WHAT'S UP!
"The truth has set me free!"
Ronnie Aaron Killings (born January 19, 1972) is an American professional wrestler, rapper, and actor. As a wrestler, he is better known by his ring name, R-Truth (previously K-Kwik and Ron "The Truth" Killings). He has wrestled in TNA and more famously WWE, where he is a three-time Tag Team Champion, a two-time Hardcore and United States Champion, and a (last time we checked) 54-time 24/7 Champion. He was also a two-time NWA World Heavyweight champion while in TNA, and is the first African-American wrestler to be officially recognized as champion in the NWA's history. His career started in 1997.
Tropes associated with the C-O-N...SPIRACY include:
- Aesop Amnesia: After realizing the Judgment Day hated his guts, fighting them, and even winning the RAW Tag Team belts from them at WrestleMania XL, Truth decides...he's part of the Judgement Day and he wishes to bring Miz with him.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Actually an Alternate Brand Equivalent. If The Judgment Day is to The Bloodline, then he is their Sami Zayn, cheerfully wanting to become part of the mega-heel stable while having plenty of comedic moments. More specifically, his rivalry with JD McDonaugh is akin to Jey Uso being annoyed with Sami's antics in trying to be part of the Bloodline. The Miz even acts as the Kevin Owens of the storyline, trying to make Truh understand that the Judgment Day despise him. Fittingly, Damian Priest plays the part of Roman Reigns, except Priest quickly realizes that Truth is going to hold them down.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not Truth's antics with The Judgment Day are him being oblivious or cunning. On 2/5/24, Michael Cole even questions whether Truth was either distracting JD to help the Miz or trying to be helpful to JD to defeat Miz.
- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: He was encouraged to be by Judge Jeff G. Bailey, who told Killings and his other black clients that they were superior athletes being held down by the racist system of Georgia. Of course, this was Bailey's attempt to take control of NCW and later NWA Wildside. However, on TNA's fifth PPV, July 17, 2002, he cut a promo which ended, "I'm not an angry black man. I'm just the damn truth - and the truth will no longer be denied."
- Anti-Humor: Truth pulled one during his Survivor Series 2011 promo in which he had the crowd expecting him to explain his conversation with a bunch of pigeons, since he's WWE's Cloudcuckoolander. The MSG crowd gave him an ovation for the hilarious bait-and-switch.R-Truth: I yelled to those pigeons, I said, 'Hey pigeons! The Rock and Cena are gonna lose tonight!' You know what those pigeons said?...Nothing. They're pigeons. Pigeons don't talk. All they do is crap!
- The Artifact: "The Truth" moniker originally came from his gimmick in All Pro Wrestling, which was later resurrected as a Malcolm Xerox gimmick he had in TNA. After turning face he kept The Truth, even after rejoining the WWE. Apparently he got/stole the name from Truth Martini, even though he has a completely different gimmick. He was "Truth" in APW a year before Martini debuted, but then started going as K-Krush till WWE and TNA.
- Arch-Enemy: John Morrison, which instigated his heel turn in the first place. Then the "Little Jimmies" (his younger fans). Then he had a face turn. Then it became The Miz. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev become Truth enemy after been attacked by Nakamura and Rusev and Truth wants a payback.
- Badasses Wear Bandanas: And they speak the truth.
- Berserk Button: After turning heel, the Little Jimmies. After turning face again, someone hitting Little Jimmy.
- The Cameo: He appeared in Head of State and The Wrestler
- Cassandra Truth: On the 4/8/24 RAW, he insists on a 6-Man Tag Team Match against The Judgment Day with three of them fighting him, Miz and "the guy you can't see". He keeps insisting that he did ask this mystery person to join in but no one else believes him (Miz assumes it's Little Jimmy, Judgment Day thinks he's nuts). It's not until the near end of the match does Truth's mystery ally is revealed...and his name is John Cena!
- Character Development: Before his heel turn, Truth was a bland face who rapped, then he lost out on a Championship opportunity and turned heel and lost all his marbles. Then he was back as a face, but still has his Cloudcuckoolander mannerism. And he's all the better for it.
- Character Catchphrase
- "What's Up?"
- "Truth is..."
- "And that the truth, the whole truth and nothin' but the truth."
- "It's a conspiracy!"
- "Don't boo me, you should be booing yourselves!"
- "Lil' Jimmy!"
- "You're gonna get got!" or "[Insert Wrestler Here] is about to get GOT!"
- "I'm gonna be a GOOD R-TRUTH!"
- "Don't "what?" me!"
- "The TRUTH has set me free!"
- "My bad".
- Cheap Heat
- As a face: "[Name of city he's currently in], WHAT'S UP?". Formerly it was "[Current city], we're about to get rowdy!"
- As a heel: DON'T WHAT ME!Crowd: WHAT!?
R-Truth: Okay, "what" me!
- Cloudcuckoolander: Following his 2011 Face–Heel Turn, accompanying his development into a Conspiracy Theorist. Following his subsequent Heel–Face Turn, the Conspiracy Theorist elements of the character were downplayed, before this element of his character escalated even further and it became apparent that Truth was in another universe entirely - doing things like declaring John Cena to be his childhood hero despite being significantly older than him, and routinely turning up in segments he had no place in or not realising what match he's in.
- Comically Missing the Point: His Judgment Day storyline has him completely missing the memo that he's not part of the group. Even after he gets beat down and has his shirt ripped off by JD, he appears and states that he just passed their initiation. That is, until mid-February 2024 has him realize that the Judgment Day are going to "execute" him, and he wised up to Miz's warnings.
- Composite Character: R-Truth's face run saw him bring back a few of the dance moves he refused to do for most of his heel run. Also, he went back to a subtly flashier in-ring style whereas his heel run saw him use a slightly more aggressive moveset. Essentially, Truth's latest face run is Nutcase!Truth's promo work meshed with Rapper!Truth's in-ring mannerisms.
- Conspiracy Theorist: His heel run saw him consider himself a victim of a massive conspiracy.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: R-Truth can, in a sentence, be summed up as a complete idiot. He's also a decorated champion, having held two tag titles, the Hardcore and United States titles twice each, and the WWE 24/7 Championship a truly comical fifty-plus times.
- Curse Cut Short: In one of his Touts (mainly due to you only getting 15 seconds worth of airtime):Truth: Antonio, in German: You gon' get got. In French: You gon' get got. In Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Bickanese: You gon' get got. In English: Imma kick yo— *tout ends*
- Dark Reprise: "U Suck" is pretty much a Villain Song version of "What's Up".
- The Dog Bites Back: After realizing the Judgment Day want him executed, Truth fights back in two ways:
- During a match against Kevin Owens, Dominik asks Truth to give him a chair and states he's in the Judgment Day. Truth slowly gets the chair...and then sits on it, coldly staring at Domink as if to say he's not falling for that anymore.
- The end of the Six Tag Team Ladder Match at WrestleMania 40 has him push Damian Priest off a ladder then throwing him out of the ring with an Attitude Adjustment before grabbing the Raw Tag Team belts.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune
- "What's Up/U Suck" and "Right Time." When he was a Face, his entrance included him dancing and performing the rap over the track on his way to the ring.
- He does all but two of his seven themes.
- Double Meaning: The Regeneration X team — him, #DIY and Miz — is named after R-Truth, the "re-" suffix means "again" (in the sense there's another D-Generaion X stable or R-Truth is back after his stint with the Judgment Day) and they officially form after playing WWE 2k24, and in video games there's a gimmick of Regenerating Health.
- Dumbass Has a Point:
- After winning the 24/7 Championship belt from Mayor Jacobs (aka Kane), R-Truth explains that the mayor holding the belt is equivalent to his role as mayor and it'd be too demanding if he had to do both. Mayor Jacobs concedes to this point.
- When R-Truth appears in the Judgment Day's clubhouse the second time to deliver a TV to the group, he points out that the stable needs better security as he leaves. Damien Priest quietly admits that Truth isn't wrong about locking the doors.
- While it's just him being his ditzy self, Truth is right that JD hasn't been really doing anything to prove he's Judgment Day after he took the Spear from Jey Uso to protect Damian Priest. In contrast, Truth has been doing promos and selling merchandise, even being kind enough to hand cuts of the sales to Priest without being asked to do so.
- Evil Foreigner: As part of La Legión Extranjera under Konnan, in AAA.
- Evil Is Hammy: The image of him entering an arena in Richmond, VA to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" in full Confederate soldier regalia will not be unseen for a long time. Better yet, the look "Stone Cold" Steve Austin gave R-Truth suggests Austin will be taking that image to the grave.
- Exact Words: When he and Miz are asked to fight The Judgment Day for the tag team match, Truth says that can't be possible because "there's three of them" and goes on a statement that their match will be a 6-man tag team match. But when asked who is teaming up with them, Truth says their partner is described as "the guy you can't see". Miz initially thinks that this is (again) referencing Lil' Jimmy, and the Judgment Day thinks he's nuts. It turns out he's actually talking about John Cena!
- Expy
- Shows several similarities to Booker T - a black, dreadlocked, Spirited Competitor with a Lightning Bruiser fighting style (although more emphasis on the "lightning" and less on the "bruiser"). He even used a modified version of the scissors kick for a while.
- R-Truth is an expy of K-Kwik...Ron Killings became an expy of himself.
- The beginning of his late 2011 Heel run. Extremely violent, slightly unhinged loose cannon with anger issues. It later (d)evolved into something completely different, but at the beginning it was a near dead-ringer for Randy Orton's heel run, particularly in the Legacy days. (Truth's finisher
even changed to something slightly resembling the RKO.)
- Face–Heel Turn: Performed one after he lost a Championship opportunity to John Morrison who had goaded him in to a match with the contendership at stake, and went from a happy go lucky guy who raps to the audience to a raving mad conspiracy nut.
- Felony Misdemeanor
- Heath Slater kicking Little Jimmy in the face on WWE Superstars. Even better, the crowd reacted as if he had actually kicked a small child in the face, as did Truth.
- This happened again in his and Kofi Kingston's tag match with Epico.
- Flanderization
- At the very beginning of his most heel turn in 2011, he was certainly a slightly unhinged loose cannon, but as the heel run has gone on, his Sanity Slippage has been cranked up to eleven...and then slightly past it.
- As a Face in his tag team with Kofi Kingston, the crazier (and arguably funnier) aspects of his Cloudcuckoolander persona have been toned down, leaving a slightly loopy guy with an imaginary friend.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Wasn't on TV for several months in 2012 because of
this knee injury.◊ (WARNING: MAY INDUCE Squick.) He later returned to save Kofi Kingston from a beatdown courtesy of Damien Sandow. - Genius Ditz: For all of his ditzy behavior — like thinking a "Miracle on 34th Street" match literally takes place on 34th street or mistakes Australia with Austria — Truth has to have some smarts if he could be a 50+ time 24/7 Champion. In one RAW, he can understand what Miz is telling him in French but assumes that Triple H used magic to make the World Tag Team Championship belts appear.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: After doing a Face–Heel Turn by beating up John Morrison, he took out a cigarette and began smoking it, as the chanted "That's illegal!" (as it's actually illegal to smoke in sports arenas in the UK) and a woman in the audience very audibly shouted "Will somebody please think of the children?!"
- Green-Eyed Monster: At least part of his 2011 heel run seems to be because he's jealous of the fact that people only seem to care about John Cena.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Uses a water bottle as his weapon. Seriously. And it works. It comes from the angle that originally turned him heel. As part of John Morrison's promo against Truth, JoMo claimed that R-Truth's stamina was down because of his smoking habit. Truth was caught at one point during his match drinking from a water bottle. Later that same episode, when he beat down John Morrison, he used the water bottle for the first time.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: After turning heel in 2011, he was set off by the most little things.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat
- Hearing Voices: He calls Triple H crazy for talking to himself while repeatedly turning around to speak to people no one else can see.
- The Heart: Of the Three Live Kru in TNA.
- Heel–Face Return: Upon returning from his Wellness Policy suspension, R-Truth seems to be OK with Little Jimmies.
- Heel–Face Turn: In TNA, being opposite of Vince Russo will bring that on really quick.
- Hidden Depths: During his 24/7 Title reign, he got a note to meet up at a city tree lighting event and was pinned by Akira Tozawa. It should be noted that the message was written in Japanese so he either knows Japanese or Akira assumes he knew Japanese.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the weeks building to his match against John Cena at Capitol Punishment, Truth had been antagonizing Cena's fanbase, even throwing a cup of soda/water in a fan's face. During the match, Truth had Cena down and decided to bully a kid at ringside, drinking from his collector's cup. The kid would throw the liquid in Truth's face, distracting him long enough to get thrown back in the ring and get hit with the Attitude Adjustment for the three count.
- Hypocritical Humor: On a January 2024 Smackdown, he tells Kevin Owens (who he calls Miz) that he better make sure Nick Aldis doesn't know he's fighting on another brand...which can also be said about Truth being a RAW wrestler at the time also appearing on Smackdown.
- Imaginary Friend: Little Jimmy. And lord help you if you decide to play along with him and actually kick Little Jimmy for the hell of it. Truth doesn't react well to Little Jimmy getting kicked. At all. Lampshaded by Miz in the WWE Day 1 2024 event, in which he asks if he's seeing "Imaginary Friends" again.
- Incoming Ham: Whenever you hear "The Truth Shall Set You Free/The Truth Has Set Me Free," expect something awesome to follow.
- Kid-Appeal Character: As a face. Part of his Face–Heel Turn involved Truth saying he would no longer dance and smile for the "Little Jimmys". Following his face turn a couple months later, he is accompanied to the ring by Little Jimmy.
- Lampshade Hanging: "I don't even know if that's PG!" Considering this was after his Heel–Face Turn but he was still taking up residence in crazy town, one week he did a standard "wrestler cuts a promo while talking to the camera" spot that played in the corner while he walked to the ring. The trope is inverted though, because while it's generally assumed that the wrestler involved is addressing the fans/his opponent, Truth stops mid-sentence, gets a confused look on his face, and asks, "Wait, who am I talking to?"
- Large Ham: Is a bit of one as a face, but then again, so are most guys in pro wrestling. Since his heel turn in 2011, Truth hasn't just chewed scenery, at some points he's swallowed it whole.
- Lethal Joke Character: His late-career wrestling gimmick might be acting like a ditzy weirdo who struggles to retain or recall basic information, but he remains a capable and competent athlete. Just because he can't remember anyone's names and sometimes gets Australia and Austria mixed up doesn't mean he's lost his basic cunning, and his status as a comedy character lets him manpulate some of the weirder absurdities of the wrestling world to his advantage without breaking Kayfabe as badly as a smarter wrestler doing the same might. And this is all setting aside the question of how much of his idiocy is feigned to manipulate other wrestlers.
- Lightning Bruiser: Is he a fast power wrestler or a strong high flyer?
- Literal-Minded: As part of his Cloudcuckoolander personality, he sometimes takes things literally. An example is during the 12/25/24 RAW where he's going to fight JD McDonagh in a "Miracle on 34th Street" match and then asks Siri for directions on how to get to 34th Street.
- Malaproper: During his heel run. Mainly Played for Laughs.
- Malcolm Xerox: As part of the "New Panthers" in XPW, then during his original heel run in TNA. Part of the initial angle was the fact that no black man had been NWA World Heavyweight Champion before (Bobo Brazil, Carlos Colón and Jack Veneno won it but then they all were stripped). It was 2002. He ultimately won the title twice, and was the only black wrestler to be officially recognized as world champion in the NWA's books until 2022, when Tyrus won the title.
- Manchild: Arguably. His Face in-ring style has always been a bit...flippy, and the fact that he now has an imaginary friend doesn't help.
- Mirror Character: To Sami Zayn when it came to their respective storylines. While both end up being comedic wrestlers who try to get into the graces of a heel stable, Zayn did this by interfering in matches while Truth did promotional videos and selling merchandise. Zayn eventually got into the good graces of the Bloodline, while Truth deluded himself to think he was always part of the Judgment Day and then got told off by Priest that it was time to go. While both of them eventually moved away through the use of a chair, Zayn struck Reigns down with one while Truth sat down on a chair (bonus points is that both incidents involved Kevin Owens). Zayn would have a brief tag-team championship reign with Owens before going solo and having to rebuild his relationships with the RAW locker room, while Truth had Miz and #DIY supporting him from the get-go. However, while Sami was able to move on from the Bloodline after his big WrestleMania match, Truth completely forgets the antagonism the Judgment Day had towards him and tries to get back in.
- Mistaken Identity: During his cloudcuckoolander gimmick, he developed a bad habit of confusing different wrestlers for one another. So far, he's mistaken Maryse for Carmella and thought that Drake Maverick was Hornswoggle.
- Mook Carryover: He inherited the Funkadactyls after the Tons of Funk breakup.
- Nice Guy: His Judgment Day storyline shows that he has a kind side to him, going as far as making a PSA for his buddies and handing them shares of the money he made with the shirts he sold. And when he, Miz and #DIY confront each other during the 6 Tag Team ladder match at Wrestlemania XL, he simply suggests that both teams go after an individual championship instead of fighting one another.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
- His attack on John Morrison after losing his number one contender spot.
- His run-in along with The Miz during the Punk/HHH match at Night of Champions 2011. They beat the hell out of both competitors, and then beat the hell out of the referees.
- Then came Hell in a Cell 2011 when they beat the crap out of everyone including the cameramen.
- His return on the last Raw of 2011 has him beating the hell out of The Miz.
- No Indoor Voice: Face or heel...when cutting promos, R-Truth has two volumes: loud and louder.
- Non Sequitur: Half the stuff that comes out of Truth's mouth on camera makes no freaking sense at all. Doesn't stop it from being hilarious, though.
- The Not-Love Interest: Carmella, who has been his constant platonic partner and friend ever since they won the second season of the WWE Mixed Match Challenge, particularly during his desperate attempts to retain the 24/7 Championship.
- "Not So Different" Remark:
- Ricky Steamboat took Ron Killing's rantings in TNA personally, feeling Truth was either criticizing the job he was doing or being racist against the fans. Ron Killings instead said that Ricky Steamboat should be able to relate to everything Ron Killings had an issue with, that it was a shame Steamboat never got a shot at the WWF Championship despite having matches people still talked about to that very day, and that TNA was doing the same to Killings. After hearing him out, Steamboat agreed with him.
- After getting his 24/7 championship from Mayor Jacobs (not Kane, Mayor Jacobs), he manages to let the mayor not put him in a chokeslam by pointing out that being a mayor and being a 24/7 champion are similar in function of being high-demanding jobs and it would be difficult for the mayor to maintain said championship while working a full-time job. Mayor Jacobs concedes to the point and lets Truth have the belt.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Discussed by Michael Cole on the 2/5/24 RAW, as he honestly can't tell whether Truth is literally that big of an idiot or he's just acting like one so no one suspects he's manipulating people behind the scenes.
- Odd Friendship: His alliance with The Miz during 2024. Miz is a Hollywood hot-shot while R-Truth is...R-Truth.
- Older Than They Look: R-Truth is, unbelievably, 52 years old in 2024. For perspective, he's older than Rey Mysterio, Edge and The Rock, and just three years younger than Triple H, and yet he still wrestles a high-speed, acrobatic ring style.
- Omniglot: Apparently can understand Japanese (during the 24/7 Championiship saga, he was able to understand a note was given to him by Akira Tozawa) and it took Miz talking to him in French for him to understand that Awesome Truth got new World Tag Team Champion belts.
- One-Letter Name: R-Truth's first name is "R". At least if you believe what a raving lunatic is saying. This was during a segment between R-Truth, Vince McMahon and Steve Austin with R-Truth coming out in a Confederate costume with the intent to secede from the WWE Universe.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Truth starts panicking on the 2/12/24 RAW when Damian Priest says that Truth is going to be executed in his match against JD MCDonagh, trying to call Miz but not getting anything (both because he's on the home screen and Miz was away due to Maryse getting surgery from the cancerous tumors on her ovaries). He gets another moment when Dominik asks Truth to hand him a chair to attack Kevin Owens (even stating he's part of the Judgment Day) and quietly sits on the chair and refuses to play the game.
- Power Trio
- He was one of Jeff G. Bailey's "African American Supermen" in NCW, later NWA Wildside.
- Besides the Kru, he and Konnan were part of Team TNA with Samoa Joe.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Carmella, with whom he shares a lot of interests, but has no romantic feelings for, so they stick around each other as companions.
- Plucky Comic Relief: His primary role in WWE in recent years. Taken to its logical extreme after the introduction of the 24/7 Championship, a title that has basically been a walking factory of Big-Lipped Alligator Moment for Truth's reign(s) with it.
- Put on a Bus: Wasn't on TV for several months because of a knee injury at the end of 2012. He later returned to save Kofi Kingston from a beatdown courtesy of Damien Sandow.
- Quieter Than Silence: His theme 'song' right after his heel turn consisted of "THE TRUTH! SHALL SET YOU FREE!" Then R-Truth came out to a loud, blaring track of nothing, usually having conversations with the voices in his head on the way.
- Recognition Failure: The thankfully brief "Pretty Ricky" storyline, and not just because of the legions of wrestling fans who now want to destroy anyone making them remember that. Basically, Truth suffered amnesia and thought he was somebody called "Pretty Ricky" and was not allowed to attend SmackDown shows even though he worked them.
- A Running Gag is that he constantly confuses wrestlers for someone else, whether it's #DIY for Shawn Michaels and Triple H, Maryse for Carmella, or even Kevin Owens for Miz.
- Red Baron: Suntanned Superman, a self given one when contrasting himself to Bird Man.
- Ring Oldies: Actually qualifies by definition of the trope; as of January 2024 he's sitting on a more than 20-year wrestling career and is on the road as a full-time talent and a weekly feature on TV at age 52. Not that you could tell by looking at him. He's been around so long that he's held the WWF Hardcore Championship and its Spiritual Successor, the [24/7] Championship - titles that had about a two-decade gap between their existences.
- The Rival: AJ Styles in Georgia, thanks to both of them being manipulated by Jeff G. Bailey, and then again a little further south in TNA.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After returning from being injured by The Miz, he proceeds to beat the stuffing out of him... Then stop JUST short of taking him out so he can stretch it out over several weeks, telling Miz as much to his face.
- Rule of Symbolism: R-Truth started wearing his own Judgment Day shirt in his storyline with them. After he wised up to how they hated him, he returns to his "What's Up!" shirt in late February 2024, just as he's reunited with Miz and gained buddies with #DIY.
- Running Gag:
- Any time he performs any of John Cena's moves, the commentators state that he's paying homage to his "childhood idol".note
- In many pay-per-view matches, he seems to misunderstand what type of match he's in. For example, in Royal Rumble 2016, he drags a ladder into the ring and thinks it's a Money in the Bank match. Eight years later, he accidentally gets into the Women's Royal Rumble before entering the Men's one...and he's waiting for Dominik Mysterio to tag him in while Dominik is struggling to escape Gunther.
- Sanity Slippage: Oh so very much with his Heel turn in 2011. Even if a viewer could think it was something else, announcers and people fighting him will tell you directly that R-Truth has lost it. And he was still insane after turning face. Well, for a few months at least. Now he's back to his old self.
- Scary Black Man: Though he's less scary than any insane professional athlete has the right to be, his rampage alongside The Miz in 2011 still managed to scare most of the Raw roster to get them to vote "no confidence" on Triple H.
- Shout-Out: His team with Konnan and BG James in TNA: The 3 Live Kru (later became the 4 Live Kru with the addition of Kip James [WWE's Billy Gunn].)
- Slasher Smile: Look at the above picture and say that this is a guy that you'd want to run into in a dark alley.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis:
- Ever since gaining the 24/7 title, Truth has gained a very persistent enemy in Drake Maverick who wants the title for himself and goes to rather extreme lengths, such as putting a bounty on Truth's head so that he will buy it from the wrestler who pinned Truth, Million Dollar Man-style. Also Jinder Mahal who will obsessively follow him everywhere (and we mean EVERYWHERE, from a golf field to an airport TARMAC) in order to get the title, to the insane point he wouldn't rescue Truth from suffocating inside a box if there wasn't a referee who could count the pin after he got him out. More recently, Akira Tozawa and Drew Gulak have gotten into the act, Tozawa even picking up a gang of ninja mooks for the occasion.
- Starting in his return in late December 2023 as he tries to become part of The Judgment Day, JD McDonaugh has found him annoying on how he tries to be part of the group.
- Spin Attack: Two of the finishers he's used (Truth Axe and Lie Detector) - respectively, a corkscrew scissors kick and a double corkscrew flying elbow.
- Stunned Silence: When Truth came down to the ring in the aforementioned Confederate uniform and song, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin raised his microphone to make a remark and then let it drop back down, unable to say anything in response. You could actually see the point as to when he simply went "Screw This, I'm Outta Here" on the conversation entirely. And when you stun Steve Austin...you've done something.
- Tag Team: Held TNA's tag team titles with Adam "Pacman" Jones, unfortunately. Before, he held NWA's tag team titles back when they were under TNA's control with B.G. James and Konnan under the Freebird Rule, and later held WWE's tag team titles with Kofi Kingston.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: His storyline with the Judgment Day has him constantly wanting to be a member of the team, and no matter how many times they tell him he's not part of them, he still doesn't get it. Even when JD knocks him from behind and rips off his shirt, he thinks it's just an initiation! He finally wises up to them after Priest finally tells him that he's going to be executed...but that only lasts for a few weeks before he's proudly showing off his championship belt and insisting he's part of the Judgment Day again.
- Think of the Children!: Shouted at him in the UK for his heinous act of indoor smoking, along with chants of "That's illegal!".
- Three Month Rule: R-Truth's first WWE title was the United States Championship he won from the Miz. K-Kwik won the hardcore title? K-Kwik who?
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Went from Kid-Appeal Character to the guy blowing smoke rings in people's faces and chucking drinks at audience members.
- Unexplained Recovery: After being blown up by MacGruber on Raw, leaving nothing but his shoes, R-Truth showed up on NXT without explanation.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: Played straight, then subverted, then double-subverted in the course of a single year. Truth's heel turn in the spring of 2011 was partly prompted by his desire to stop acting hammy for the fans like a stereotypical black comedian. But now that he's back to being a face again, the drawl and the double-takes and the other minstrel-like qualities seem to have not only returned, but are being taken up to eleven. At least he's a badass minstrel.
- Villain Song "U Suck".
- "The Villain Sucks" Song: After turning face he had a variation of "what's up" for Ryback.
- Villain Team-Up: With The Miz when they were heels back in 2011.
- We Used to Be Friends
- With John Morrison. After Morrison took his spot in a WWE title PPV match, Truth took him out of commission for several months.
- And again with The Miz, who decided a few weeks before that Truth had outlived his usefulness and assaulted him on the steel ramp, giving Truth a concussion note that put him out of action for a month.
- What Have You Done for Me Lately?: When Vince Russo claimed Truth and Road Dog were only in D Generation X because of his pull, the Three Live Kru shot back with Russo owing them his employment several times over and asking what had he done for them lately.
- Wolverine Publicity: He did the main promo for Hell in a Cell 2013 (even appearing on the poster, in a suit, of all things) despite not being on the card. The only sense to make of it was the "hell" in the title and Truth's tendency to paraphrase the Bible "The Truth, Has Set Me Free".
- Would Hit a Girl: Was targeted by "Bitch Slap" (Nurse Veronica, Cheerleader Valentina, Traci Brooks, Trinity) in TNA. It wasn't personal, having matches with men was just one of the ways they thought they could improve the standing of women in the company. After one of Truth's split legged power bombs injured one of them though, men were banned from initiating contact with women whatsoever.
- Wrestling Doesn't Pay: K-Kwik, a wrestling rapper. This was actually true for Ron Killings for a time too.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Lately, a lot of R-Truth's appearances are him being in the wrong place at the wrong time (such as appearing after The Wyatt Family's Jump Scare), cutting promos for matches he's not even involved in (like Money in the Bank 2015), or being confused about what kind of match he's in (like trying to climb a ladder during a Royal Rumble).
