I was genuinely surprised when I saw R-Truth named a #1 Contender on RAW last week. I hadn't been on the old intraweb in a bit, so I assumed that R-Truth was getting pushed for one or more of the following reasons:
1) He's over. This is probably the simplest and most obvious one people are missing. You can say that he's a caricature, or that no one takes him seriously, or whatever -- but marks fucking eat the dude's shtick right up. He didn't even need to rap coming out and the crowd was responding better to him than John Morrison. While Truth is pretty old, yes, the dude seems to know how to tow a company line, and that brings me to the next point:
2) It's a jab at John Morrison. Given the history between Miz and Morrison, and the wave of momentum Morrison has been riding lately, it seemed odd to have him lose to Truth. It wouldn't surprise me if it was Morrison's spot, and it was taken from him as a "wisen up" thought of thing. Still, I personally would have preferred Dolph Ziggler in the spot, but whatever.
3) With a bunch of releases coming up, the WWE wants to give Truth one more big chance to really catch on out of courtesy. Maybe the dude has agreed to walk away, or something like that? I'm not sure if the WWE would ever give Truth a courtesy World Title reign (isn't the dude like banned from Canada?), but they might give him a courtesy main event run.
4) I legitimately considered the possibility that R-Truth like foiled a rape, or saved a child from a burning building and was getting a push because he brought the WWE a bunch of good publicity.
Either way, even though I'm not the biggest R-Truth fan, marks do love him, and that's ultimately what matters to Vince. That he would have a lot of respect for the business, and stands out from other guys (even if it's in the most annoying way possible), all seems to have led to Truth getting a title shot.
People say there's absolutely no chance that Truth will walk out of Extreme Rules with the WWE Title, but I don't think
anyone predicted Miz vs. Cena vs. Truth as the main event of Extreme Rules. Also, keep in mind the X-Factor:
Johnny Curtis is waiting to make his official impact on the WWE roster, and while many people here aren't high on him, I'm willing to bet that someone in the WWE is. They let him win NXT over Brodus Clay, who was involved in a World Title match at WrestleMania. The WWE just hired a soap opera writer, and his first idea pitched could have been Johnny Curtis showing up randomly and helping his former WWE Pro win the WWE Title, because he and Truth still have a WWE Tag Team Title shot, and it's more attention for Curtis by association.
The Miz and Cena can call out Truth on not being a credible WWE Champion, and Truth can be all "Mang, do you know what you did to me?!?" to Curtis.
Okay, that's not a very likely scenario, but in a kayfabe sort of way, R-Truth actually has a secret weapon that could make a win quite easy. Especially if he turned heel alongside it. But it's more likely that Curtis will cost R-Truth the match, start a feud with his former Pro, and then Cena will complain about not being pinned (because he wants to be the WWE Champion for his match against The Rock), and The Miz vs. Cena will happen again at Over the Limit in some sort of final gimmick match between the two.