Matt Hardy comments on R-Truth’s departure from WWE.
The world of wrestling is still reeling the heartbreaking news that WWE will not be renewing R-Truth’s contract once it expires in the coming weeks.
Fans have been very vocal about their support for Truth, even chanting for him at shows and constantly talking about him on social media.
On the latest edition of his The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy commented on the shocking news.
“I mean, it was shocking. You would think with the attitude and mentality he had — If Vince was there, I think he probably would’ve stuck around because Vince was such a big fan. He was easy to work with, he wasn’t difficult, he wasn’t a challenge. It was shocking. I was shocked that they didn’t re-sign him. I would’ve thought that R-Truth would’ve been a WWE lifer at this point. He liked the gig, he liked what he was doing and I was very surprised by it. I was very caught off vibe. When you sent me his tweet, it was shocking like, ‘Woah.’ That was definitely not on my bingo card as they say.”
Hardy then put on his business cap and tried to think from the mindset of WWE’s parent company, TKO.
“I guess the TKO era is different, maybe they’re looking at a bottom line like, how much many is this talent specifically bringing in? Is this talent bringing in enough to be justified to be paid x amount of dollars. I mean, that’s the only thing I can figure, that they couldn’t justify paying him x amount dollars for the revenue.”
Jon Alba brought up a fascinating point, saying that WWE should’ve attempted to negotiate a salary and new contract that works for both parties.
“I agree. If I would’ve been the boss, if I would’ve been handling his negotiations, I would’ve done anything to keep him around. Even if I felt like you were paying him a little more than he was worth, because the company is making so much money. I feel like not only is he [good] for the fanbase, I think he’s good for morale. He’s a great employee to have, you know what I mean? He’s an ambassador, he’s the kind of guy you want there. I would’ve went out of my way but they’re looking at it differently apparently. I was shocked by it.”
Later on in the conversation, Hardy was enthusiastic about R-Truth potentially landing in TNA, saying he’d be over with the fans from the jump.
"I mean, he has history in TNA obviously being a former NWA champ. He was here five years or so. He has a history in TNA, he’s such a beloved star. Wherever he shows up next, he’s gonna have this groundswell of fans follow him to wherever he is because he has great sympathy on him because you didn’t re-sign this guy. I mean, business is business but at the end of the day, people felt like it was unjustified. They felt like he should’ve been because he’s so entertaining, he’s so good, he’s such a company guy, he does whatever else. We can’t believe you did this to him because this is one of our guys, they’re connected, they’re attached. This is one of our guys and you let his contract run out. Even though at the end of the day it’s just business and they didn’t do anything wrong or bad, they just made the decision for the bottom line, it’s not worth to pay him this much to be here or whatever — I don’t know, that’s just me guessing. If he came to TNA, he would be over huge, he’d be able to do comedy, he could roll into a higher position on the card where he could be serious too. He could also do all of his music without any stipulations or parameters. If he wanted to put out a whole new album, he could dedicate himself to that. It’s gonna be interesting to see what he chooses to do. I would almost recommend to Ron, stay on the outside for a little while and just build yourself up and do everything you want to do, make all the money you can make and I think you can get even hotter where they’re like, oh, maybe we should’ve kept him.”
Fightful will continue to keep fans posted on Truth and his post-WWE journey.
The Miz recently gave had some more positive words for Truth, saying that the future is bright for him. Learn more by clicking here.
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