Ron Killings was born in Atlanta but grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. Killings aspired to become a musician. After moving to Charlotte, Killings became enamored with hip hop music and breakdancing. Throughout his high school years, Killings was a successful track runner and football player. He was on the same football team as MLB player Ray Durham at Harding High School. He was offered college scholarships, but turned them down in order to pursue a career in music. By the time he left school at the age of sixteen, Killings had met rappers such as Tupac Shakur and Eazy-E and was determined to become a rapper himself. He joined a talent agency named Ice Productions and became an opening act for performers such as MC Lyte and 3rd Bass. In order to get his rap career going financially, Killings got involved in drug dealing and ended up getting in trouble with the law and ended up in jail where he spent just over a year. Killings was released from prison into a halfway house, where he met Jackie Crockett, an employee of the National Wrestling Alliance. Crockett tried to convince Killings to become a professional wrestler, but he was determined to focus on his music career. Killings spent two years working on his music career, this time funding his career by robbing drug dealers, before becoming disillusioned by his lifestyle. He contacted Crockett once more and expressed an interest in becoming a wrestler.In 1997 Killings made his debut in PWF as a manager. In 1999, he debuted in NWA Wildside as K-Krush, where he was awarded the newly-created NWA Wildside Television Championship on December 12. Killings lost the title to A.J. Styles on January 8, 2000.
Killings was signed to a two year developmental deal by the WWF in 1999 and was assigned to Memphis Championship Wrestling, a WWF farm federation. On April 12 in Robinsonville, Mississippi he won a battle royal with the vacant MCW Southern Heavyweight Championship on the line. He lost the title to a masked Jerry Lawler on May 24 in Tunica, Mississippi, but reclaimed it from Joey Abs several months later in Memphis, Tennessee on August 19. His second reign ended on November 3, when he lost to Steve Bradley in Manila, Arkansas.
Killings was promoted to the main roster after the Road Dogg, whose tag team partner, Billy Gunn, had been injured early that year, requested that they be placed in a tag team. He debuted on the November 13, 2000 episode of Raw, attacking William Regal during a match against Road Dogg. Killings, renamed K-Kwik, and the Road Dogg began rapping together, performing a song called "Getting' Rowdy" as they approached the ring. After Road Dogg was released in December, Killings became a singles competitor. He took part in the Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001 but was eliminated by The Big Show. Killings then began competing in the hardcore division. He defeated Raven for the WWF Hardcore Championship on February 3, but lost the title to Crash Holly that same evening. He defeated Raven for the title a second time on February 5, this time in the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, South Carolina, but once again he lost the title to Holly within the space of several hours. Killings became somewhat a background figure of the Invasion angle during the summer months, often seen in dressing rooms and watching TV with other superstars during inter promotional matches. Killings was released from the WWF later that year.
In 2002, Killings joined Xtreme Pro Wrestling as K. Malik Shabazz, teaming with Salid Jihad and Raphael Muhammed as the New Panthers, a gimmick based upon the Black Panther movement. On July 20, in Pico Rivera, California, Killings and Muhammed took part in a four way tag team match for the XPW Tag Team Championships which was won by Damián 666 and Halloween. He left the promotion later that year.
Killings signed with the Nashville, Tennessee-based Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion in June 2002, and appeared on the first weekly TNA pay-per-view on June 19 as "K-Krush". Killings immediately established himself as a villain by harassing NASCAR drivers Sterling Marlin and Hermie Sadler until he was attacked by Brian Christopher. Later that same evening, he participated in the Gauntlet for the Gold, but was eliminated by Malice. The following week, Killings lost to Christopher after Marlin and Sadler interfered in their match. On July 3, Killings and Jeff Jarrett defeated Christopher and Scott Hall after Christopher turned on Hall during the match, aligning himself with Killings and Jarrett. On July 10, Killings defeated Hermie Sadler in a squash. The decision, however, was overturned after Killings continued to attack Sadler after he had been awarded the match.
On the July 17 TNA pay-per-view, Killings delivered an angry promo in which he implied that he had been held back as a result of his race. He then stated that he was to be referred to as "The Truth". Killings eventually began using his own name, referring to himself as Ron "The Truth" Killings. In the following weeks, Killings gave several more racially charged interviews and had confrontations with fellow African American wrestler Monty Brown.
Killings defeated Ken Shamrock for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at NWA-TNA 8 on August 7, thus becoming the first ever recognized black NWA World Heavyweight Champion in history. He successfully defended the title in matches with Monty Brown, Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, Curt Hennig, Hotstuff Hernandez, and Scott Hall before losing to Jeff Jarrett on November 20 after Vince Russo hit him with a guitar. As a result of Russo's involvement, Killings turned into a fan favorite. In subsequent months, Killings feuded with Sports Entertainment Xtreme before turning into a villainous charcter once again by attacking Jarrett on March 19. He later introduced Nelson Knight as his bodyguard, but soon turned back into a fan favorite once more.
Between May and June, Killings began teaming with Konnan and former WWF ally B.G. James, and in July the trio formed a fan favorite faction known as the 3Live Kru. The Kru first wrestled as a unit on August 13, 2003, defeating the Disciples of The New Church (Sinn, Vampire Warrior, and Devon Storm). The Kru soon went after the NWA World Tag Team Championship. On November 26, the Kru defeated Simon Diamond, Johnny Swinger, and Glenn Gilberti in a six man tag team match with the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championships on the line. The NWA World Tag Titles were thus held by all three members of the Kru until January 28, 2004, when they were defeated by Redshirt Security (Kevin Northcutt and Legend) in Nashville.
After several abortive attempts to regain the tag titles, the Kru began supporting Killings' bid to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion. On June 9, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett took part in a "3Live Kru Challenge" which saw him face Konnan, James and Killings in three subsequent matches. Jarrett defeated Konnan in a strap match and James in a "trailer park trash match" (hardcore match), but lost to Killings in a "Ghetto Justice match". On May 19, Killings faced NWA World Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles, Raven, and Chris Harris in a four way title match. He won the bout, becoming a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, after Jarrett hit Styles with a guitar. His reign lasted until June 2, when Jarrett defeated him in a King of the Mountain match which also included Harris, Styles, and Raven. The Kru went on to feud with Jarrett's mercenaries, the Elite Guard (Chad Collyer, Hotstuff Hernandez, and Onyx), and on July 14, the 3Live Kru, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko defeated Jarrett, Ken Shamrock, and the Elite Guard in a ten man tag team match. Following the break-up of the 3Live Kru, Killings began competing as a singles wrestler once more. He briefly aligned himself with Sting in March, teaming with Sting, A.J. Styles, and Rhino as "Sting's Warriors". At Lockdown on April 23, Sting's Warriors defeated Jarrett's Army in a Lethal Lockdown match. On the May 25 episode of Impact!, Killings defeated Monty Brown to qualify for a King of the Mountain match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Slammiversary on June 18. At Slammiversary, however, Killings failed to win the championship. Killings then teamed with Lance Hoyt in the following months, even participating, but losing, in a Battle Royal at No Surrender. On November 19 at Genesis, Killings and his tag team partner Lance Hoyt defeated Austin Starr and Alex Shelley with Kevin Nash at ringside. He was then off the active roster due to injury. Killings returned to action at Slammiversary, teaming with James Storm in a losing effort against Frank Wycheck and Jerry Lynn, implying that he was now a villain.
On June 19, Killings tried to resign from TNA, intending to work for the Mexican Asistencia Asesoría y Administración.[7] Amidst more dissension backstage, however, TNA refused to release Killings. He returned to TNA on August 12 at Hard Justice, confronting football player Adam Jones. At No Surrender, Adam "Pacman" Jones and Ron Killings defeated Sting and Kurt Angle to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. On October 14, A.J. Styles and Tomko defeated him and Jones's replacement, Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed, for the TNA tag team titles. It was reported that Killings no-showed a New Japan event that was part of the TNA/NJPW invasion cross-promotion project: "Jeff Jarrett sent a notice to New Japan, apologizing deeply for Ron Killings' no-show at Sumo Hall on the 11th. He promised that TNA would send top-of-the-line wrestlers from now on and show what TNA is all about".[citation needed] On December 9, Ron Killings announced on his MySpace page that he and TNA management had agreed upon a mutual agreement in regards to his release from the company, stating, "I wish TNA the best and I'm looking forward to continue my wrestling career and looking to go back to my original stomping grounds.
Killings re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2008. On July 25, 2008, during an episode of Friday Night SmackDown, a vignette announced that Killings would debut on the SmackDown brand under the ring name R-Truth. He now enters through the crowd rapping his theme song "What's Up!". WWE completely ignored his former time with the company as K-Kwik, making no mention of his Hardcore Championship title reigns or any other events from past years in the company. He made his in-ring debut on the August 29, 2008 episode of Friday Night SmackDown as a fan favorite defeating Kenny Dykstra. At Cyber Sunday, R-Truth, along with Festus and Montel Vontavious Porter, was one of the choices to vote for to compete against United States Champion Shelton Benjamin for the title. Although he received 59% of the vote, R-Truth was unsuccessful in winning the title from Benjamin. R-Truth won the Slammy Award for the Best Musical Performance.
On July 10, 2009, R-Truth debuted a new alter ego prankster gimmick under the name Pretty Ricky in a promo on SmackDown that showed R-Truth in a sleeveless T-shirt and a set of fake teeth trying to get his way into the Rabobank Arena.
R-Truth Facts:
Birth Name: Ron Killings
Birth Date: January 19, 1972
Height: 6 feet 2 inches
Weight: 228 lbs