WWE Lets Go A Couple Legends In R-Truth And Carlito And Fans Are PISSED

This past weekend, both R-Truth and Carlito announced they had been released - or rather, the WWE wouldn’t be renewing their current contracts, which are set to expire soon. Wrestling fans everywhere were stunned by this, especially in R-Truth’s case, as he’s been with the company for almost seventeen years now (over twenty if you count his first run as K-Kwik) and is universally loved by all; the fans, the staff, the wrestlers, the crew, the office, etc. Carlito was more of an interesting case, where he was brought back in Puerto Rico as part of Backlash a few years ago, got the biggest pop imaginable....

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....then he got re-signed and did basically nothing else worthwhile or memorable in his entire run afterwards. Except play video games backstage with the Judgement Day and get speared by Bron Breakker I guess….

I'm not sure how much of that is his fault or the writers', but Carlito even joked that he's been stealing money from the WWE for the past few years, so I don't think he took it too harshly….

I just feel so bad for R-Truth (and his coworkers), though, because it feels like he was the light of joy in the WWE locker room and taking him outta that environment is heartbreaking! I know he's 53 and he's had about as good as career as anybody could've imagined, and I'm sure everyone backstage will still keep in touch with him to a degree, but still - I wasn't ready to say goodbye yet!

R-Truth is a guy who could take anything you gave him and get it over….an imaginary friend named Little Jimmy? Yep, he made that work. How about a serious heel run against John Cena in his prime? Yep, he made that work too. Could we put a stupid gimmick on him where he's constantly forgetting what day it is and what match type he's supposed to be competing in? Yep, and the count for his "pinfall" during the Royal Rumble match will be the loudest pop of the night. That horrid 24/7 Championship period? He could save it, and even get Brock Lesnar to crack on live TV. What if we made his thing being a lifelong Cena fan, despite the fact that he's older that Cena and everyone knows it? THAT WORKED TOO!

Very few people in WWE could turn chicken shit into chicken salad quite like R-Truth. He was funny even when WWE writing was not. He could work any style and get the crowd on their feet. He had (and still has) the respect of everyone in the back and is an EASY first ballot HOFer. He had the trust of The Rock in his first match back in almost a decade….

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I'm glad he got one last big moment against Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event - but still wish "TKO budget cuts" weren't the end of his run. Just feels like a shitty, sorta deflating way to send a legend off. I'm sure he'll be back at some point for a surprise appearance, but still - this is lame.

Hopefully he shows up in AEW to do this gimmick idea, which I think is brilliant….

I don't want to embed them all here and make the site glitch out - but do a simple search for 'R-Truth' on Twitter right now and you'll see an outpouring of support from just about everyone who has ever worked with him/been a fan of his, as well as a treasure trove of people sharing their favorite videos/moments from his run. There's serious clips like him smoking the cigarette on Monday Night RAW and funny ones like him mistakenly going to Austria when WWE was in Australia, and every one just makes you appreciate the man as an entertainer even more. 

Weird times in WWE! They built up a ton of good will over the past few years that seems to be going away more-and-more in the fanbase post-WrestleMania. Hopefully they don't let it slide too much more leading into the first ever two-night SummerSlam at Metlife. Get this train back on the tracks!