YMMV / Ron Killings

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Starting in December 2023, Truth's stint with the Judgment Day can go either two ways: he's either completely oblivious or he's very crafty while acting oblivious. Or both.
  • Take note that Damien Priest became instantly charmed by Truth's antics over how long it took to accept JD as part of the group, — accepting Truth's "almost flat screen" TV and agreeing that their clubhouse does need better security. He was also the one who accepted Truth's request for the "Miracle on 34th Street" fight against JD McDonagh (much to JD and Rhea's chagrin). Moreover, Finn Bálor only decided to fight Tommaso Ciampa after Truth (innocently) called Finn a "scaredy cat" and because the match wasn't a #1 Contender's Match for the Tag Team Championship. There's also a division between everyone hating Priest for defending Truth and they only changed their minds on him after Priest showed his cut of all the money Truth was making out of his shirts yet not caring for JD as an official member (while JD lost the "Miracle on 34th Street" fight, Rhea insists that he's part of the group to which the others begrudgingly agree). The 1/22/24 RAW has him agree with Miz that the Judgment Day is dangerous — albeit in the sense of Miz keeping an eye on "Tom & Nick" Mysterio.
  • Even in-universe, whether Truth is a literal fool or just pretending to be one has been questioned. On the 2/5/24 RAW, Michael Cole debates on whether Truth was distracting JD with money so that Miz could get a win or he was actually trying to be supportive of JD by giving the latter the money from the Judgment Day merch he sold. The same can be said on Truth putting one of his Judgment Day shirts on Dominik as to whether it was deliberate so that Dom can't attack Miz or he wanted to be supportive of Dom and it was just coincidental timing.
  • Is Truth gaslighting JD McDonough? Truth is always questioning if JD is part of the stable even though he hasn't done anything significant outside of saving Priest from a Spear, in contrast to how Truth has done a PSA and selling merchandise of the group, even willing to hand out their shares of the dough.
  • Despite having learned his lesson about trying to be part of the Judgment Day, R-Truth goes back to his antics on the 4/8/24 RAW. Did he completely forget what happened or is he, once again, trolling the Judgment Day and making them lose their cool? Miz even states that Truth doesn't actually want to be part of the group.
• Alternative Joke Interpretation: Given Truth's status as a Lethal Joke Character whose true character is constantly debated...
  • One attempt in the 24/7 Championship saga has Truth at Times Square reading a note in Japanese went by Akira Tozawa. Does Truth know how to read it or did Tozawa assume Truth knew Japanese?
  • On a January 2024 episode of RAW, the Judgment Day entrance somehow has R-Truth's face and his "Live. Laugh. Love" motto photo-shopped in. Did Truth bribe someone to edit it in or did someone find Truth's Judgment Day PSA to be hilarious that they did the deed themselves? Or both?
• Base-Breaking Character: Some people think he's one of the funniest performers in WWE and a constant source of laughs, others (most notably Adam Blampied from What Culture Wrestling) think he's the single worst thing in the history of the business. (On the other hand, by 2020 even Blampied had come around and grudgingly admitted that Truth's work with the 24/7 Championship was actually hilarious.)
• Cargo Ship: With the 24/7 Championship. He's really attached to that belt, and will go to any lengths to keep or get it back.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • On the 2/16/24 Smackdown, R-Truth is watching Kevin Owens fight off against Dominik Mysterio. At one point, Dominik demands Truth to get a steel chair, even proclaiming that Truth is in the Judgment Day. So Truth gets a chair...and sits on it, finally realizing how he was played as a sucker all this time.
  • Coming into WrestleMania XL, R-Truth had never gotten a big WrestleMania moment let alone won a match there. That changed on Night 1 of the event when he and The Miz won the Raw Tag Team Championships, and they won them from the Judgment Day! Bonus points for putting Damian Priest into an Attitude Adjustment, as if to finally say he is done with this group of bullies.
• Crazy Is Cool: His heel antics, as well as his face antics before reverting back to his normal original personality.
  • The man crashed a damn wedding to win back a championship.
• Creator Worship: Especially since his work with the 24/7 Championship starting 2019, R-Truth has become one of the most beloved personalities on the WWE roster despite being almost always treated as a joke, largely because he's remained a very funny one (and even the times where he turned heel — as brief as they were — showed he could also rock being genuinely badass). It's rare for any wrestler to be described as having some of his best work in his 40's to 50's, and the fact he's remained such a consistent source of laughs has won over many a fan and critic, with the common rhetoric being "R-Truth is a national treasure who must be protected."
• Creator's Favorite: Apparently Vince McMahon thought he was the funniest act on the roster, even when fans felt otherwise.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • In general, The Gimmick of being so badly brain-damaged by years of CTE that a wrestler struggles to retain even basic information? Not funny, tasteless even. Said wrestler never actually coming out and saying that’s his problem, remaining a deceptively competent and capable athlete even well into the twilight years of his career, and it being perpetually unclear how much of his behavior is genuine and how much a cunning ruse to manipulate his opponents? Beloved fan favorite Lethal Joke Character.
  • Being beaten up by The Judgment Day and having his shirt torn off? Saddening. Appearing one week later, assuming it was all an initiation for him to officially be part of the group and Priest allowing him to crash at their club in surrender? Hilarious.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Despite declaring his dislike of the TNA fans frequently and loudly, a large majority of them seemed to agree with Ron Killings's statements.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Became a huge one in the spring/summer of 2019. It's telling how over he is with the crowd when within 24 hours, he turned the 24/7 Championship from a groan-inducing gimmick into one of the most entertaining parts of the WWE just by having it. In fact, after several weeks of his consistently-entertaining antics, some fans have been hailing Truth's 24/7 Title run as the single best thing on both RAW and SmackDown!
  • When he returned at Survivor Series 2023 and had a storyline in The Judgment Day, he instantly became a fan-favorite akin to Sami Zayn, with Miz jokingly even calling him "The most likeable member of Judgment Day" during WWE Day 1 2024. He's become so popular that his Judgment Day PSA ended up creating three shirts in the span of one week and he got more merchandise sales than CM PUNK! which is notable because both of them returned on the same night — Survivor Series 2023 — and Punk was the one who got the bigger pop than Truth at the time. He's so over that on the 2/9/24 Smackdown, he only appears for a few seconds on a promo and the crowd immediately chants, "We want Truth!"
• Fanon Discontinuity: He wrestled in WWE before? As K-Kwik? Seriously?
• Fountain of Memes: Heel Truth and face Truth is this. In fact, with his Judgment Day PSA promo, it somehow ended up creating three memes at once, his biggest one being "Tom and Nick Mysterio".
• Harsher in Hindsight: The night he poured cigarettes, whiskey, beer, and the trash can they were in over CM Punk's head on WWE SmackDown in 2009. Punk's feud with Chris Jericho reveals that this was truly not so funny.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • On the 2/26/24 RAW, Truth is hanging out alone at the Judgment Day clubhouse when #DIY and Miz approach him to give him company. Unlike Judgment Day quickly growing tired of his presence, the three are happy to help cheer him up and play along with Truth whether it's Tommaso (who Truth calls "Triple H") stating "Are you ready?" when it comes to fighting the Judgment Day to Miz accepting that the group name is "Regeneration X". Just goes to show that Truth truly does have people who care for him as he is. This is especially noticeable with Tommaso who has been known to be pretty unhinged.
  • Night 1 of WrestleMania XL. #DIY and Awesome Truth are fighting for the Raw and Smackdown Tag Team Championships. R-Truth suggests both teams split the titles between them. This doesn’t work out in the end. It was still nice to see. And then there's him being the one to unhook the Raw Tag Team Championship after knocking Priest off a ladder and giving him an Attitude Adjustment. The entire crowd is cheering for him to climb the ladder and roar when it's finally in his hands. And two nights later, he finally gets to tag with his "childhood hero" John Cena to take out The Judgment Day.
  • 4/15/24 RAW: Alongside him getting new tag team championship belts, he performs a split for the audience. It's extra meaningful when you recall how he was out for almost a year after he injured his leg at WWE NXT in 2022 and there were fears that it might have to be amputated.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: On the night of R-Truth's heel turn, John Morrison made a brief mention of R-Truth having a smoking habit. Of course, with WWE being concerned about kid-friendliness, that element was quickly dropped right after Truth's heel turn (although he kept the water bottle). In November, R-Truth was suspended for a Wellness Violation...for smoking synthetic weed at a party. And that was only after Evan Bourne (who was punished for the same offense) ratted him out. Maybe JoMo knew something the rest of us didn't...?
• Ho Yay: His Judgment Day storyline gave him an edge with Priest and Miz.
  • Priest is shown to find Truth's antics funny, muttering that he'd like a TV in the Judgment Day Clubhouse and admits that Truth is right that the clubhouse needs security. Priest accepted Truth's suggestion to fight JD McDonaugh for the "Loser Leaves Judgment Day" Miracle on 34th Street fight and defends Truth against JD's ire for him, with JD sounding downright jealous that Truth has got Priest smitten so easily. Priest even admits that R-Truth is a "funny guy", akin to a guy telling a girl that she's "cute", while Truth always gives Damien a nickname in "DP". Last, Priest insists that Truth doesn't tag in the tag team match against him and Finn and heavily regrets having to give Truth a South of Heaven. It honestly sounds like a Korean Drama where the brooding bad boy slowly falls head-over-heels for the Genki Girl lead and is constantly denying it in front of his peers. An interview he has in 2/19/24 is even framed as if Truth has had his heart broken by a crush with Truth admitting that Priest betraying him made him cry and being asked if he'll "let anyone in again" by Jackie.
  • Starting with their reunion as Awesome Truth in January 2024, Miz does his best to pull Truth away from what is clearly a negatively influence as he knows that the Judgment Day are just using him. After JD starts beating R-Truth out, even ripping off Truth's Judgment Day shirt on the 1/29/24 RAW, Miz immediately rushes out to save his friend. Miz never chews Truth out in contrast to Priest being fed up.
• Just Here for Godzilla: His 24/7 Championship run and Judgment Day Storyline made fans want to tune it for whatever craziness Truth is going to dish out next.
• Memetic Badass: Fans love to joke about Truth's accomplishments like being the only participant in the 2024 Royal Rumble to take part in the Women's Rumble, the Men's Rumble, and a tag team match in one night. They also treat his 50+ reign as 24/7 Champion as legitimate and how he has more titles than Ric Flair or John Cena.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I don't even know if that's PG!"^ExplanationThis comes from a 2012 promo with Wade Barrett over R-Truth going to Disneyland and meeting Pinocchio, whose nose grew big when Pinocchio said Wade Barrett was going to win the Royal Rumble.
  • It's common to state how R-Truth is "a national treasure who must be protected" due to his ability to make people laugh.
  • He's how old?!^ExplanationMany comments on YouTube are shocked to learn that Truth is actually in his fifties due to his looks and athleticism.
• Play-Along Meme:
  • Whenever he does any of John Cena's moves, fans love to comment on how he's emulating his "childhood hero".^ExplanationThe joke is that Truth, as of 2024, is 52 and Cena is a few years younger.
  • Ever since his storyline of him with the Judgment Day, fans have stated that he's been part of the stable since its inception.
• Tear Jerker: Him finally realizing that the Judgment Day hate him on 2/12/24. When Priest finally reveals that JD is going to "execute" him, Truth immediately starts panicking and tries calling Miz (who kept warning him about how the group was going to destroy him) for help. But here are two things that make it sadder: 1) Truth is panicking to the point that he didn't call the Miz at all (it's on the home screen) and 2) Miz's wife, Maryse, had been announced getting eleven pre-cancerous tumors removed from her ovaries, meaning Miz wouldn't be able to reach him in time. It is saddening to see the plucky Truth being terrified and his friend can't come to him not out of malice but because of a real-life emergency. Thankfully, his call somehow reached Miz (or Miz sensed something was going to happen to Truth) and he asked DIY to come to the rescue..