The Rager – The Ballad of R-Truth

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Welcome dearest friends and fellow Rageans, I am your host and apparent Thor look-alike (from the neck up, everything below looks more like Flubber). It would be easy to talk about all thats been going on in the WEE as of late and I could complain about taking the title from Christian and how dumb that is or how stupid it is that all the Divas just stand in horror before Awesome Kharma levels them. No, I’m not gonna do any of that, instead I’m going to discuss the new phenomenon that is the recent turn of R-Truth.

I’ll be the first to admit that I absolutely hated R-Truth as a face and I know i can’t be the only one. I know some enjoyed his theme music and squealed with glee anytime the music started…not naming anyone in-particular (Joel Leonard). I basically viewed Truth as a glorified break-dancer that was given key chances and blew every single one of them.

Lets look back to just a few months ago during the infamous Milwaukee/Green Bay incident where he tried to pander to the audience and got the name of the city wrong and that was followed by him performing incredibly sloppily and ultimately jobbing to Nexus newcomer Mason Ryan. Those factors plus since WEE was hardly using him at all at the point, I was completely expecting him to get future endeavored within that next week…the next month at the latest and I would’ve been completely alright with that.

Why did I despise R-Face so much? Because he always got a huge pop, not because he was a great wrestler or a great face but because the kids loved him because he could rap (off-beat) and dance around. Although I will give him credit for one of my favorite moments and thats the slap he gave Ted DiBiase. I don’t know why but that slap was impressive and shall be henceforth be dubbed “Man-Slap.”

And then R-Face became R-Heel and I will admit, I thought the whole smoking thing was a bit cheesy as well as the anti-smoking promo Morrison cut beforehand. HOWEVER, I love this heel turn because of several reasons. One of which is that this feels realistic, like the things he’s upset about seems like he could really truly gripe over. He’s treated like a rapping/dancing circus act that got him absolutely nowhere. He gets upset that other/newer guys are being put over more than he has (maybe their getting this material from what’s really happening with CM Punk). Another reason I love this is that he’s actually being used and not randomly pulled off the shelf once every few weeks as a filler match and not only that but getting a massive response from the audience as he’s doing so. What he’s doing on the mic is brilliant, although I can do without the talking to imaginary children and some of his insults on this past Raw were a little iffy (mainly in reference to Del Rio) for my taste BUT he’s getting people to hate him and thats the name of his new game and so far, he’s winning.

All-in-all I feel like this was R-Truth’s last chance with the company, WEE probably wanted to give him one more chance to make some sort of impact and so they threw the Hail Mary and the ball happened to land in Truth’s hands in the endzone and he just might’ve salvaged his career with WEE. The only thing about this football metaphor is that there’s still plenty of time on the clock left and Truth’s success lies in the hands of Truth and the writers. Take a note from Michael Cole on the mic, he pretty much says the same things every week before adding a new insult to the crowd or to Lawler. The trick, in my opinion, is to stick with the successful formula but in certain moderations because it will bore us all if he does the same thing over and over and over.

I see this situation to sort of parallel that of Rock early in his career. When he was known as Rocky Maivia, he was pushed heavily right out the gate and was a goody-goody type of face and it did not work…at…all and thus created The Rock as an effort to maybe strike gold before giving up and began one of the most entertaining entertaining (see what I did there?) careers we’ve ever witnessed. Now comparing Truth to The Rock is comparing apples and asbestos (you can figure out who’s who) but the upside potential of Truth’s heel turn is limitless because I’m a firm believer than heels have many more dimensions of character within them and thus can be used in a wide variety of ways if creative is clever enough.

So there you have it, my full take on the recent of trend of R-Truth and, as always, feel free to voice your opinions (whether you agree or if you think I’m way off-base) in the comments below as well as voicing any other random raging you want to get off your chest, no matter the topic…go for it.

Let it be known that I’m having a great week, on Wednesday I have an interview for a job in the city I’ve been wanting to move to since December. I hope this great week continues both for myself as well as all of you.

Catch some of the great columns that will be featured on Pulse Wrestling the coming week by the awesome staff of writers.

Shoot me an email anytime: cwsanders39@gmail.com
Find on Facebook under the name “C.W. Sanders”
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Follow me on my Twitter account that I’m gonna try to actually get back into using (not making any promises) @dacoloneldps39

As always, have a great week and I’ll catch you all next week where we continue our very important work…

I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.

Chris is a writer from Fayetteville, NC. He's the co-creator of Irrelevant But Awesome Productions which produces podcasts you all know and love like Classy Ring Attire, Trashy Ring Attire and The Disney Magic Podcast. You can keep up with everything on twitter by following @IBAStudios and @CWSanders39