Black History Month: R-Truth

The Brain meets the Truth

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger

I'll be honest, until recently I was not a fan of R-Truth at all.  Ever actually.  Not when he was K-Kwik in his first WWE or when he was just Ron Killings in TNA.  I especially disliked his "What's up?" chant as a face.  But when the WWE turned him heel last summer, he started to grow on me.  I must say I have worked "Little Jimmy" and "I've been a bad R-Truth" into a regular conversation.

It's funny too because for some reason my son loves the guy.  R-Truth was one of his two picks to win the Royal Rumble.  Kofi Kingston was the other.  But remember, my son is 10 and is not a constant viewer of WWE or wrestling for that matter.

Despite not liking the personas he has previously played, there is no denying that R-Truth is one of the most athletic guys in the WWE.  Consider the fact that he is 40 years old and can do things still today that I couldn't do in my 20's, it's impressive to me.

R-Truth will likely never be WWE champion (but I said the same thing about Mark Henry a year ago), but he is quite entertaining.  I think the bat sh!t crazy gimmick works for him.  He's pretty funny on the mic when he's not yelling "What's up!?!"

R Truth in action (WWE)

He has held the WWE U.S. and Hardcore titles.  Truth was also the heavyweight champ in TNA a couple of times and held the tag team titles too.  But let's ignore that reign he had with Pacman Jones, huh?

Long story short R-Truth goes out there and puts on a good show.  He's doing well in the role the WWE has developed for him, and despite my dislike for him in the past, I do enjoy what's R-Truth is doing right now.  And you can bet that's no c-o-n-spiracy.

The Wrestlemania of Football

Courtesy: The Bleacher Report

Since it's Super Bowl Sunday, a day I like to call the Wrestlemania of football, I thought I'd look at some of the past relationships between the NFL and pro wrestling.

Wrestlemania 2: Probably one of the first major football/wrestling angles involved William "the Refrigerator" Perry and company in the Wrestlemania 2 battle royal.  It pitted a group of players, (including Perry, Harvey Martin, Ernie Holmes, Bill Fralic, Russ Francis, and Jimbo Covert) against a variety of mid card WWF superstars (including the Killer Bees, Hart Foundation, and Bruno Sammartino) and the eventual winner of the event Andre the Giant.
As a preteen at the time not and fulling understanding the workings of the business, I expected The Fridge to win this.  After all, he was a Super Bowl champion, very popular, and the event was in Chicago. I was more than a little surprised to see him eliminated so soon in the match.

Perry would eventual go on to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame (celebrity wing) over Wrestlemania 22 weekend in Chicago.  I was there for the induction, as John Cena did the honors.  I actually thought Cena's speech was pretty clever and entertaining.

Courtesy: WWE

Wrestlemania 11: Unless I'm forgetting something, without a doubt the biggest NFL vs. Wrestling angle involved Lawrence Taylor and Bam Bam Bigelow.  The two had gotten into an "altercation" at the 1995 Royal Rumble.  Taylor was in the front row and mocked Bam Bam after his lose (I think) and Bigelow shoved the NFL great.  That esclated and led us to a battle at Wrestlemania 11.

The match was the last one on the card with Taylor going over.  By this time, I was in college and had smartened up.  But again, I was surprised to see the football player go over this time.  Especially considering Vince would let his guys look bad against new comers from opposing companies.  At least that seemed to be the mentality.

I've mentioned before that I'm not a fan of "celebrity" wrestling appearances.  But if they're done correctly it's okay.  I think these two examples were fine.  But when Steve "Mongo" McMichael got involved, that's where I wanted to beat my head against the wall.

Courtesy: the Bleacher Report

McMichael's involvement in wrestling started with the whole Taylor Bigelow match at Wrestlemania.  If I remember correctly, he was in LT's corner with a handful of other players.  Later that year, McMichael showed up as an announcer on WCW Monday Nitro.  Listening to that man talk made me want to puncture my ear drums.

Then he transitioned into the ring and eventually became a member of the 4 Horsemen.  I still maintain he's the least deserving member to ever enter that group.  McMichael would also capture the WCW U.S. title.  I think he might have won it a couple of times.

But let me say that my dislike for him probably has nothing to do with him being a football player.  I just thought he was horrible on the announcing.  He was alright in the ring, nothing really stood out.  So I guess I'll stop the bashing now.

Kevin Greene also got involved in an angle with WCW and McMichael.  The late, great Walter Payton was in Razor Ramon's corner one year at SummerSlam.  And who can forget about PacMan Jones and his run as a coholder of the TNA tag team titles.

So while you're cheering for the Packers or the Steelers today, just remember we're only 56 days away from Wrestlemania.  Looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading, and check out My 1-2-3 Cents on YouTube too.