Though the year is still incredibly young, it's hard to argue that anyone but R-Truth has been the MVP of the WWE Universe so far in 2024.

A long-time comedy performer who was largely relegated to the 24/7 Championship picture during the finals throws of the Vince McMahon era, Paul “Triple H” Levesque brought back Truth in a big way in recent weeks, making him an unofficial member of Judgment Day – depending on who you ask – and an unofficial tag team partner of The Miz, teaching fans around the world the real meaning of the phrase “Live. Laugh. Love.”

And yet, did you know it almost didn't happen? That's right, in an interview with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, R-Truth revealed that he received some pretty terrible news regarding the health of his knee between 2022 and 2023 and, as a result, had his career longevity called into question.

“The part of the injury that I would say was questionable was it got infected, and there was a hole in my knee” R-Truth told Fightful. “Oh, yeah. I had a hole in my knee. See, people thought I just tore my quad tendon. It was an infection. I went like, really, three months without even bending my knee because they had to get the infection under control. So mentally and emotionally, once I got past that stage, I was pretty much ready for the rehab. The rehabilitation was like a cakewalk. I was ready for that. When you're hungry and you're thirsty and you want it, you just go get it.”

Asked if he feared that his career might be over, Truth said yes but noted that he was able to overcome the odds and is now incredibly excited to be back in the ring.

“Yes. Oh, yeah. Concerns out the yin yang. ‘Cause you gotta think, I had five different infections in my knee along with MRSA, staph, their cousins and brothers and sisters, too,” R-Truth noted. “Yeah, you're thinking that. I thought all those thoughts. All those thoughts, I felt all those emotions. That's where it comes from; I always tell people you have to be your own cheerleader sometimes. Sometimes you gotta push yourself. You gotta shake your own pompoms sometimes. I don't even know if that was PG. But sometimes you gotta mentally discipline yourself or mentally stay real, true to yourself. ‘Cause sometimes motivation don't be there. Life can send stuff your way where motivation ain't there. Discipline and just having that faith and knowing, man. Now you see me now.”

Fortunately for Truth, if he was forced to retire from in-ring work, it's hard to imagine his career in professional wrestling would be over, as he's such a dynamic force on the microphone that some promotion, be it WWE or elsewhere, would likely give him a role as some sort of talker depending on what he wants to do. Fortunately, Truth doesn't have to start thinking about life after wrestling, as he's back and better than ever as arguably the most impactful member of the RAW roster right now.

R-Truth is proud of his work with the WWE 24/7 Championship.

Speaking of R-Truth's run with the 24/7 Championship, the man born Ron Killings also discussed his time with the green and gold title on Busted Open Radio.

Initially introduced as the Hardcore Title, Truth noted that the boys in the back were initially confused by the strap's “ugly” design but quickly came to love everything it represented, as he was able to do pretty much whatever he wanted with the belt.

“They gave me a call. Bobby Roode had it, and they were like…I was on SmackDown, and they wanted me to go to RAW and do a backstage promo, didn't tell me what it was. When I got to RAW, I saw Mick pull that thing out of the bag, and everyone said that thing was ugly. Everybody was like, ‘Ugly, ugly.' Nobody liked it. It had a different look, we're going to say,” R-Truth shared via 411 Mania.

“The first night I won it, it went up. It was crazy, me beating Roode for it. I like being funny, and if ya'll give me an opportunity to make things funny, that was just my playground at that moment. All the things myself and the writers were coming up with, we were just hitting home runs. There was no rules when it came to the 24/7 Title. If there was rules, we broke them all. I think people were loving that.”

Unfortunately for Truth, the 24/7 Championship has officially been retired by WWE as one of the first major changes under Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Still, with some hindsight, it's hard to argue that the 24/7 Championship didn't produce some fun moments and help to keep performers like Truth, Dana Brooke, Drake Maverick, and Akira Tozawa on WWE television when creative didn't have anything else for them. For better or worse, that has value.