R Truth has opened up about the moment he learned WWE would not be renewing his contract and why, to him, it felt no different than being fired.

The situation is a central focus of the new season of WWE: Unreal, which revisits the shock decision made in June 2025 after Truth’s 17 year run with the company. At the time, he was told his deal would not be renewed, a move that later sparked heavy fan backlash and ultimately led to Truth returning on a new long term contract.

On the show, Paul Triple H Levesque explains that Truth was never technically fired, saying WWE hoped the decision would bring him back to the negotiating table after talks stalled.

Truth does not see it that way.

Speaking this week on The Breakfast Club, Truth said the message he received made it clear, in his mind, that his time was over.

“Let me ask you this then, I got the call, right? I got my agent working on this end with their agent. I’m going to stay out of that, right? Let them handle that thing,” Truth said. “I get a call from this side saying we’re not going to renew your contract or however it was. ‘So do I come to work? It’s Sunday. Next Sunday my contract would be ending. So do I come to work?’ They said, ‘No, don’t come to work.’ Oh, okay, ‘Am I done now?’ ‘Yes.’ There was no flight, no calendar. What do you call that? I don’t know if it’s all the same or if it’s different.”

He admitted the moment hit him hard, especially because negotiations were ongoing and he believed progress was being made.

“It felt like a firing to me. And that’s when I paused, took that moment. I couldn’t figure out how I felt. It was sudden. We were in negotiations. So I thought, so I was told,” Truth said. “It was a negotiation. So it was like, never for once did I feel bitter, jaded, or anger. I was just at loss for feelings, at loss for words, at loss for emotion.”

Truth also explained that this was the first time in his career he had an agent handling talks on his behalf, which left him feeling more removed from the process than usual. With so many years invested in WWE, he felt he owed the fans clarity, which is why he publicly stated that he had been released.

In the end, the unexpected reaction worked in his favor. Truth believes he is now more popular than ever, and he credits the renewed deal with WWE for also allowing him to further promote his music career alongside his in ring work.

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