Jim Ross says "R-Truth's ethnicity in that era helped him" in WWE

WWE has a few veteran wrestlers in the locker room, who have been in the pro wrestling business for over two decades, and are still a key part of RAW and SmackDown each week. One legendary character on WWE television who has seen it all in pro wrestling is R-Truth, who has revitalized his career over the last few years.

The multi-time 24/7 Champion is currently in his second spell with WWE, having first debuted in the company two decades ago. R-Truth's comedic timing has won over the fans in the last few years and he is a character that has stayed relevant for quite some time.

WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW commentator Jim Ross stated on the latest edition of the Grilling JR podcast that R-Truth's ethnicity helped him when he first started out in WWE in 2000.

Jim Ross on why R-Truth's ethnicity helped him in WWE

Ross' podcast with Conrad Thompson focused on the Armageddon pay-per-view from 2000, where he teamed with Road Dogg in a fatal 4-way match.

“I think his [R-Truth’s] ethnicity in that era helped him, because the company wanted to become, as they should’ve probably 20 years before, wanted to become more diverse. But that was the trend in the wrestling business. You got to remember Conrad [Thompson], when I got in the wrestling business, the territory ran by white promoters had an unwritten rule that there could only be so many African-Americans on their roster, or people of color and I heard that. I’m not just bullsh*tting [or] I made that up. I mean I’ve heard those conversations. Bill Watts’ famous remark to one of the NWA people was, ‘My favorite color is green. I don’t care who they are, what they are. My favorite color is green so this Black thing don’t work in my territory’ and we had a lot of African-Americans. Top babyface, top heels, booker. Whatever, who can do the best job, as it should be. The best people, no matter their skin color should get the jobs and so, no quotas.” (H/T Post Wrestling)

R-Truth was released by WWE two years later, following which he had a spell with TNA before signing with WWE once again in 2008.

The veteran wrestler has been with WWE since and has won the United States championship as well as the WWE Tag Team championship, apart from winning the 24/7 title over 40 times.