R-Truth’s return was not part of a planned storyline arc, despite cryptic comment by Paul Levesque after Money in the Bank

R-Truth’s run-in during the WWE Money in the Bank main event was not the planned finish just days earlier. R-Truth’s contract with WWE did expire as he and WWE were unable to come to terms on a new deal; it’s not clear if WWE made a serious offer initially to retain his services.

WWE underestimated Truth’s popularity the WWE fanbase, though. When Truth announced on on social media that he was “released,” not only did fans react with outrage, but so did wrestlers who had a great affinity for him as a person. WWE wrestlers always enjoyed his company,. Rhea Ripley even wore one of his shirts in a TV segment.

Last Monday during Raw, fans chanted “We Want Truth” and other R-Truth related chants. By Friday’s Smackdown, a deal had been negotiated to bring Truth back in some capacity, leading to John Cena mentioning the fans “wanting truth” in a play on words during the show-closing segment. Despite being a heel, it seemed unlikely Cena would “rub it in” that Truth was gone and fans were angry, so it portended some sort of a return being in the works.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

Check out the latest episode of “Wrestling Night in America,” part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

Paul Levesque stated during the Money in the Bank post-event Q&A that the Truth situation was “all part of the show.” That gave off an impression, intended or not, that the Truth release was part of a storyline master plan all along. PWTorch sourcing from within WWE indicates that Truth’s release was definitely not part of a storyline arc meant to generate anger he was gone only to generate a big pop for his “return” at MITB.

Cody Rhodes, contradicting the impression Levesque gave, said during the MITB post-show, “You guys wanted R-Truth… It’s our job to give you what you want.”

WWE handled the R-Truth situation poorly in the sense that they underestimated his popularity, and failed to coordinate a messaging strategy with R-Truth to mitigate backlash against a company that is, at times, testing the goodwill fans feel toward the brand in various ways in recent months. PWTorch has talked with several people close to Truth who believe the best approach would have been to secure a part-time hybrid Legends deal to keep Truth under contract. It’s not known if Truth just simply insisted on a deal that WWE couldn’t justify, though, and left WWE in a bad position. Either way, they came to terms and Truth is back at least in some capacity.