Longtime WWE performer R-Truth revealed earlier this week that he’ll soon be leaving the promotion, with reports indicating that he and the company could not agree on terms for a new contract. The news of Truth’s departure has caused an outrage among fans and wrestlers alike. WWE stars The Miz, Rhea Ripley, and more have spoken out regarding their feelings about Truth, with most expressing their shock as well as sharing how much they’ll miss having Truth around.

While John Cena didn’t share any words, his simple post on Instagram was an important gesture for several reasons. The retiring star is in the midst of his first heel run in years and he’s shown reluctance to break character too much, yet even he couldn’t help but comment in his own way. The two have a great deal of history together on TV, and Truth recently wrestled Cena at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event in what will seemingly become the departing star’s final significant match in the company. Truth went on to face the newly-debuted JC Mateo in a short losing effort on the following episode of “WWE SmackDown” and hasn’t appeared since.

Just over a week before Truth made the announcement of his departure, the official WWEShop Instagram page was touting a new piece of the wrestler’s merchandise: a parody of Cena’s retirement shirt with Truth in his place. That shirt has since been pulled from the online store, but its mere existence raises questions: Was Truth’s match against Cena booked with the knowledge that it would be his send-off? Whose idea was the shirt, and were they aware that Truth was on his way out?

Referring to Truth as “Ron Cena” and hyping up his departure, the shirt could easily be seen as being sold in bad taste in light of recent events. While the original intent was to parody Cena’s impending retirement, Truth’s contract coming to an end provides the merchandise with some new context.

Since the shirt has been pulled, it’s unlikely it was put out as an intentional way to capitalize off Truth’s departure. Still, it can’t have been a complete coincidence that WWE was selling merchandise celebrating Truth’s “farewell tour,” as both sides would’ve known that his contract was coming up and they had yet to agree to new terms.

The facts surrounding Truth’s apparent departure are still murky, though it seems evident that he was a victim of cost-cutting measures. Those kinds of directives usually come from the top, meaning leadership at TKO or even higher up, though the individual decisions about who makes the cut and who doesn’t would likely be left up to Paul Levesque and other top brass at the WWE level.

There is another possibility, which looks admittedly unlikely: Truth isn’t truly finished with WWE. His contract reportedly has yet to expire, for one, potentially giving time for his team and the wrestling promotion to come to terms on a new deal. Based on the vast outpouring of support for the veteran wrestler, it wouldn’t be the most surprising thing in the world to see WWE raise their initial offer to keep Truth around.

At this point, however, it looks more like Truth is done with WWE. The fans who were quick enough on the draw to pick up the Ron Cena shirt will have a memento specific to the end of his run with the company, which lasted over 17 years.