We’ve not long had the annual Money in the Bank PLE (still weird calling it that). Overall it was a solid event. Women’s MITB match was excellent, everyone played their part perfectly, interesting story of established stars vs rising stars, stars gave plenty to the rising stars, solid 8/10. Dominik Mysterio vs Octagon Jr, whilst a late addition, was a nice addition to the card, Octagon had some moment to really shine, Dom remains a fantastic shit bag, 6.5/10. Lyra Valkria vs Becky Lynch, stiff and strong outing, Becky is excellent in full heel mode, Lyra is developing into a real star, 7/10. 

In the Men’s MITB match, so much happened! Spots a plenty, run-ins, you name it. The real value of this match was the feeling that pretty much everyone could have won it, 8/10. John Cena and Logan Paul vs Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes…Cena in full heel mode is absolute gold, Cody remains the most wholesome man in wrestling, Jey Uso is shining in this role and Logan Paul is finding a place that suits his history…mostly thanks to Cena, 7/10.

Overall the event is a solid 8/10.

But the main thing I want to talk about is the ending. The run in at the end from the one and only R-Truth/Ron Killings. Let’s step back a few weeks to Saturday Night’s Main Event.

In now classic crazy R-Truth style, he would come out and steal the show as John Cena’s biggest fan, in full cosplay mode as “Ron Cena”. Truth would describe Cena as his childhood hero, whilst being 5 years older than Cena…classic Truth.

If there is one thing that can be said about Truth, over the last decade or so, he has absolutely owned his role in the company and become a beloved clown in the process.

Shortly after this match, the Ron Cena shirt was available on WWE Shop for pre-order…

The next twist in this story was on June 1st, shortly after the traditional WWE “future endeavours” clearout, Truth would change has name on Twitter to Ron Killings and post the following:

Social media explodes with an outpouring of love for the class clown as his near 20-year run with WWE had seemingly come to an end. One of my favourite comments was “John Cena is trying to ruin wrestling and now he is getting our favourites fired!”

Fast forward to Smackdown, after destroying Cody and Jay, fans start chanting “We want Truth! We want Truth!” at Cena and Paul, heel Cena goes nuclear, “You can’t handle the truth!” (full segment here).

At this point it is fairly clear across social media that Truth’s release was a massive miss on WWE’s part. At 53, it isn’t unreasonable to understand the decision, but it was very unpopular. Truth has always occupied a needed and welcome spot, he isn’t a part-time legend stealing the spotlight from younger stars, he is an older star who knows his place, brings younger stars up, shares the limelight, and does an excellent job of entertaining fans.

Now we skip on to Money in the Bank…

During Cena & Paul vs Jay and Cody there were some occasional murmurs through the match from the crowd. You could half hear a “Truth! Truth!”, but it wasn’t a dominating dialogue throughout the match. Then in the closing moments of the match a hooded assailant would enter the ring and attack Cena!

As he removed his hood and balaclava, the audience erupted…It was R-Truth!

Cue the conspiracy theories, the arguments about this all being a work! The internet exploded. Had they let him go, seen the reaction and tempted him back with a feud with Big Match John? Was this all a work all along?

Rumours that Truth had wanted one last serious run surfaced. Truth denies that it was all a work…This is the stuff of absolute gold. We are all talking about it because as fans, we have no idea what has happened and for every report saying one thing, there are dozens of responses in disbelief.

Did R-Truth retire? Meaning Ron Killings is back for one last serious run? Who knows? Wrestling has generated another story that has us completely hooked, desperate for the next part of this ongoing story.

Personally, I hope this story runs for a little while longer and I get to watch John Cena vs Ron Killings at Clash in Paris. But that is purely selfish fantasy booking on my part as I’m going to that event.

Cue the Raw after MITB…

Ron Killings confirms that he is back and puts an end to the Truth gimmick in a faultless promo that returns him to a layer of legitimacy as a performer. This is an absolute masterclass in storytelling, whilst playing into the reality of the situation.

We as fans aren’t stupid…well, most of us aren’t. We know there was a difference between “crazy” R-Truth and the human being behind the character, Ron Killings. One run in and one promo and we are swept up in the very real difference between the two.

This whole situation plays into the very real question: was this all a work?

It is 100% feasible that WWE made the decision to release an aging comedy character, only to realise their mistake and then tempt him back with “one last serious run”.

Over the years, we have been caught up in these very real/reality-based storylines more than once…

CM Punk – The Pipe Bomb and Money in the Bank 2011

Punk had joined WWE in 2005 and had been on an unpredictable run, which left many fans wondering when Punk’s full potential was going to be reached. Roll forward to 2011, it is well documented that Punk’s contract is running out, many fans are expecting him to leave and work somewhere else, then comes the iconic, 4th wall destroying “Pipe Bomb”.

This led to Punk’s classic match with John Cena at Money in the Bank. The rumour mill knew that Punk’s contract expired the day of the event. His promos were all based around “walking out with the title”. The other side of this is WWE would not have let him say this without sign-off, so there was a constant sense of unknown surrounding this match. Was Punk going to leave? Would he win the title and leave? Was this just an angle for him to lose? Was this all a massive work? WE JUST DIDN’T KNOW!

This match consistently shows up on “best of WWE” lists, and it is partially because the match is amazing, partially for the “Punk in Chicago” factor, John Cena vs Punk was casual fans vs smarks…the story was masterfully told. This was all the things we love about wrestling at once.

You know the outcome, Punk wins and leaves the arena with the title in hand, through the crowd.

Then post the following image on social media…

The Raw after, WWE announces a tournament to crown a new WWE champion…a few weeks after Punk gatecrashes WWE’s panel at San Diego Comic Con…Cena wins the title, Punk comes back, they have a title vs title match at Summerslam. Masterful stuff.

The only thing that would have made this story more perfect is if it had been cleared for Punk to show up at ROH or something similar, holding the WWE title and cut a promo.

At the time, WWE didn’t really do inter-company relationships, as they do now, so it was a no-go, but would have been oh so sweet. Eventually, in interviews, the story was confirmed 100% legitimate, apparently Punk resigned with WWE the night of MITB, and this led to this wild reality-based story playing out. Had he not resigned…well, we can only speculate.

Where does that leave us with R-Truth/Ron Killings?

Killings has a long and storied career, various WWE titles and various NWA/TNA titles, but he has not held the big belts in WWE. He had a feud with Cena during the “Super Cena” years when countless wrestlers were thrown under a bus for a few months, until Cena’s next big feud arrived. Some of them even got to win the title! It’s so easy to forget that Jack Swagger was once the WWE Heavyweight Champion…but sadly, Killings was not one of the lucky winners. He was pushed up to the top of the card and went through a few events with Cena in 2011, but that was it. Super Cena fodder.

We are staring at a CM Punk vs Cena for Night of Champions…Cena has brutally and masterfully referenced “The Pipebomb” whilst Punk lay prone in the ring.

But let’s not forget that the beginning of this segment involved Killings as well.

It’s clear this part of Cena’s Farewell tour is based on “reality”. This call back to his feud with Punk in 2011 is masterfully timed, locking Killings into this is another chase masterful story telling and call back. Someone in the office saw the fourth wall, decided to knock it down, cover it in petrol and set fire to it.

I’m not sure I can see Cena vs Killings as a main draw for Summerslam is enough, but a triple threat with Cena, Punk, and Killings…we are all hooked and going to ride the soupy, blurred reality wave to the finish.

Welcome back Ron Killings. This was not on my wrestling bingo card, and I couldn’t be happier. Michael Partridge