, having survived an injury scare far worse than the wrath of Lesnar.
Truth had been wrestling Grayson Waller on NXT in 2022 when, landing awkwardly, he tore his quad. Terrifyingly, that still proved to be almost the least of his worries as serious complications followed.
£A lot of people thought I just tore my quad,” he added. “I did tear the quad tendon, but a couple of weeks out when I go to get the stitches out it wasn’t healing. And that’s when they found out I had five different bacteria like staph, MRSA, their cousins and kinfolks and relatives. Yeah, it was bad.”
The damage being done by the myriad of infections only continued to worsen, to the extent that the popular figure was left at risk of losing his leg. In true R-Truth style, he realised something was well and truly up when his doctor refused to give him a high-five in hospital, insisting they ‘didn’t have time.’
“It was so bad the doctor wouldn’t even give me a high five,” he went on to say. He’s like: ‘You don’t have time for high fives, this is serious.’
“I just went to get my stitches out. He said: ‘What are you doing this afternoon?’ I said: ‘I’m gonna pick my kids up.’ He said: ‘Can somebody else go do it?’…we need to take you to surgery now.’
“So everything went from ‘haha’ to ‘you better be ready.’ It was serious. There was a chance I could lose my leg. That’s how serious it got. The infection was that bad that he thought they would have to amputate if they couldn’t get it slowed down.”
Thankfully for the wrestler and his adoring fans, R-Truth was able to recover without such drastic action, and returned to the WWE ring in time to knock off a huge career milestone – a first ever WrestleMania win.
He and The Miz won the tag team titles in a ladder match at Mania XL in Philadelphia.
