R-Truth

Truth debuted on the November 13, 2000 episode of *Raw is War*, under the name **K-Kwik**, attacking William Regal during a match against Road Dogg. K-Kwik and Road Dogg began rapping together, performing a song called "Gettin' Rowdy" as they approached the ring. Upon the return of Road Dogg's former partner Billy Gunn later that month, K-Kwik was involved in a D-Generation X quasi-reunion. At Survivor Series, K-Kwik teamed with former DX members Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, and Chyna to face The Radicalz in a Survivor Series match. K-Kwik was eliminated and the Radicalz went on to win the match. At Armageddon, K-Kwik and Road Dogg took part in a four-way tag team match for the Tag Team Championship, which was won by Edge and Christian. After Road Dogg was suspended in December and eventually released on January 26, 2001, K-Kwik became a singles competitor and a successful mainstay on *Jakked*. He took part in the 2001 Royal Rumble, but was eliminated by Big Show. K-Kwik then began competing in the hardcore division. He defeated Raven for the Hardcore Championship on February 3, but lost the title to Crash Holly that same evening under the title's 24/7 rules. He defeated Raven for the title a second time on the following night, but once again he lost the title to Holly within the space of several hours. K-Kwik became somewhat of a background figure of "The Invasion" angle during the summer months, often seen in dressing rooms and watching television with other superstars during inter-promotional matches. He was released from the WWF the following year.

In 2008, Kwik re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), formerly the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and re-debuted on the SmackDown brand under the ring name **R-Truth** on August 29, as a face, defeating Kenny Dykstra. At Cyber Sunday, he, along with Festus and Montel Vontavious Porter, was a voting option to challenge United States Champion Shelton Benjamin for the title. He received 59% of the vote to get the match, but lost. On December 8, he won the Slammy Award for the Best Musical Performance. R-Truth began a feud with the debuting Drew McIntyre on the August 28, 2009 episode of *SmackDown.* This feud set up a match at Hell in a Cell, which he lost. On the October 23 episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth, Finlay, Matt Hardy and The Hart Dynasty defeated JTG, Eric Escobar, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a five-on-four handicap match to qualify as the representatives of Team SmackDown at Bragging Rights. At the event, Team SmackDown defeated Team Raw. On the February 5, 2010 episode of *SmackDown*, after defeating Mike Knox, R-Truth qualified for an Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber, which he was eliminated by CM Punk. At WrestleMania XXVI, R-Truth teamed with John Morrison to face ShoMiz (Big Show and The Miz) for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship in a losing effort.

On April 26, R-Truth was drafted to Raw as part of the 2010 WWE draft. He began a feud with Ted DiBiase after DiBiase offered him a job as his personal assistant, which R-Truth declined with a slap. Two weeks later, during a match with William Regal, R-Truth was attacked by Carlito and Primo, who were paid off by DiBiase after the assault. R-Truth went on to wrestle and defeat DiBiase at Over the Limit on May 23. The next night on Raw, R-Truth defeated The Miz to win the vacant United States Championship, giving him his first singles championship since returning to WWE. On the June 14 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth lost the United States Championship to The Miz in a fatal four-way match also featuring John Morrison and Zack Ryder. He invoked his rematch clause at Fatal 4-Way, but was unsuccessful. At SummerSlam, R-Truth was part of Team WWE, defeating The Nexus. On the October 11 episode of *Raw*, he defeated Ted DiBiase to qualify for Team Raw at Bragging Rights to face Team SmackDown. Team Raw lost the match for the second consecutive time. In December, R-Truth mentored Johnny Curtis in the NXT's fourth season. In January 2011, R-Truth competed in the 2011 Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by CM Punk. On March 1, Curtis won the fourth season of *NXT*. As winners, R-Truth and Curtis won the right to challenge for the Tag Team Championship.

On the April 11 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth became the number one contender for the WWE Championship along with John Cena via double disqualification after The Miz and Alex Riley attacked both of them during a number one contender's gauntlet match. R-Truth had previously defeated Dolph Ziggler and John Morrison prior to facing Cena at the end of the gauntlet. The Anonymous Raw General Manager stated that, due to interference from Miz and Riley, R-Truth and Cena would both compete for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules in a steel cage match. On the April 18 episode of *Raw*, Morrison questioned R-Truth about his capability to compete in a match like this and challenged R-Truth to a match for his spot. Later that night, after Morrison won the match, R-Truth attacked Morrison, turning heel. The following week on *Raw*, R-Truth stated that he was done entertaining the fans as popularity did not get him any titles. At Extreme Rules on May 1, R-Truth prevented Morrison from escaping the cage during the main event for the WWE Championship, ultimately costing him the title. On the May 9 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth revealed that his attack on Morrison had led to him being hospitalized before then attacking Rey Mysterio at the end of the show. On the May 16 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth accused Mysterio of being a "thief" and stealing his chance at the WWE Championship. R-Truth then attacked a weakened Mysterio, who had just finished a match with Alberto Del Rio. R-Truth faced Mysterio at Over the Limit, where he was victorious. After subsequent episodes of ranting and raving over John Cena's popularity, he harassed a young fan and his dad on the May 30 episode of *Raw*, throwing a cup of soda in the dad's face after a countout win over Cena. After *Raw* went off the air, the Anonymous Raw General Manager scheduled a WWE Championship match between the two, on the condition that R-Truth apologize for his behavior the next week. On the June 6 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth made his way out to the ring, singing a song about "Little Jimmy" (referring to the children in attendance) and wearing a Confederate soldier's uniform, before apologizing for his actions. In the ensuing title match at Capitol Punishment, R-Truth was unsuccessful in winning the WWE Championship.

On the August 22 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and The Miz attacked Santino Marella before his match and then proceeded to cut a promo bashing Triple H about not using them properly. On the August 29 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth interfered in The Miz's match and the both of them attacked CM Punk. On the September 5 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and Miz challenged Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) to a match for the Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions, but were disqualified after Miz assaulted a referee during the match. R-Truth and Miz were subsequently fired by Triple H the following night on *Raw*. At Hell in a Cell, R-Truth and Miz interrupted main event and attacked Alberto Del Rio, CM Punk, John Cena and referees after the WWE Championship match ended. After this, the entire WWE roster came out to find a way into the cell before the officials were able to get the door open and arrest them. On the October 10 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and The Miz were reinstated by John Laurinaitis. At Vengeance, Awesome Truth defeated CM Punk and Triple H in a tag team match, due to interference from Kevin Nash. Later that same night they assaulted John Cena during his WWE Championship match with Alberto Del Rio. On November 20 at Survivor Series, Awesome Truth were defeated by Cena and The Rock. The following night on *Raw*, Cena instigated an argument between R-Truth and Miz, which ultimately led to the team's dissolution as Miz attacked R-Truth with a Skull Crushing Finale onto the stage. Following the event, Truth was suspended for 30 days for violating the Wellness Policy.

On the December 26 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth returned to attack Miz after the latter lost to John Cena via countout, turning face in the process. This was followed by back-and-forth assaults on the two throughout January. R-Truth entered the Royal Rumble match at entry #3, but was eliminated by The Miz. R-Truth wrestled unsuccessfully for the WWE Championship against CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston and The Miz at Elimination Chamber. He was eliminated by defending champion CM Punk.

R-Truth then began to contend for the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kofi Kingston and competing against Primo and Epico and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger, which they both won and lost respectively. On the February 27 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and Kingston failed to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship from Primo and Epico in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match, also involving Ziggler and Swagger. At WrestleMania XXVIII, R-Truth and Kingston were members of Team Teddy to face Team Johnny in a twelve-man tag team match to determine the general manager of both brands, which was eventually won by Team Johnny. On the April 30 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston defeated Primo and Epico to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. At Over the Limit, R-Truth and Kingston successfully defended the title against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger and then again in a rematch on the May 28 episode of *Raw*. On the pre-show of Money in the Bank, R-Truth and Kingston defeated Hunico and Camacho in a non-title match. The following night on *Raw*, they successfully defended the Tag Team Championship against The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil), and again at SummerSlam. At Night of Champions, R-Truth and Kingston lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Kane and Daniel Bryan and failed to regain the titles from the new champions the following night on *Raw*. After the show, R-Truth and Kingston dissolved their tag team.

R-Truth began feuding with United States Champion Antonio Cesaro on the October 29 episode of *Raw*, after saving former tag partner Kofi Kingston from a post-match assault from Cesaro. The following week, R-Truth teamed with Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara to defeat Cesaro and The Prime Time Players, with R-Truth pinning Cesaro for the win. R-Truth faced Cesaro for the United States Championship on November 18 at Survivor Series, but was unsuccessful in winning the title. On the following episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth defeated Cesaro in a non-title match. On the December 3 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth was again unsuccessful in capturing the United States Championship from Cesaro in fatal-four-way match, also involving Kofi Kingston and Wade Barrett. On December 16 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, R-Truth failed again to capture the United States Championship from Cesaro and sustained an injury. He returned on the February 18, 2013 episode of *Raw*, saving Kofi Kingston from Damien Sandow. At Battleground, R-Truth unsuccessfully challenged Curtis Axel for the Intercontinental Championship.

On the November 18 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth teamed with Xavier Woods to defeat 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal), who were for that night called The Rhinestone Cowboys. On the November 29 episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth and Woods began a feud with Brodus Clay after Clay took offense to Woods using his entrance music and The Funkadactyls as his managers earlier in the week on *Raw*. On the December 2 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and Woods defeated Tons of Funk (Clay and Tensai) in a rematch after Woods pinned Clay. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, R-Truth defeated Clay after Clay was distracted by Tensai leaving after having enough of Clay's behaviour. At Extreme Rules on May 4, 2014, R-Truth and Woods were defeated by Alexander Rusev in a 2-on-1 handicap match. After that loss, R-Truth and Woods' team quietly disbanded.

At Royal Rumble on January 25, 2015, R-Truth entered the Royal Rumble match at number 2, but was eliminated by Bubba Ray Dudley. At Fastlane, Dean Ambrose stole Bad News Barrett's Intercontinental Championship belt. Over the next few weeks, various wrestlers gained possession of the belt including R-Truth, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Luke Harper and Stardust. Subsequently, a multiple-man ladder match for the title involving these wrestlers was scheduled for WrestleMania 31. At the event, R-Truth was unsuccessful in winning the championship. On the April 27 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth took part in the 2015 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Stardust in the first round. The following night on the WWE Network, R-Truth lost to Bad News Barrett in the semi-finals. R-Truth defeated Stardust on the Payback pre-show. R-Truth participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship, but was eliminated by Ryback, who later won the match. During the match, R-Truth eliminated King Barrett, starting a feud between the two. In the following weeks, R-Truth mocked Barrett, wearing his royal crown and cape while referring to himself as "King What's Up". On the Money in the Bank pre-show, R-Truth defeated Barrett. On the Battleground pre-show, R-Truth faced Barrett in a "Battle for the Crown" match, where if Barrett lost, R-Truth would receive Barrett's crown, R-Truth failed to win the match, which ended their feud.

At the 2016 Royal Rumble match, R-Truth brought a ladder into the ring and climbing it, incorrectly believing the match to be the Money in the Bank ladder match. (This was part of a character trend where he was at least one PPV behind on everything.) Upon realizing his error, R-Truth was eliminated by Kane.

In the following weeks on *Raw* and *SmackDown*, Goldust approached R-Truth and proposed they form a tag team to no avail. At the Fastlane pay-per-view, Goldust came down to aid R-Truth at ringside in his match against Curtis Axel, inadvertently distracting R-Truth before Axel rolled him up for the win. After multiple attempts from Goldust, ending with R-Truth denying his request, R-Truth began to apologize and attempt to form a tag team with Goldust, with Goldust denying R-Truth. At WrestleMania 32, R-Truth entered the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal but was eliminated by Adam Rose and Heath Slater. For a number one contender's tag team title tournament, on the April 13 episode of *SmackDown*, he was scheduled to team with Goldust for the match but was replaced by Fandango due to a refusal to team with R-Truth by Goldust. A week later, R-Truth aligned himself with Tyler Breeze due to Goldust's alliance with Fandango. On the May 2 episode of *Raw*, Breeze defeated Goldust after interference by R-Truth. A week later on *Raw*, R-Truth defeated Fandango, with Breeze in R-Truth's corner. On the May 12 episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth and Breeze faced Goldust and Fandango. During the match, R-Truth and Goldust refused to fight each other. As a result, Breeze and Fandango attacked Goldust as Fandango allowed Breeze to pin Goldust for the win. R-Truth attempted to rescue Goldust from the attack, only to get beaten down by the two along with him. The next week on *Raw*, R-Truth and Goldust debuted as The Golden Truth against Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) in a losing effort after R-Truth unintentionally kicked Goldust. Afterwards, Golden Truth started a losing streak, losing to the likes of Breezango and The Dudley Boyz. Golden Truth earned their first victory after defeating Breezango at the Money in the Bank event on June 19. On July 19, as part of the 2016 WWE draft, R-Truth, along with Goldust, was drafted to Raw brand. In November, The Golden Truth joined Team Raw for Survivor Series, but lost their spots a week later when R-Truth sold their spot to The Shining Stars for tickets to Puerto Rico. On the November 7 episode of *Raw*, The Shining Stars defeated The Golden Truth to join Team Raw.

On April 2, 2017, at WrestleMania 33, R-Truth and Goldust competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win. On the May 15, 2017 episode of *Raw*, during a promo, Goldust turned on R-Truth, ending The Golden Truth. On the June 26 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth and Goldust had a brawl before their match even started. R-Truth was defeated by Goldust in a singles match on the July 10 episode of *Raw*. On the August 28 episode of *Raw*, R-Truth competed in an Intercontinental Championship number one contender's Battle Royal, which was won by Jeff Hardy. In October, reports suggested R-Truth suffered an arm injury during a match against Elias at a live event. R-Truth reportedly underwent surgery on October 26. R-Truth made his return at WrestleMania 34 as a participant in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal before being eliminated by Goldust.

On April 17, 2018, R-Truth was moved to SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. During the summer, R-Truth involved himself in angles with then-SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella, claiming that he would have got a chance against United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura by pinning Carmella (since Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair had both got a chance against Carmella's title by defeating her in non–title matches); R-Truth was eventually granted a match against Nakamura, but lost. On the September 4 episode of *SmackDown Live*, Carmella finally agreed to manage R-Truth in his match against The Miz to avoid his wife Maryse's interference. R-Truth eventually won the match thanks to a distraction from Miz and Maryse's enemies Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella, which was also his first televised singles win since May 2016. Shortly after, Carmella started managing R-Truth and the two participated in season two of Mixed Match Challenge. Despite losing three matches before defeating Rusev and Lana to qualify into the playoffs, R-Truth and Carmella went on to defeat Jeff Hardy and Charlotte Flair in the quarter–finals, and The Miz and Asuka in the semi–finals. In the finals of the Mixed Match Challenge, that took place on December 16 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, R-Truth and Carmella defeated Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox, earning both the number 30 spots for their respective Royal Rumble matches at the Royal Rumble. On the January 8, 2019 episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth faced WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in a non-title match in a losing effort.

At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, R-Truth was attacked by Nia Jax during his entrance, who subsequently took his spot in the Men's Royal Rumble. As compensation for being attacked at the Royal Rumble, R-Truth received a United States Championship match on *SmackDown*, in which he defeated champion Shinsuke Nakamura with a surprise roll-up to capture his second United States Championship, in his first championship win since April 2012. Immediately after the match, R-Truth was challenged by previous champion Rusev, but retained the title with another roll-up. After the match, R-Truth was attacked by Nakamura and Rusev. On the February 26 episode of *SmackDown*, R-Truth issued an open challenge for his United States Championship, which was answered by Andrade and Rey Mysterio. He retained the title in a triple threat match. The following week, another open challenge was answered by Mysterio, Andrade, and Samoa Joe. In the ensuing fatal-four way match, R-Truth lost the title to Joe, ending his reign at 35 days. In a rematch between the same four men at the Fastlane, Joe retained the title.

On the May 20, 2019 episode of *Raw*, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley unveiled the new WWE 24/7 Championship, a title similar to the Hardcore Championship, which also uses the "24/7 rule". Later that night, R-Truth pinned previous champion Robert Roode in the arena's parking lot to win the title and ultimately became the first superstar to win both the Hardcore and 24/7 Championship. The following weeks led to both R-Truth and Carmella regularly appearing on both *Raw* and *SmackDown*, as part of the 24/7 rule and at more unconventional times and locations (filmed and published on WWE social media), where they would try to flee from other wrestlers wanting to win the title. This led R-Truth to lose the title to multiple superstars such as Heath Slater, Cedric Alexander, Mike Kanellis, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) twice each to Jinder Mahal, and three times each to Drake Maverick and to Elias, and usually regain it hours or even minutes later. Within the first month of its existence, the 24/7 Championship segments would become the highest viewed videos of both *Raw* and *SmackDown* online, garnering millions of views each. Over the course of 4 months, he lost the title 23 times, including to sports presenter Rob Stone, NBA player Enes Kanter, and race car driver Kyle Busch. As part of the 2019 draft, Truth was drafted with the title to *Raw*, splitting him from Carmella, who remained on *SmackDown*. On February 27, 2020, at Super ShowDown, Truth competed in the gauntlet match for the Tuwaiq Trophy, where he defeated Bobby Lashley, Andrade, and Erick Rowan, but lost to AJ Styles following an assault from Rowan. At Money in the Bank, he was quickly defeated by Lashley.

After winning the title numerous times throughout the rest of 2020, on the January 4, 2021 episode of *Raw*, Truth won it once again after pinning Angel Garza, with help from The Boogeyman. On the February 15, 2021 episode of *Raw*, he was pinned by Akira Tozawa for the 24/7 Championship. Immediately after, Tozawa backed into Damian Priest and Bad Bunny. Priest threw Tozawa to the ground and then Bunny pinned him for the championship. On the March 15 episode of *Raw*, Bad Bunny relinquished the championship to R-Truth, thus marking his fiftieth 24/7 Championship reign. Throughout 2021 and 2022, R-Truth continued to be present in segments for the 24/7 Championship until November 7, 2022, when the 24/7 Championship title was retired. As WWE 24/7 Champion, Truth had the most reigns at 53 and the longest combined reign at 425 days.

In the latter part of 2022, R-Truth made several guest appearances on episodes of *NXT*. On the November 1 episode of *NXT*, he suffered an injury in a match against Grayson Waller, which left him out of action for over a year. R-Truth returned November 25, 2023, at Survivor Series: WarGames in a backstage segment with Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson) and Otis. Truth then began a storyline with The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, Finn Bálor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh) in which Truth thought himself to be a member of the stable, but this ended when the entirety of the stable attacked Truth in the ring on the December 11 episode of *Raw*. On the December 18 episode of *Raw*, Truth defeated JD McDonagh in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight where the loser would leave The Judgment Day and the winner would stay with group, but McDonagh would still be considered a member of The Judgment Day following the loss.