Your real-life troubled past was played up in the vignettes that preceded your return to WWE. For those who aren’t familiar with your story, how were you able to turn your life around?

It was accepting life for what it was. Humbling myself and coming to that crossroad where, if I keep doing this, I’m going to end up here all the time – which is in jail, always in trouble, always needing a helping hand. You’re not contributing anything. Or, if I do this, I can pursue my dreams, I can be with my family, the sky’s the limit. I did a lot of soul-searching and wanted to do the right thing and be in the right spot.

You grew up in North Carolina, which obviously is a pro wrestling hotbed. Were you a fan of the business, and if so, who were some of the guys that you influenced you?

Oh yes, I was a fan. A lot of guys – Ron Simmons, Junkyard Dog, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum T.A., Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, The Road Warriors. The South is where wrestling was birthed. I got turned on to the business by Jack Crockett; he and his brothers were the ones who brought wrestling to the South. I was a fanatic about wrestling when I was a kid.

I know your other passion is music, and you embarked on a music career at one point. Any plans to continue to pursue that on the side?

Oh yeah, definitely. I’m doing them both as we speak. Music is universal, man. I got bitten by the wrestling bug and now I just do them both.

So you’re working on new music?

Absolutely. The next tune that you will be hearing from R-Truth will be called “Right Time.” And there’s going to be a little twist. I know people are expecting me to come back with hip hop and urban, but this time I’m going to mix it up and it’s going to be metal/hip hop.

Are you going to be using that as your new entrance music?

I don’t know just yet. I may come out to it once or twice. It may just be a pay-per-view entrance. Or I may just do a music video to it.

You’ve worked as a heel in the past but not in WWE. Would you like to see your character develop more of an edge and go in that direction?

Whatever’s clever, man. I leave my career totally to the creative staff and Vince McMahon. Whatever they give me to do, I’ll go in headfirst and I’ll just perfect it and make it happen. I’m ready for whatever they have to throw at me.

There were web reports a few years ago about a heated confrontation between you and John Cena at an airport before you joined WWE. Was that blown out of proportion?

(Laughs) Man, that was blown out of proportion so much. My goodness. I don’t think I even saw John in the airport. I think we may have passed by each other but we didn’t notice each other. By the time I got to work [at TNA], it was all over that we were face to face, we were about to fight. I was like, “Wow, I wish I was there. I didn’t see any of that.” Yeah, that was blown out of proportion so much, man.

I want to ask you about the rookie that you mentored on NXT, David Otunga. People seem to be divided on him. Some think that he’s a can’t-miss star because of his charisma, while others don’t think he’ll make it because his in-ring ability isn’t good enough. What is your opinion of him?

I think he’ll be a future star for the company. He just needs to work out the kinks and learn to listen, and be more humble and use the tools that are around him – use the people that are ready to give him a little bit of head’s up. You can’t do everything by yourself all the time.

Whatever happened to Pretty Ricky? We saw a few vignettes a while back and then the character disappeared. Where was that going to go?

I have no idea where that was going to go. Pretty Ricky belonged to Vince McMahon. Believe it or not, Pretty Ricky is still lurking around places. You may see him pop in and out from time to time. He’s definitely not gone. He’s a mac from way back. He’s a playa from the Himalaya. He’s just chillin’ I think.

Photo courtesy of WWE