How Jey Uso Became One of WWE's Biggest Singles Stars

Sportskeeda Wrestling

Backstage Pass is your one-stop subscription to everything pro wrestling. Breaking news from the most reliable insiders, interviews with legends, live Q&As with industry veterans, we have it all. SUBSCRIBE NOW - https://bit.ly/3zbHEH8  Join us as we explore Jey Uso's incredible journey from a decorated tag team specialist to becoming a singles champion. From his early days alongside his brother Jimmy Uso in The Usos, to overcoming personal challenges and stepping out of the shadow of his legendary family and Roman Reigns, Jey's path has been nothing short of inspiring. Watch how this determined superstar fought his way to the top, proving that he could thrive on his own and claim the championship gold   You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe  #jeyuso #theusos #romanreigns #bloodline #wwe #wrestling #sportskeedawrestling

Transcript

00:00On the 23rd of September, 2024, Jey Uso had a moment that felt like it was long, long overdue,

00:11a yeet that will live in infamy. He didn't just defeat someone, he de-yeeted someone. Okay,

00:19that's the first of maybe a few yeet references. For the first time in 14 years in WWE, shockingly

00:26enough, the first time in his entire 17-year pro wrestling career, he has become a singles champion,

00:34dethroning the dominant and powerful Braun Breaker to win the historic and prestigious

00:40WWE Intercontinental Championship. It wasn't an easy road to get there,

00:45but it was an arduous one. How did Jey Uso do it, and why does it mean so much?

00:51Let's get into it. It's Sportskeeda Wrestling, I'm Kevin Kellum. Let us feel your yeeting feelings

00:58in the comments below. And make sure you watch the whole video, it's worth it. Come on, do it for Jey.

01:05You think you know all the wrestling stories? There's more you haven't heard yet.

01:10Join us on Backstage Pass. Even though Braun Breaker's reign with the WWE Intercontinental

01:17title was short, it was a eventful 51 days. Nobody seems like they deserve the title though

01:23more than the veteran Jey Uso, especially at this time recently in his career. So why on earth did

01:30it take nearly one and a half decades for Jey Uso to become a singles champion? Oh, you fickle fans

01:37that only started watching a few years ago. Join us as we take a look into the deep journey of Jey

01:43mainly focusing on his singles stardom in the 2020s. Yeah, we have an entire video about why

01:48his tag team with his brother Jimmy the Usos are probably bound for the hall of fame. We do have

01:54to go back to 2010 when Jey Uso and Jimmy made their main roster debuts in WWE. The Usos entered

02:01WWE with that golden Samoan wrestling pedigree, with their father being Rikishi and their blood

02:08connected relative being The Rock paving a path for them. The high expectations were there before

02:14their first match. WWE had a history of successful tag teams from their family, specifically WWE Hall

02:21of Famers, Afa and Sika, the Wild Samoans. History aside, it wasn't smooth sailing for Jimmy and Jey

02:28from the get-go. It took them nearly four years to even win their first WWE Tag Team Championship,

02:34and even then, they were just kind of there. Tag Team Championships were still not the thing

02:40they are now in WWE. At this point, most fans couldn't even distinguish the Usos from which

02:45was which, and we really put that on you, the fans. It was a running joke that continued till

02:49the end of the 2010s. It wasn't exactly the fault of WWE as a whole that they didn't invest very

02:55much in tag team wrestling overall, with Vince McMahon reportedly at one point saying somewhere

03:00backstage that he was keen on not having four people get paid for one match. So in the early

03:05part of 2016, a full six years into their time with WWE in the main roster, they were given an

03:11opportunity to actually stand out. It was the return of the brand split between Raw and Smackdown,

03:18the weekly conferences on TV of WWE, and finally reverting to brand-exclusive rosters. The formula

03:24tends to work because it allows more superstars to get a spotlight, and the Usos were a direct

03:30beneficiary of this circumstantial change. With WWE going all guns blazing, it seemed like Smackdown

03:37got the shorter end of the stick, at least with the women in the tag team divisions. WWE NXT had

03:43produced a hot up-and-coming tag team, an American Alpha, and they were going to be placed on the

03:49Smackdown roster, presumably putting them in a leading role as good guys of the tag team division.

03:55Because of that, they needed bad guys to counter them. Enter the Usos in a perfect utility role.

04:01By that point, they were reaching veteran status in the eyes of some, that many years on the road,

04:06that much TV exposure, and they had already won titles. But a shift was needed, and the timing

04:13was right. It seemed like there was nothing to lose by removing their face paint and flashy

04:17we-say-oos, you-say-oos, and turning them into bad dudes with bad attitudes. And the way things

04:24played out on Smackdown, that happened to work against American Alpha, and completely in the

04:30benefit of the Usos. Once they became Smackdown tag team champions before Wrestlemania 33,

04:35they would enter a feud with another tag team that had found a way to revitalize themselves

04:40and get hot at the same time. The New Day, a team made up of a kind of three bird flowing rule of

04:47three, with Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods. Kickstarting what would be one of the

04:52best tag team feuds of the past two decades for WWE. The Usos and The New Day were presented as

04:59so evenly matched for the tag team titles, and it changed hands almost every single match they

05:03had together. It made tag team wrestling matter again in WWE. It was kind of similar to the way

05:09that Charlotte and Sasha Banks had a rivalry in the previous year over the women's championships.

05:15Now you were getting met with the Usos and The New Day. You have to remember at this point,

05:18The New Day had already been the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history,

05:23so they were practically royalty within just three years of being together. The Usos were

05:28together for more than double that time, and were finally getting the respect on their names that

05:33they deserve. At this point, they were a true wrecking crew. The next couple of years brought

05:38in more success and a lot more championship titles. They established themselves as the

05:43undisputed top dogs of WWE's tag teams. But weirdly enough, it was an unfortunate DUI

05:51arrest for Jimmy Uso. They were off television for the second half of 2019, ending the decade

05:57on a bit of a sour note. Jimmy Uso's injury around WrestleMania 36 would ultimately be a

06:03turning point for Jey Uso's career. In the challenging time that was WWE in the pandemic,

06:10Jey Uso would find himself in a critical role at a very critical time, with his brother Jimmy on

06:17the shelf still dealing with an injury. Roman Reigns would return, and this time he would not

06:22be the on a pedestal babyface. He would be something completely different, and he needed

06:28supporting characters to help this new character that was conniving and evil and filled with

06:33hubris get over. Someone who helped him do that was his right-hand man Jey Uso, except they didn't

06:40get along initially. It was believed at this time it would kickstart one of the greatest modern

06:45WWE storylines that some feel is still going on today. Jey Uso wasn't the villain here. He returned

06:51a valiant fighting babyface who challenged Roman Reigns' new attitude and was slotted to seize the

06:58opportunity and challenge his relative, his cousin, to the WWE Universal Championship that Roman had

07:05recently acquired with his new bad attitude. When Jey returned, he was still without his brother,

07:12so it was one of the first times he truly stood out at his own. It was quite shocking to think

07:17that it took a whole decade for that to happen, but the stars aligned, the circumstances were there,

07:22and he ran with this opportunity. Roman Reigns was cold and unreceptive, wasn't answering his

07:28cousin's text and was saying he was busy. Jey even asked him why he had Paul Heyman by his side.

07:36Ah, what a despicable guy after his history with Brock Lesnar, and Roman Reigns just told him he

07:42had everything in control and walked away, ignoring his own family member's invitation

07:50for dinner after the show. It might seem like an insignificant segment, but the wheels were

07:56turning for what was to come. Jey didn't realize it, but Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were plotting

08:01to make an example out of him for anyone in their family and anyone in WWE who question

08:09the authority of power that Roman Reigns believed he had as the Universal Champion,

08:15and the upcoming Clash of Champions was going to be a defining part of that plan. When Roman Reigns

08:20won the match at the Clash of Champions, it was because he brutalized his cousin to such an extent

08:26that Jimmy Uso had to throw in the towel and save his own brother. It was Roman Reigns' way of

08:32showing the world that he was the new version of himself. He was ruthless, he was filled with

08:37hubris, and if people thought he was doing the wrong thing, he believed he was doing the right

08:43thing. Not even his own family would be spared from this demented pursuit of power. Jey became

08:50the first victim in this pursuit of power. During their rematch in the Hell in a Cell with an I

08:56quit stipulation attached to it, Roman Reigns would once again make a brutal example of an

09:03Jamie Uso, who was once again in the ring trying to save his brother,

09:08forcing Jey to say those two dreaded words, I quit, please don't smash my brother. It showed

09:15a level of depth of character performance by Jimmy, by Roman, and obviously by Jey. It was

09:23more than just him losing a match and saying I quit. You may think that's humiliating,

09:27but it gave vulnerability. Throughout all the things he would do at Roman's side for the next

09:33few years, you knew he was a human underneath all of it, and it was a special moment to see

09:40that humanity on display in such a raw way. Jey had been physically beaten down, but it was a

09:46mental beating he took that changed his entire demeanor. After Hell in a Cell, Jey Uso finally

09:53aligned himself with Roman Reigns to become the right hand man as Roman would dub him.

10:00This put him in a huge spot because he was potentially the next in line as Roman Reigns'

10:04successor. At the same time as Jey Uso was suddenly in the biggest storyline of all of

10:09wrestling associated with the biggest name in the industry. He took the opportunity by his throat

10:13and established himself as a single star for the first time in his career. Jey Uso was finding

10:18himself in a big televised match after match after match, many of which were main events.

10:23A few days later, after that brutal Hell in a Cell match, Jey Uso beat Daniel Bryan,

10:29and then a week later he beat Kevin Owens. Everyone who praises Roman Reigns and kisses

10:34his feet and says he's the greatest, well actually it was supporting players like main event Jey Uso,

10:40actually main eventing matches on TV in his absence, and sometimes even on premium live

10:45events to keep the whole bloodline story going that made it possible to keep going. Roman Reigns

10:51was that abusive person in Jey Uso's life, and Jey was getting manipulated for the whole world to see.

10:57In 2021, his stock would only continue to rise. He was the gatekeeper you needed to get past to

11:04get to Roman Reigns. Before Jimmy Uso would finally return to in-ring action, Jey had

11:09single matches on Smackdown with KO, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bryan, Edge, and Cesaro. He even

11:15faced Daniel Bryan in a steel cage match and killed it, so he was getting noticed.

11:20Once Jimmy Uso was able to return, the Usos were once more under the shadow of Roman Reigns. They

11:27would still be a badass tag team, maybe more badass than they had ever been. They would take

11:33just two months to get the Smackdown Tag Team Championships around their waist, a title that

11:38will be forever associated with them because of how dominant they were with those titles.

11:43This time, they would embark on a record-setting reign as tag team champions,

11:49taking tag team wrestling to a height it had never been before in WWE. Don't worry, we'll get there,

11:57you're wondering what that is. While Jimmy continued to get his singles opportunities

12:02from time to time, they shined with big wins over both Dominik and Rey Mysterio. 2022 was a bit of a

12:09funny year for Jey when you look at it from a purely stat viewpoint. As a tag team, the Usos

12:15not only continued to dominate, but arguably cemented themselves as one of the greatest tag

12:19teams of the century by unifying both the Raw and Smackdown tag team titles together.

12:25And they did this to defeat the formidable team of Matt Riddle and the legendary Randy Orton,

12:32and they were now undisputed tag team champions. They went on to beat the New Day's record

12:38from 2015 to 2016 as the longest reigning tag team champions in WWE history.

12:48Literally, historically, they were, by the stats, the best.

12:53If we just stop there, you could put them in the WWE Hall of Fame,

12:56and it would make complete sense. Some were already starting to whisper that Jey Uso may

13:01have been the standout of the two brothers, but we'll get back to that. Being a part of the

13:06hottest storyline in the wrestling industry with multiple parts meant that it needed a fresh

13:10injection, and it came from an odd person on the outside. Sami Zayn was added to the bloodline

13:17story. It made Jey even more significant of a star because of the odd, odd, we're not gonna get along

13:24between Sami with his joyful, kind of like, hey, let me help you guys cheat to win matches and have

13:30me be in your group, Jimmy Uso just staring daggers into him. 2022 saw Sami Zayn become the honorary

13:36Uso, the honorary member of the bloodline, a decision that Jey Uso was deeply opposed to.

13:44While Jimmy Uso seemed to get along with Sami, yeah, they had a cool handshake,

13:48Jey felt that he had no business being involved in the bloodline, a group that was strictly about

13:55family. But as 2022 ended and 2023 began, things changed, things pivoted. By Survivor Series war

14:04games and the big double cage team versus team match, even Roman Reigns appeared to have embraced

14:10Sami Zayn and all of the physical sacrifices he had made for the bloodline, or rather just for

14:16Roman, because no, Roman wasn't **** at this time. Yeah, you guys need to remember that. So when he was

14:22dispatched to go help Jey Uso, the only member of team bloodline in the cage, it was a test of his

14:30loyalty. Sami Zayn and Jey Uso's combination would be what won team bloodline the match at war games.

14:40The dynamic between Sami and Jey as odd fellows within this group began to change. It came to a

14:48point where the bloodline held a tribal court segment on the 30th anniversary episode of

14:55Monday Night Raw, and Sami Zayn was all set to be kicked out of his honorary role. Roman Reigns

15:03ordered Solo Sokoa, the new enforcer, to take Sami Zayn out with a Samoan spike to his throat,

15:11but it was Jey Uso who stopped it from happening, and stood up for the man he once mistrusted before

15:21that weekend at the 2023 Royal Rumble when Sami Zayn decided to side with his former tag team

15:28partner Kevin Owens, who was brutalized by the bloodline and Roman Reigns, and when he was given

15:33a chair by Roman Reigns and tested his loyalty once again, Roman said, smash your former friend

15:39with a chair while he's handcuffed to the rope. Smirking, filled with hubris, Sami Zayn questioning

15:46the moment, nope, boom. That's right, Roman Reigns, you get hit with a chair. Place goes crazy. It was

15:52one of the greatest babyface turns in modern WWE history, and Jey Uso was right there for all of

15:58it, a cruel twist of fate for a few reasons, as immediately they would all have to beat down

16:03on Sami Zayn. It was also cruel, but cruelty that Roman Reigns had earned upon himself, a little bit

16:08of that PTSD for him, as he experienced a chair shot to the back nine years earlier when the

16:16previous group he was in, The Shield, broke up and Seth Rollins turned on him, but this time,

16:21it was getting a huge babyface pop, and Jey Uso was even worse off in this situation, as he trusted

16:28Sami Zayn. I trusted you. I was the only one who spoke up for you during his early association with

16:35the bloodline. He ended up being the one saving him from getting kicked out, and then just six

16:40days after that, you go and do this to the tribal chief. Pain and disbelief on Jey Uso's face was

16:46so visible, it was awesome drama dripping off the screen. It was Jimmy who ended up taking Sami

16:53Zayn out, while Jey watched on. It was rough for two years for Jey Uso, despite all the tag team

16:59success he had. He continued to be under the spell of Roman Reigns, and was put in a position for a

17:05little while where it seemed unclear if he would side with Sami Zayn and break away, or stay loyal

17:12to the bloodline. Of course, he chose family for the loyalty, and it culminated with him headlining,

17:20that's right, taking the tag team titles that they still held, all the way to the main event

17:27of WrestleMania. Something that had never happened with a tag team championship in WWE. Yes, the Usos

17:35would main event, defending the titles against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who reunited and wanted

17:41to redeem themselves once more. Tag team wrestling at this level, oh hell yeah. I saw this match live

17:50in Los Angeles, and during a big weekend where it was announced that WWE would have a huge new

17:56ownership deal, and Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes would main event night two other big matches,

18:01this was the match that stole the weekend. Dare I say, it may be one of the best tag team matches

18:07in WWE or modern wrestling history. It is that damn good. The much talked about and debated Dave

18:15Meltzer Wrestling Observer five star rating was dubbed upon this very acclaimed and worthy of that

18:23honor match. Spreadsheet stat weirdos, yeah, they may have lost the championships in this match,

18:29but that's not the point. This was the Usos WWE main event of all time. The fact that Jay went

18:38from being someone that people was one half of a tag team and he's just a tag team guy and that's

18:44just all you are. No, he went on to become a WrestleMania main eventer and was still the tag

18:49team guy in just a few years is pretty insane when you think about it. Add to the fact that he was a

18:55central part of an Orville arcing storyline that fans absolutely diehards and casuals were on board

19:03with. The post WrestleMania 39 arc for Jay Uso first resulted in his brother defecting from the

19:10bloodline before Jay was put in another will he or won't he position where he had to choose who he

19:17would align with. This time the choice was even harder because both sides were his blood relatives.

19:24Jay would choose his brother and turn on the bloodline before becoming the first man in almost

19:301300 days to do the unthinkable. To humble, to not let Roman Reigns be perceived as a god,

19:40to pin Roman Reigns. Yes, this happened in the bloodline civil war main event of the Money in

19:48the Bank premium live event. Maybe that was the Usos main event. Big wins at critical moments

19:54make wrestlers. This may have been one of those moments when you really think about it. From there

20:00he was suddenly in a spot where he would be headlining the second largest event of the year

20:06for the biggest prize in wrestling, Summerslam. Nobody was questioning whether or not he deserved

20:12it. He was the guy in this storyline alone who was powerful enough to justify putting himself in

20:19that position headlining two of the biggest events in one calendar year. The finish of Summerslam

20:25though left a lot to be desired with kind of just a deflating sense of expectation.

20:31Jimmy Uso would return and turn on his brother Jay. Yeah and go back to the bloodline. It didn't

20:39make any sense that he went back to the bloodline right yet. We didn't know but it was gonna set up

20:43something big. Something that Jimmy and Jay have gone on the record saying they wanted. A singles

20:48match between them at Wrestlemania 40. But that marked the end of Jay Uso's story with the bloodline

20:54after being the second most important figure in the group for years. After first quitting WWE,

21:00Cody Rhodes convinced him to join Monday Night Raw and it was finally his time to shine as a

21:07single star on a separate conference of WWE away from the rest of his family over on the blue brand

21:12of Smackdown. WWE had referred to him as main event Jay Uso once more and this certainly made

21:19sense, making a clear point to distinguish him from his brother Jimmy. When he was announced

21:23as the newest member of the Raw roster on Payback 2023, fans completely embraced him in this new

21:31role. It almost seemed like an overnight sensation. He took his stardom to a whole new level. But it

21:37wasn't overnight. It was 13 years of toiling and grinding that got him there. From being associated

21:43with the biggest villain in wrestling in the three years prior, both as a rival and as an ally,

21:49Jay would then begin to associate himself with the biggest good guy in the wrestling business,

21:54Cody Rhodes. The two hit it off and instantly became undisputed tag team champions by beating

22:01the Judgment Days Damian Priest and Finn Balor. Their reign didn't even last 10 days, but the only

22:08purpose of it was to have a confrontation on Smackdown between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.

22:14A face-off to remind you that we were going to get a rematch between them after Roman Reigns had

22:20cheated his way out of losing a title. As quickly as they won the titles, they would lose it back

22:33to Priest and Balor on Raw. Despite all of the bad blood between them, Sami Zayn happily embraced

22:39Jey Uso's move to Raw. An attempt at a singles glory was special here. Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre

22:46was having his own slow-burning turn into a villain, and Jey Uso was his first target.

22:51Because remember, when Jey was in the bloodline, he gave Drew McIntyre a lot of hell. Drew mistrusted

22:57Jey more than Jey mistrusted Sami Zayn back in 2022. Trust is important. And it was a smart way

23:05for a modern character to constantly reflect on Jey's history, doing bad things and saying,

23:11hey, I didn't forget about the past, pal. Jey Uso and him couldn't see eye to eye,

23:16and he ultimately became a target of Drew, finally turning to his dark side.

23:21Yes, after making two big allies in Cody and Sami, World Heavyweight Champion at the time,

23:27Seth Freaking Rollins, joined them along with the returning Randy Orton to take on the purple and

23:33black squadron of the Judgment Day, which was wreaking hell on Monday Night Raw, who then also

23:39got Drew McIntyre on their side. Yes, the lines were drawn for Survivor Series War Games. In

23:46Chicago, Allstate Arena, packed crowd. He was successful for the second year in a row, and it

23:53also meant that he headlined four of the biggest premium live events in 2023, WrestleMania 39,

23:59Money in the Bank, Summerslam, and Survivor Series. Once he was done, Jey was a mainstay on

24:06Raw, one of the biggest stars by far, one of the most over guys by far. The reactions kept getting

24:12better every week, and he made his mission clear to become a singles champion for the first time

24:18in his career, to legitimize himself as his own man, not just his family's man, his own man.

24:25A little after Survivor Series, Jey Uso challenged Seth Rollins for the world title. He would lose,

24:32something that people expected, but it was a message that he was on a new level, a new trajectory,

24:38a new sense of momentum. In 2024, he was the number one entry in the men's Royal Rumble match.

24:45Brother was number two. He managed to last an impressive 50 minutes in the big all-star match

24:51before being eliminated by Gunther. This set the stage for an intercontinental title clash

24:57with the Ring General, which Jey would also lose. Jimmy Uso was the man tormenting his brother,

25:03holding him back, so it finally led to a highly anticipated brother versus brother match

25:08in the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia at WrestleMania 40. We've seen this before

25:14on the show of shows. Bret Hart and Owen Hart got to do this at WrestleMania 10.

25:18Matt versus Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania 25. So to have two of the most decorated tag team wrestlers

25:25in modern WWE history clash at WrestleMania, the expectations were through the roof.

25:31They would unfortunately turn in one of the biggest stains on Jey Uso's singles career,

25:35because the match between him and his brother Jimmy didn't go that well. Jey reportedly would

25:41blame it on the timing they got and what people thought could be a modern-day version of Bret

25:46Hart versus Owen Hart, and it turned out to be maybe just a flop. I don't know exactly. I was

25:52there. I had high expectations for it. And that's when the voices of some detractors started to show

25:58up, criticizing Jey Uso for being too gimmicky and not having any versatile moveset. He just

26:05hits people and kicks people. Who's the guy who's won a match with a super kick in WWE before,

26:11or a big splash off the top rope? I don't know. Probably a couple of Hall of Famers.

26:16But that, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of why social media

26:20and real life are two different realities. Because when you watch Money at Raw, Jey Uso's

26:25in-arena reactions are incredible and kept getting louder every single week. Yeet after yeet. On the

26:34Raw after WrestleMania 40, he would bounce back by pinning his rival Drew McIntyre to become the

26:40number one contender for the new World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest. Backlash 2024 in Lyon,

26:47France was a stage where Jey Uso had such an iconic entrance that the match itself is almost

26:56forgotten about. The entrance itself is something so aggrandizing. You got to match yourself to that.

27:03If you want to be a part of a Jey Uso entrance, you got to think, we got to beat that one time

27:08he was in Lyon and everybody lost their minds. It wasn't a bad match. Jey's entrance was so good,

27:13it almost kind of overshadowed it. That's just the way it was. It was right back to work at the

27:18next goal, being the King of the Ring. Jey Uso wasn't originally supposed to be a part of the

27:23tournament, but replaced Drew McIntyre when he declared that he was medically unfit to compete.

27:28Jey managed to make it to the semi-finals, beating both Finn Balor and Drunk Enough before losing out

27:35making his way to the finals to the man who would eventually win the entire tournament in Saudi

27:39Arabia, Gunther. Jey was a character that a lot of fans, both young and old, were emotionally

27:45invested in. A gimmick they cared about, a guy they cared about, a wrestler who connected with

27:50a lot of people over a wide spectrum of demographics. But he wasn't getting those singles wins,

27:57at least the ones that people would remember on these premium live events. Jey would focus on

28:02yet another goal, the Money in the Bank briefcase, and after that didn't work out, he was back in the

28:07mix for the IC Championship that was held by Braun Breaker, who was breaking out big after

28:13his successful run in NXT. He managed to get through a mini-tournament and set up a clash

28:18with the son of Rick Steiner, a man he looked at as nearly unstoppable in 2024. Braun Breaker was a

28:25hell of a guy to take on in this situation. The Intercontinental title clash on the 23rd of

28:30September in front of a huge, loud, raucous crowd on Monday Night Raw is a landmark moment for Jey

28:37Uso in his career. It was a few days shy of the fourth anniversary of his Universal Championship

28:43Clash match with Roman Reigns, a breakthrough moment in his career at that point. Would this

28:48be another breakthrough moment? This was the match that gave him his first major leap into

28:54single stardom, a chance to show he could be a guy to move a storyline. The most historic

29:01championship in WWE that he could get his hands on, he had a shot at it against a guy that everyone

29:08thought was the next Brock Lesnar in Braun Breaker. Getting the key spot of main eventing Monday Night Raw,

29:1520 minutes of TV time, absolutely bringing the crowd into the palms of their hands, breaking

29:22through outside of the ring barriers, jumping off the top rope, sucking the air out of the entire

29:29arena, kicking out at two and a half, Jey Uso would go to the top rope once more and boom, it happened.

29:39The yeet of the century, Jey Uso would become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. Online reviews

29:51for the match poured in, especially over on Cage Match, a great resource by the way, tip of the cap

29:55to them, with many people saying really good match for the IC title. This is the best Jey Uso has

30:01looked in a singles match in a long time. Another claiming this is one of their favorite Raw matches

30:07of the year. One more saying this match absolutely had no right to be this good, but certainly the

30:13culmination of years of hard work can be summed up in this one comment from one fan who gave it a

30:209 out of 10, declaring 14 long years, 6 previous singles titles to lose in opportunities. Finally,

30:31Jey Uso has won his championship. This wasn't just his first singles championship in WWE,

30:38this is the first singles championship in his entire pro wrestling career. He was once in the

30:44conversation of being the most worthy names of dethroning Roman Reigns, who had the world title

30:49in a completely different scenario. But he took the long path to finally get what he was gunning

30:58for. It may not be a WWE championship, but his win is going to continue to elevate the prestige

31:06of the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It puts Jey Uso's name in the same line

31:16as his cousin Roman Reigns, as Macho Man Randy Savage, Breath to Hitman Hart, Stone Cold Steve

31:24Austin, Shawn Michaels, we could go on. The crowd in Ontario, California went berserk for the first

31:31singles title win of Jey Uso. It felt like it was a long time coming, a magnificent emotional

31:38evocation of the audience. Yes, even his single story between September 2023 and 2024 has been

31:47incredible in and of itself, let alone a few years, let alone the last 14 years of his WWE career.

31:54The fact that it took so long is what makes it mean so much more, something I need to emphasize

32:00to those of you that get a little fickle, that lose your patience. The reaction he got wasn't

32:06some lightning in a bottle moment, it was something that was built to. It was the culmination

32:14of one of the best character arcs we've seen in a babyface in WWE in a long time. It's up there

32:22with what Cody Rhodes got at Wrestlemania. Whether he has a long or short reign with the Intercontinental

32:28title, it feels like one of the most deserved title wins we've seen in wrestling in quite some

32:34time. It's also going to go down as one of the top moments of 2024 in TV wrestling, one of the top

32:40moments in Jey Uso's career for sure. It looks like only it's going to be the start of something

32:45special, something new, a new chapter, a new title. Let's see what's next. Whether it's been a single

32:50star or a tag team star, Jey Uso's body of work in the last seven years has been absolutely incredible.

32:56I'm going to say it again, there's a place for him and his brother waiting in the Hall of Fame

32:59at the end of all of this. Hopefully he goes on and up from here. Maybe a world title is next.

33:05What do you think? How did you feel when Jey Uso won the title? Let us know in the comments below.

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