Wrestling Inc. Readers Respond: 6/13/2025

Wrestling Inc. readers hear from us every day of the week. Now, it's time for us to hear from you. In Readers Respond, our editorial staff will pull select comments left by our readers — not just to publish them, but to provide our thoughts in response.

After R-Truth cut his hair and anointed himself Ron Killings on "WWE Raw," leading Bully Ray to speculate about Killings winning King of the Ring, WINC reader Kiryu expressed some dismay, positing that "the same thing that happened with Jey could be happening with Truth. Fans love him and he gets a great reaction so he is gonna be put in a spot where he doesn't belong."

"Fans were upset Truth was gone because he gave them so many great comedic moments over the years, not because they wanna see him in a serious role," the comment continued. "Just further goes to show how clueless WWE are these days, they are gonna force a 53-year-old into serious matches and his age will very quickly show."

This skepticism was far from universal, however — reader Stoned Gnome, for example, wants much more for Truth than just serious matches.

"Truth beating Cena would be a great moment and could be the catalyst for Cena turning babyface again," they wrote. "After the match, have Truth cut a promo with him scolding Cena and them afterwards hugging it out. People would pop for Cena putting Truth over, and [it'd] send the people home happy."

We suspect there might be a middle ground between simply returning R-Truth to his comedic role and having him defeat the actual WWE Champion. If this is how he wants his (presumed) last WWE run to go, we have no problem with him taking things in a different direction to wrap up his career. It's true that in the process he's taking away TV time from other, probably younger talent, but the bottom line is that Killings has forged a connection with the audience, and that is ultimately always going to mean more than things like age and workrate. We have zero interest in him beating Cena, but we have zero issues with one last serious Ron Killings run.

Two nights after Killings' self-inflicted haircut, AEW ran their second consecutive Wednesday night four-hour block, this one dubbed "Summer Blockbuster." As with "Fyter Fest" the week before, the show peaked in the middle (about the time "Dynamite" would normally end) with a segment from the Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada program, and while AEW is clearly trying recapture the magic of the Omega/Okada matches of a decade past, the build isn't sitting right with everyone.

You might not be surprised to learn that reader Ucey Love is "not big on AEW as a whole," but they admit that "AEW had me with the Okada/Omega video package. I was sold ... The handshake, the mutual respect ... I was ready to watch All In." Unfortunately for Ucey Love, the segment wasn't over, as Don Callis' music hit.

"Callis came out and it went all downhill from there," Ucey Love continued. "I get Callis has history with Omega. But why turn Okada, who was already a heel, heel again? And why have him side with Callis when the Don Callis family is already too big? It makes no sense at all. The Don Callis family is a revolving door, and when someone joins, I just get checked out. Crazy, because Don Callis as a manager is really the Paul Heyman of AEW in that he knows how to cut a promo and get guys over. But his stables have been overbooked, overhyped and just plain awful in AEW. Listen, I get that Don Callis is really Omega's main antagonist. I get it. He is the Lex Luthor to Omega's Superman. But it's hot garbage, plain and simple."

While many agree that AEW's booking as picked up of late, we can't really argue most of these points. Watching heel Okada perform a heel turn angle was bizarre, and the decision to suddenly pair him with Callis out of nowhere suggests either a rigid refusal to run a major Omega match without Callis involved, or simply the absence of any better ideas — either option is unfortunate, especially because Okada is also supposed to be in The Elite. Even during their hot periods, AEW has a tendency to play fast and loose with factions, and it undermines a not insignificant amount of their storytelling. Okada being mysteriously absent for the Young Bucks' recent angles before suddenly joining the Don Callis Family is the kind of thing that only serves to break immersion and remind viewers they're watching a TV show. No amount of nostalgia is worth it.