R-Truth Talks Thanking Vince McMahon For Firing Him, Headlining WWE PPV Against John Cena

In the last 10 years, R-Truth became one of the most-entertaining WWE superstars in this era. Whether he is wrestling alongside his old cohort, "Little Jimmy," fighting in the main event against John Cena or challenging all competitors for the 24/7 championship, Truth consistently puts 100-percent into his character and is able to evolve with the new product that WWE is creating for its fans.

The 47-year-old from South Carolina continues to impress fans across the globe. On YouTube, R-Truth is nearly pulling the best numbers on the WWE's account. His latest conquest to find the 24/7 championship with Carmella already has over-100,000 views in less than 12 hours.

While R-Truth enjoys maintaining the top-spot for entertainment on RAW and Smackdown Live, one of his more-memorable moments came in the main event against John Cena in 2011 after a shocking heel turn, following a three-year babyface run on the eve of his return to the company.

Since R-Truth has remained a face for quite a long time, his heel run including the moniker, "The truth shall set you free," doesn't get talked about frequently. In a recent interview with Edge and Christian on their Pod of Awesomeness, Truth talked about working with the 15-time WWE champion at Capitol Punishment in 2011.

"That was kind of surreal man. Coming back, John Cena was larger than life. Me coming back and them telling me that I was going to do something with Cena. I was like, really? I was just prepared as much as I could. I was hungry and ready for it," he said.

Truth is right when noting Cena was the biggest star in the WWE at that time. It was arguably the launching pad Truth needed to excel him into an upper-echelon WWE stars yearn to get to. In fact, he was one of the first stars to not have entrance music, which gave him a much-needed unique look. His three-year babyface run was entertaining, but it wasn't the character WWE fans know today. Turning heel was definitely necessary, but according to Truth, so was his time winning the NWA World championship.

"My second run back I was more than happy that I had that time away. I felt like a grown man when I came back. I actually told Vince that. He looked at me like I had two heads," Truth claimed. "I told him, hey man, thanks for firing me 5 years ago. He was like, huh? I told him that I had time to grow up and I needed that and that I wasn't ready for working for WWE the first time around."

While it's unlikely R-Truth is headed for the main event, he's continuing his great success winning, and subsequently losing, the 24/7 title. His YouTube numbers are off the charts and is arguably the most-popular wrestler in the WWE right now; which once again proves that R-Truth can take any character and turn it into greatness.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Edge and Christian Pod of Awesomeness with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Peter Bahi contributed to this article.