Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes & Road Dogg Address Reaction To R-Truth WWE Release

WWE/Netflix

Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes & “Road Dogg” Brian James have addressed the reaction to R-Truth’s WWE release in June 2025.

With Netflix’s WWE Unreal: Season Two releasing today, January 20, one of the episodes that has been gaining the most amount of attention has been the one that recounts R-Truth’s WWE departure in June 2025.

During the episode R-Truth shared his initial reaction to finding out about his WWE release, with the former United States Champion being told the news while he was taking his daughter to dance.

Truth said:

“I was taking my daughter to the dance that day, I got the call I was released, and I put the tweet out. It was gut wrenching.”

Truth’s former tag team partner “Road Dogg” Brian James said the news of Truth’s departure “broke his heart”:

“That morning I was going to run an errand, and Truth texted me and said, ‘Hey I got let go. I’ll see you down the road.’

“It was very out of the blue and it did break my heart. I pulled over and I sat there for a second and that’s when I put the tweet out.

“It was kind of just off that raw moment, that was all real.”

Rhea Ripley, who worked with Truth on WWE TV during his storyline with The Judgment Day, said that a “wave of sadness” took over the locker room after they got word of Truth’s release:

“When we first heard that he wasn’t going to be at work anymore, we were all confused. ‘This isn’t real.’ Like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“It was just like a wave of sadness kind of took over everyone here in the WWE.”

Truth would then discuss the outpouring of support from his peers in WWE after news got around regarding his release, saying his “phone was blowing up”:

“My phone was blowing up. ‘Holy s**t I got like a thousand text messages.’ ‘What the hell?’ I wasn’t expecting all that.”

Cody Rhodes described Truth’s release as “a no”, with his presence being a non-negotiable for the WWE roster:

“There’s things that’s no. That’s a no. Can’t touch him.

“So I don’t care if we’re paying him, I don’t care. We need R-Truth.”

Triple H also addressed R-Truth’s WWE departure during the episode, with the company’s Chief Content Officer stating that Truth was “never not under WWE contract” despite his claims he was released – click here for full details.

Rhea Ripley: “It was just like a wave of sadness kind of took over everyone here in the WWE.”
Cody Rhodes: “Can’t touch him. We need R-Truth.”

R-Truth was taking his daughter to dance when he found out he was getting released 💔@WWE: Unreal Season 2 is now playing. pic.twitter.com/EMSRIFYaTL

— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) January 20, 2026

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• wwe
• Cody Rhodes
• rhea ripley
• road dogg
• R-Truth
• Brian James
• WWE Unreal

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