R-Truth released by WWE after 17-year stint: 'I want to thank WWE for the ride'

R-Truth released by WWE after 17-year stint: 'I want to thank WWE for the ride'

A beloved WWE star is no longer with the company. WWE has released veteran wrestler R-Truth, he announced on social media. "I'm sorry to inform you all. I just got released from WWE,"he said Sunday. "I want to thank WWE for the ride, but MOSTLY I want to thank each and EVERYONE OF YOU who was along for the ride, Thank you for all the love, support, and appreciation you have given me over the years. Thank you." Sean Ross Sapp of Fightfulreported R-Truth, whose legal name is Ron Killings, won't have his contract renewed with WWE. Im sorry to inform you all. I just got released from WWE. I want to thank WWE for the ride, but MOSTLY I want to thank each and EVERYONE OF YOU who was along for the ride, Thank you for all the love, support, and appreciation you have given me over the years. Thank you 🙏🏾 — Ron Killings (@RonKillings)June 1, 2025 The departure ends R-Truth's second stint in the company, which began in 2008. He had a two-year stint in WWE from 1999-2001, but he became a prominent star during his time with TNA Wrestling from 2002-07. Although he never won the WWE Championship, it was a memorable 17-year run for R-Truth. While he first connected with fans as he rapped his entrance music with the "what's up?" chant, he was known for being one of the best comedic wrestlers in the business, constantly bringing laughter to segments and making fellow talent break character on-air. He had his time with "Little Jimmy," an imaginary friend that he would consistently bring to life, confusing wrestlers with his presence. He also would get confused, such as when he cut a promo about being in the Money in the Bank match when he wasn't. In 2020, he went viral when he made Brock Lesnar laugh when he called out Paul Heyman. Other people he made break character include Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton. His recent R-Truth's bit was getting wrestlers confused and trying to get himself in the good graces of others. In 2024, he tried to work his way into The Judgment Day despite pushback from the group. He even joined in on the group's celebration after WrestleMania 40. During that time, he would mistake people for other wrestlers, such as the continuous mixup between Tommaso Ciampa and Paul "Triple H" Levesque. There also was the all-time mixup of when he tried to enter the 2024 women's Royal Rumble match. Recently, he was involved in a storyline with his "childhood hero" John Cena, even though he's older than the WWE Champion. The 53-year-old faced Cena atSaturday Night's Main Event on May 24, and he again had fun when he copied Cena's look and entrance. Cena defeated him in what would be his last WWE match. R-Truth was a two-time United States Champion, two-time Hardcore Champion and two-time Tag Team Champion. However, the title he's most commonly associated with is the infamous 24/7 Championship, which could be challenged for in any setting. Whether it was during WWE shows or in segments posted on social media in several settings, he won and lost the title several times. He was a 53-time 24/7 Champion. The news of his departure comes afterWWE released 10 stars in Februaryand more in May. Several wrestlers shared their sadness with the announcement, including Rhea Ripley, who worked with him during The Judgment Day storyline. "In all seriousness, this is literally so heartbreaking… Thank you Truth,"she posted on social media. You're an amazing talent and an even better person. Go enjoy your life unc! — Ricochet (@KingRicochet)June 1, 2025 Thank you for everything and for always lightening up everyone's day 🙏🏽🥺 — Kelani Jordan (@kelani_wwe)June 1, 2025 I love@RonKillingsIt's guaranteed joy when he's a part of a segment.. He's also my dad's favorite WWE Superstar of all time.The McAfees are bummed aht but we all know R Truth will continue to bless the world with his BIG ass brain🗣🗣 THANK YOU TRUTHpic.twitter.com/ZswYMvQIzi — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow)June 1, 2025 I love R-Truth so much! Nobody's presence on TV made me smile, or laugh more than his. — Shotzi (@ShotziWWE)June 1, 2025 This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:WWE releases R-Truth after 17-year stint; beloved comedy wrestler

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

June 01, 2025

R-Truth released by WWE after 17-year stint: 'I want to thank WWE for the ride'

R-Truth released by WWE after 17-year stint: 'I want to thank WWE for the ride' A beloved WWE star is no longer with the company. WW...

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Shane Bieber's second rehab start on Thursday brings hope for Guardians' rotation

Shane Bieber's second rehab start on Thursday brings hope for Guardians' rotation

CLEVELAND (AP) — Shane Bieber will make his second rehab start on Thursday with the possibility of the 2020 American League Cy Young winner rejoining the Cleveland Guardians rotation by late June or early July. The right-hander — who had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last April — is scheduled to start for the Double-A Akron RubberDucks after throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings in an Arizona Complex League game on Saturday. Bieber, who turned 30 on Saturday, faced nine batters, allowed one hit and struck out five. Chris Antonetti, Cleveland's president of baseball operations, was pleased that Bieber was averaging 93 mph on his fastball. "It was really fun to watch Shane just get back out in a competitive setting," Antonetti said before the Guardians faced the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. "He's worked on adding some complementary pitches or changing the way some of his pitch profiles look. So his changeup in particular had maybe more depth than it's had in the past." After spending most of his time at the team's spring training complex in Goodyear, Arizona, Bieber is likely to remain in Northeast Ohio for the remainder of his rebab. The Guardians top affiliates are in Columbus, Akron and Eastlake, Ohio, which are all less than a two-hour drive from Progressive Field. The plan is for Bieber to throw up to 50 pitches again on Thursday before ramping things up. With the two-time All-Star likely to pitch every five days, it is possible his return to the rotation could occur between June 25 through 29, when the Guardians have a homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals. "We have a pretty good plan in place, but the one thing we want to make sure, especially with Tommy John, is that we're really deliberate in helping him get back to a point where once he returns, he's able to pitch for the balance of the season without issues," Antonetti said. Bieber's return — whenever it is — should provide a lift for a rotation that has struggled the first two-plus months of the season. Guardians' starters went into Sunday's game with the fourth-highest ERA in the American League (4.25). Tanner Bibee is 4-5 with a 3.86 ERA while Ben Lively will have Tommy John surgery later this week. Bieberagreed to a one-year, $14 million contract last fallwith a $16 million player option for 2026. Cleveland (31-26) enters Sunday six games behind Detroit in the AL Central, but has one of the three wild-card spots. "I think we're right in the mix. I think what we're seeking to do is be a little bit more consistent in all areas of the game, whether that's starting pitching, our bullpen, defense, offense, all of those areas," Antonetti said. "I think we've seen periods of what we're capable of doing, but we feel like we still have our best baseball yet in front of us and that's part of something that goes along with being a young team." ___ AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

June 01, 2025

Shane Bieber's second rehab start on Thursday brings hope for Guardians' rotation

Shane Bieber's second rehab start on Thursday brings hope for Guardians' rotation CLEVELAND (AP) — Shane Bieber will make his second...

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Joe Milton happy joining Cowboys, Dak Prescott: 'Coming here was a blessing'

Joe Milton happy joining Cowboys, Dak Prescott: 'Coming here was a blessing'

TheDallas Cowboysswung a trade to add a potential-packed young quarterback,Joe Milton, during the 2025 NFL offseason. Dallas sent a 2025 fifth-round pick to theNew England Patriotsto acquire Milton – who played sparingly as a rookie but flashed in a Week 18 win over theBuffalo Bills– and a 2025 seventh-round pick. TheCowboyswill look to develop the 25-year-old behindDak Prescott, who is entering his age-32 season after missing half of the 2024 NFL season with a hamstring injury. DAK PRESCOTT INJURY UPDATE:Cowboys QB gets on field at OTAs, 'feels good' Milton admitted he wasn't expecting to be traded after spending less than a year with the Patriots. "Was I surprised? Yes,"Milton told the Cowboys websiteof the trade. "I kind of woke up around, like, 7 o'clock to a call and I knew I was getting traded." Still, Milton took the trade in stride and is grateful to have landed with the Cowboys. "The only thing I could have done, well, the only thing I did at that moment was to thank God," Milton described of being traded. "Coming here was a blessing. I didn't know it was going to be here. … I didn't know where I was going to end up." "I was just thankful to go to work. [But now I'm] back in the heat, for one. He allowed me to play in the dome, for two. And, three, it's America's team. Also, it's just great to learn from someone like Dak." Adding Milton was part of a greater restructuring of Dallas' quarterback room. The Cowboys' second- and third-string quarterbacks from last season,Cooper RushandTrey Lance, are no longer with the team. Rush signed a two-year deal with theBaltimore Ravensin free agency while Lance signed a one-year contract with theLos Angeles Chargers. Replacing Rush and Lance are Milton and veteran quarterbackWill Grier, a 30-year-old who signed with the Cowboys for a second stint last season after Prescott's injury. The two are expected to battle for the backup quarterback job, with Milton having the edge because of his athleticism and arm strength. OPINION:Chiefs never make Super Bowl excuses – a lesson the 49ers must learn Milton is getting good vibes from his counterparts despite his competition with Grier. He is relishing an opportunity to learn from the duo as he tries to establish himself at the NFL level. "It's great, man," Milton said of Dallas' quarterback room. "We all have three different games, you know? Dak brings the most experience to the room and Will has been around football throughout his whole life. And then you've got me, whereas I didn't grow up with a quarterback coach. I just happened to be so athletic, and I bring extra tools. "I learned along the way and I'm able to do certain things. So, putting it all together, we just shape one another as quarterbacks. It's just great. We feed off of each other. "They help me out a lot, man. Shout out to those two, man. Like, respect for sure. No matter what it is, they're willing to help, regardless." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Joe Milton grateful to land with Cowboys: 'Coming here was a blessing'

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

June 01, 2025

Joe Milton happy joining Cowboys, Dak Prescott: 'Coming here was a blessing'

Joe Milton happy joining Cowboys, Dak Prescott: 'Coming here was a blessing' TheDallas Cowboysswung a trade to add a potential-packe...

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Trump withdraws nominee to lead NASA Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk

Trump withdraws nominee to lead NASA Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk

WASHINGTON ―President Donald Trumphas pulled his nomination ofJared Isaacman, a billionaire commercial astronaut with close ties toElon Musk, as his nominee to serve as administrator of NASA. The White House confirmed the withdrawal on May 31 and said Trump will soon announce a new nominee to lead NASA. No reason was provided for parting ways with Isaacman,who led and financed private astronaut missionsPolaris Dawn andInspiration4, which was carried out by Musk's SpaceX. The withdrawal, first reported bythe news website Semafor, comes after the 42-year-old Isaacman already cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in April and appeared on track for a full Senate vote. "The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and executePresident Trump's bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars," White House Assistant Press Secretary Liz Huston said in a statement. "It's essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump's America First agenda, and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon." More:Elon Musk's rise and fall: From Trump's chainsaw-wielding sidekick to a swift exit The move comes a day after Musk, a business partner and friend of Isaacman,left the White Houseafter spending four months as a senior White House adviser overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency.Musk joined Trump for an Oval Office news conferenceto mark the end of the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO's tenure in the White House. "It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted,"Musk said in a post on X, in reaction to Trump's decision to withdraw Isaacman's nomination. Conservative activist Laura Loomer,who has proven influential in many Trump decisions, raised alarm about the status of Isaacman's nominationin an X post, hours before the White House confirmed it was being withdrawn, writing, "There is reason to believe that Isaacman may be facing retaliation because of his friendship with Musk." More:Trump's pick to head NASA has been to space twice: Recapping billionaire's missions Isaacman, founder and CEO of the payment processing company Shift4 Payments, undertook his first private space venture in 2021, when he was commander and financier of the world's first all-civilian extended mission to space. In 2024, he returned to spacewith an all-civilian crew of amateur spacefarerswith the Polaris Dawn mission, which he jointly funded with SpaceX. Isaacman drew concern from some lawmakers over his ties to Musk and SpaceX. During his Senate confirmation hearing in April, he sought to balance NASA's existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy with the Trump administration's push for a space mission to Mars, saying the U.S. can plan for travel to both destinations. As a potential leader of NASA's some 18,000 employees, Isaacman faced a daunting task of implementing that decision to prioritize Mars, given that NASA has spent years and billions of dollars trying to return its astronauts to the moon. NASA, which has about 18,000 employees, has lacked a full-time administrator since Bill Nelson, NASA administrator in the Biden administration, stepped down on Jan. 20 when Trump was inaugurated. Contributing: Eric Lagatta of USA TODAYand Reuters Reach Joey Garrison @joeygarrison. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:President Trump withdraws nominee to lead NASA Jared Isaacman

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

June 01, 2025

Trump withdraws nominee to lead NASA Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk

Trump withdraws nominee to lead NASA Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk WASHINGTON ―President Donald Trumphas pulled his nomination o...

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Trump’s foreign policy frustrations are piling up

Trump's foreign policy frustrations are piling up

Every president thinks they can change the world – and Donald Trump has an even greater sense of personal omnipotence than his recent predecessors. But it's not working out too well for the 47th president. Trump might intimidate tech titans to toe the line and use government power to try to bend institutions like Harvard University and judges, but some world leaders are harder to bully. He keeps being ignored and humiliated by Russian President Vladimir Putin who is defying the US effort to end the war in Ukraine. Russian media is now portraying Trump as the tough talker who always blinks and never imposes consequences. The president also thought that he could shape China to his will by facing down leader Xi Jinping in a trade war. But he misunderstood Chinese politics. The one thing an authoritarian in Beijing can never do is bow down to a US president. US officials say now they'refrustratedthat China hasn't followed through on commitments meant to deescalate the trade conflict. As with China, Trump backed down in his tariff war with the European Union. Then Financial Times commentator Robert Armstrong enraged the president by coining the termTACO trade— "Trump Always Chickens Out." Everyone thought that Trump would be on the same page as Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, in his first term he offered the Israeli prime minister pretty much everything he wanted. But now that he's trying to broker peace in the Middle East, Trump is finding thatprolonging the Gaza conflict is existential for Netanyahu's political career,much like Ukraine for Putin. And Trump's ambition for an Iranian nuclear deal is frustrating Israeli plans to use a moment of strategic weakness for the Islamic Republic to try to take out its reactors militarily. Powerful leaders are pursuing their own versions of the national interest that exist in a parallel reality and on different historical and actual timelines to shorter, more transactional, aspirations of American presidents. Most aren't susceptible to personal appeals with no payback. And after Trump's attempts to humiliate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, the lure of the White House is waning. Trump spent months on the campaign trail last year boasting that his "very good relationship" with Putin or Xi would magically solve deep geopolitical and economic problems between global powers that might be unsolvable. He's far from the first US leader to suffer from such delusions. President George W. Bush famously looked into the Kremlin tyrant's eyes and "got a sense of his soul." President Barack Obama disdained Russia as a decaying regional power and once dismissed Putin as the "bored kid in the back of the classroom." That didn't work out so well when the bored kid annexed Crimea. More broadly, the 21st century presidents have all acted as though they're men of destiny. Bush came to office determined not to act as the global policeman. But the September 11 attacks in 2001 made him exactly that. He started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — which the US won, then lost the peace. And his failed second term goal to democratize the Arab world never went anywhere. Obama tried to make amends for the global war on terror and travelled to Egypt to tell Muslims it was time for "a new beginning." His early presidency pulsated with a sense that his charisma and unique background would in itself be a global elixir. Joe Biden traveled the globe telling everyone that "America is back" after ejecting Trump from the White House. But four years later, partly due to his own disastrous decision to run for a second term, America — or at least the internationalist post-World War II version – was gone again. And Trump was back. Trump's "America First" populism relies on the premise that the US has been ripped off for decades, never mind that its alliances and shaping of global capitalism made it the most powerful nation in the planet's history. Now playing at being a strongman who everyone must obey, he is busily squandering this legacy and shattering US soft power — ie. the power to persuade — with his belligerence. The first four months of the Trump presidency, with its tariff threats, warnings of US territorial expansion in Canada and Greenland and evisceration of global humanitarian aid programs show that the rest of the world gets a say in what happens too. So far, leaders in China, Russia, Israel, Europe and Canada appear to have calculated that Trump is not as powerful as he thinks he is, that there's no price for defying him or that their own internal politics make resistance mandatory. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

byKonstantin Pynzar

in

June 01, 2025

Trump’s foreign policy frustrations are piling up

Trump's foreign policy frustrations are piling up Every president thinks they can change the world – and Donald Trump has an even greate...

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