Dave Meltzer Breaks Down R-Truth's Recent WWE Return As Ron Killings

It's been a rollercoaster of a few weeks for Ron "R-Truth" Killings. He has wrestled John Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event, been told he's not getting his contract renewed, seemingly left the company, returned to the company, and cut all of his hair off, proclaiming himself as Ron Killings and that the R-Truth character is no more. Now that Killings is officially back in WWE and working full-time with a new character, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter broke down how everything came to be.

To start, Meltzer clarified what many people have already confirmed which is that Killings not being offered a new contract and leaving WWE was very real, despite some claiming that it was all a work. He explained that Killings was actively negotiating with other promotions as recently as June 4, while others were waiting in the wings to make him offers, but the new deal ended up coming together in the days leading up to Money in the Bank on June 7, with John Cena's promo on the "WWE SmackDown" the night before Money in the Bank showing that he likely knew about the deal before anyone else did.

The #WeWantTruth movement played a part in Killings being re-signed, with Meltzer saying that while they were able to make a story out of it and make themselves look good by listening to the fans, WWE don't like the fans hijacking the creative direction of the company, or hijacking their shows with chants of "We Want Truth." Ultimately, WWE thought that the easiest way solve everything was just hire Killings back in a similar fashion to how The Blue Meanie, Drake Maverick, and Daniel Bryan were all re-hired by WWE after initially being let go while Vince McMahon was in charge of the company.

As far as Killings making his return at Money in the Bank, that was a Paul "Triple H" Levesque call, who ironically was the man who made the final decision on letting Killings run down his contract in the first place. The creative for the end of the show was kept very close to the vest, with only a select few being told on a need-to-know basis.

However, one thing that Meltzer was told by a source within WWE was that there was a lot of talk about how Killings, who was a mid-carder that had a loyal following based primarily on his comedic nature and how long he'd been with the company, was a bigger talking point coming out of Money in the Bank than Jacob Fatu turning on Solo Sikoa, which sets up Fatu to be a future main event star, and Cody Rhodes pinning John Cena, which looks to have set up one of the possible main events for SummerSlam. Meltzer claimed that these two talking points weren't killed by the surprise return of Killings, but they didn't have the impact that WWE were likely hoping for.

When it comes to Killings going by his real name and being a more serious character, that was one of the things he negotiated for when his new deal was being worked out. This is something Meltzer sees as a smart move long-term as he can be on WWE TV using his real name, then move on to the indies and convention circuit when his WWE run is over and have his real name carry some weight to it in the eyes of the public or casual fan. With that said, Meltzer did state that there is a real irony in that the fans wanted Killings back in WWE because they connected with the naïve, comedic character he had played for years, only for him to return as someone completely different. Had he had a serious character before his initial departure, Meltzer finds it hard to believe that he would have been brought back at all.