R-Truth On WWE Letting Him Add His Own Style to Promos, Recalls Why Vince McMahon Didn’t Like One of His Promos

– During the latest episode of E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness, R-Truth talked about being able to add his own style to his promo work and remembered a promo of his that Vince McMahon said he didn’t like. The 24/7 Champion noted that making promos work is all in how it’s delivered and that he is always told to put his own style on promos.

Highlights from the discussion are below, as well as the full podcast:

On being able to add his own style to what he’s given by WWE: “I feel it’s both [his personality and his committing to the material]. I think it’s the nature of both. I never look at anything — well, I have looked at some of the things they give me as bad. And they give me the freedom to [be] like, ‘Okay well, please add your, you know…’ I’m like, ‘…sauce?’ And they’re like, ‘Sauce? No.’ I’m like, ‘My own thing to do it?’ [They say] ‘Yeah! add your own thing to it please, by all means.’ And it’s a matter of taking what they give you, which regardless of how you look at it, is what you make out if it in my — that’s just the way I view things.”

On Vince not liking one of his promos: “I did a promo that Vince didn’t like. And it bothered me why, because Vince loves all my promos. And I would have to go ask him why. ‘I heard you didn’t like the promo.’ ‘No, no, no. I didn’t like that one. Not one of your good promos.’ I’m like, ‘What was missing?’ He was like, ‘You wasn’t in character.’ I thought I was in character. And you know what it was? It was how it was delivered to me what I had to do. The person that delivered it to me an ear of corn — a cornball, you know what I’m saying? And I won’t call his name, it’s just, he gave it to me in a dry monotone, like, [blase voice] ‘Okay, here’s what you’re doing Truth, blah blah blah, whomp de whomp, whomp whomp, boom. Okay, you got that?’ And it was just like that. So me, I’m a person that goes on feel. That’s how I can make people feel what I want them to feel. He gave it to me like, like … ‘Damn, something ain’t right.’ He gave to me like, ‘Damn bro, I’m in trouble!’ You know what I’m saying? So that’s how it came out to me.”

On talking to McMahon about it: “When I told Vince, I said, ‘Vince, can I explain something to you?’ He was like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Y’all had a cornball give it to me.’ He said, ‘What’s a cornball?’ I said, ‘Well, you had a person that was like — he’s not funny. Bruce [Prichard] is more funny than him. Jeff Jarrett is more funny. Shane Helms.’ When these guys give me my promo or my pre-tapes, they’re like — they almost turn into my character, like, ‘Hey Truth, I can see you doing this here.’ And they’re doing me. And I get it, and I’m laughing while they’re doing my promo. Some of the stuff I did with y’all [Edge & Christian], y’all are telling what we’re gonna do, and we’re laughing at the idea before we even did the s**t. And they give that guy my promo, he didn’t laugh the one time. He didn’t smirk, smile, snutter [snort & stutter], nothing, dog. You know what I’m saying? So I was like, ‘Damn, I can’t be happy in this promo.’ And that was just my interpretation of it. Me, I take whatever they give me, and try to make it the best that it can be, man. And that’s just, I always believe you can take s**t and make chicken salad out of it. And people will eat it. If they believe — I can sell you some s**t and you’ll eat it and [be] like, ‘That was the best chicken salad I ever had in North Carolina!’ You know what I’m saying? It’s all the way it’s delivered, it’s presented, and the way it’s advertised.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.