WWE Superstar R-Truth has revealed that his ring name was a last-minute decision made on the night of his return to WWE in 2008.
R-Truth originally debuted in WWE in 2000 as ‘Road Dogg’ Jesse James’ tag team partner under the name of ‘K-Kwick’. During his two-year run with the company, he had two brief reigns with the Hardcore Championship, which was the first title to be contested under 24/7 rules.
After appearing less frequently in the ring during the WCW/ECW Invasion storyline, R-Truth was released from WWE in 2002.
Following a successful five-year stay in IMPACT Wrestling, where he became a two-time NWA Heavyweight Champion, R-Truth returned to WWE in 2008.
Speaking to Sam Roberts on his Notsam Wrestling podcast, R-Truth explained that in the time since his last run in the company, Vince McMahon believed he had matured, so didn’t want him to come back under his previous K-Kwick persona.
He said that there was a list of names to choose from, with McMahon wanting it to be “R-something”, likely in reference to Truth’s real name of Ron Killings. In the end, it was Stephanie McMahon who came up with the ‘R-Truth’ moniker.
“Vince wanted to go with R-something, so we had a list of ‘R’ names. There was so many names on there. Steph said, ‘R-Truth?’ and Vince was coming out of his office. He said, ‘R-Truth… I like that. What’s the R for?’ We just laughed and I said, ‘Do it, R-Truth.’ That was it. Easily done, man.”
He went on to say that it was a spur of the moment decision, as he was making his re-debut the very same night.
“It was in the spur of the moment because I was gonna debut that night. So it was like, ‘Hey, why don’t you come over here and think of a name? We’re gonna announce you [as] it.’ ‘What, now?’ ‘Yeah.’ Spur of the moment… that’s how it worked.”
Since his return, R-Truth has become a mainstay of WWE and has seen much success with the 24/7 Championship, which he has captured 53 times so far. During the same interview, he revealed one segment involving the championship which left him bleeding.
H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the above transcription.