{"id":79723,"date":"2020-11-29T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T17:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=79723"},"modified":"2020-11-28T19:12:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T00:12:01","slug":"r-truth-deserved-more-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/11\/29\/r-truth-deserved-more-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth Hurts: R-Truth Deserved More in 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>R-Truth<\/strong> is one of the longest-serving superstars in the <strong>WWE<\/strong> today.\u00a0 Having originally served in the<strong> WWF<\/strong> between 1999 and 2002 as <strong>K-Kwik<\/strong>, R-Truth began his second run <em>twelve<\/em> long years ago.\u00a0 Since then, he has gone on to establish himself as a beloved mainstay.\u00a0 Something of a multi-talented comedy genius, Truth has settled into the comedy role vacated by<strong> Santino Marella<\/strong> in 2014.\u00a0 Honestly, Truth does it better.\u00a0 Upon his initial return in 2008, Truth was something of a serious, babyface mid-carder &#8211; regularly challenging for the United States Championship that he has won twice.\u00a0 Sandwiched between the serious babyface and the lovable 45x WWE 24\/7 Championship winning goofball periods of Truth&#8217;s career lies the most interesting.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s go back to 2011.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>R-Truth in 2011<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In 2011, R-Truth was three years into his second run and had a sole US Championship run &#8211; as well as a WWE Tag Team Championship run (with<strong> Kofi Kingston<\/strong>) &#8211; to his name.\u00a0 He was stuck in mid-card purgatory during a time when <strong>John Cena<\/strong> was well into the height of his run as the company&#8217;s ace.\u00a0 On April 11, 2011, however, R-Truth would finally earn a shot at the WWE Championship after interference by <strong>The Miz<\/strong> (then champion) and <strong>Alex Riley<\/strong> (then lackey) led to a double disqualification in a match against John Cena himself.\u00a0 Truth was then scheduled to face John Cena in a rematch at<em><strong> Extreme Rules<\/strong><\/em>, with the added bonus of Miz and his WWE Championship on the line.\u00a0 This was the closest thing to a main event push Truth has had in his entire career.\u00a0 Sadly, it would quickly go south for Truth.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Raw: R-Truth brutally attacks John Morrison\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-3ZomRWNEFM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Instead of going on to face Cena at <em>Extreme Rules<\/em> and eventually challenge for the WWE Championship, <strong>John Morrison<\/strong> came into the fray.\u00a0 He challenged Truth to a match, convincing him to put his match with Cena on the line.\u00a0 Most people would just say no, but R-Truth was perhaps a little bit<em> too<\/em> naive and accepted.\u00a0 Of course, much like when <strong>Otis<\/strong> recently put his <em><strong>Money in the Bank<\/strong><\/em> briefcase on the line against Miz and Morrison and lost, so too did Truth.\u00a0 Morrison won the match, causing Truth to snap and show a side of him we had never seen &#8211; and perhaps never will see &#8211; again.\u00a0 He <em>destroyed<\/em> Morrison post-match, leading <strong>Jerry Lawler<\/strong> to declare &#8220;this guy is sick&#8221;.\u00a0 With how closely this feud was tied to the main event title picture, this was a major turn for Truth.\u00a0 Additionally, Truth did something we had never seen before: he lit a cigarette and started smoking at ringside, prompting a &#8220;that&#8217;s illegal&#8221; chant from the crowd.\u00a0 This newer, nastier version of Truth was clearly intended to be edgy from the get-go and that is how it should have stayed.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m a Good R-Truth&#8221;, Or So He Says<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Extreme Rules 2011 - John Cena vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EfoPDQlVwvA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In a pay-per-view perhaps more memorable for John Cena revealing to the audience that Osama Bin Laden had just been assassinated, Cena won the WWE Championship from The Miz in the triple threat involving John Morrison.\u00a0 However, Morrison very nearly won the match.\u00a0 The only reason he failed to win was because the new R-Truth prevented him from doing so, costing him a chance at claiming his first WWE Championship.\u00a0 He would appear on RAW the next night, saying that he is done entertaining the fans; what had they done for him over the years? <strong>Rey Mysterio<\/strong> would become the next number one contender for the WWE Championship, prompting Truth to take him out as he did Morrison.\u00a0 At the time, fans of Truth were both concerned that he had been removed from the number one contender spot.\u00a0 However, they were also interested, as he was still in the discussion &#8211; feuds with Rey Mysterio and Cena would surely bring something big.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Raw: Rey Mysterio vs. R-Truth - WWE Championship Tournament\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dCfM016K2j8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>R-Truth would pull off arguably the biggest win of his career at <em><strong>Over the Limit<\/strong><\/em>, where he defeated Mysterio and became the new number one contender.\u00a0 John Cena was still the WWE Champion, however, and as any fan around this time would recall, not many heels made it past that brick wall.\u00a0 At <em><strong>Capitol Punishment<\/strong><\/em>, John Cena would successfully defend his WWE Championship against Truth, ending his claim to the title.\u00a0 R-Truth had been arguable the hottest act in the company up until this point.\u00a0 Very unfortunately for Truth, just one week after <em>Capitol Punishment<\/em>, <strong>CM Punk<\/strong> would conduct his iconic<em> Pipebomb<\/em> promo and Truth was soon demoted to the midcard.\u00a0 He would come out every week, complaining that there was a &#8220;conspiracy&#8221; against him.\u00a0 It was here where he first started using the phrase &#8220;Little Jimmy&#8221;, originally a reference to Cena&#8217;s adolescent fanbase.\u00a0 Eventually, he was one half of <strong>Awesome Truth<\/strong> with Miz &#8211; both men well and truly out of the main event, even used as fodder at<em><strong> Survivor Series 2011<\/strong><\/em>, when they were squashed by <strong>The Rock<\/strong> and<strong> Cena<\/strong> in a tag match.\u00a0 Truth&#8217;s brief flirtation with the main event had come to an abrupt, unjustified end.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Though a Missed Opportunity, Truth Prevails<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FULL MATCH - John Cena &amp; The Rock vs. The Miz &amp; R-Truth: Survivor Series 2011\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ChiLWi-mBvU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Though the height of R-Truth&#8217;s 2011 run was a missed opportunity, Truth has still done very well for himself.\u00a0 It has long been said &#8211; perhaps most memorably by <strong>Shane &#8220;Hurricane&#8221; Helms<\/strong> &#8211; that if you can make <strong>Vince McMahon<\/strong> laugh, you have a job for life.\u00a0 Truth has run with that perhaps better than anyone in WWE history.\u00a0 Yes, he is never going to win a WWE Championship.\u00a0 Yes, he will never be a main event regular, but he doesn&#8217;t need either of those things.\u00a0 R-Truth is making money, has a job for life, and is seemingly beloved by all his peers, his boss, and not to mention, the fans.\u00a0 Whereas R-Truth should have won the WWE Championship in 2011, time has proven that he is just as special a competitor without it.\u00a0 R-Truth is awesome no matter what he does and that&#8217;s what&#8217;s up.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/wwenetwork\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>R-Truth is one of the longest-serving superstars in the WWE today.\u00a0 Having originally served in the WWF between 1999 and 2002 as K-Kwik, R-Truth began his second run twelve long years ago.\u00a0 Since then, he has gone on to establish himself as a beloved mainstay.\u00a0 Something of a multi-talented comedy genius, Truth has settled into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":13797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,2192,4,3],"tags":[924,47],"class_list":["post-79723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-r-truth","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}