IWC Scum — From YEET to YEESH: Studying the Downfall of Jey’s Rise to the Top
Welcome back to the column that puts the incessant whining and complaining in IWC. I’m a simpleton named SkitZ who seeks only to satisfy his most primal of urges. Not those type you sickos. This isn’t an AEW think piece.
When I joined NoDQ around 10 months ago, my very first column focused on defending Jey Uso after he received so much pushback across social media for winning the Royal Rumble. We’re now about to turn the calendar to 2026, and his future as a headliner is more up in the air than these fans who can’t decide whether they wanna YEET or tweet critique the man. Jey remains undefeated against every audience he’s performed for as a singles star, yet he still can’t win over the internet. Sheesh, what a difference a year can make in breaking the momentum of a beloved crowd pleaser.
In the spirit of playing both sides of the fence, I’ll pose a question for my smarky, all-knowing self to dissect: where exactly did things start to go sideways with Jey Uso?
I’d say in early February after he shockingly won the Royal Rumble. That was the first noticeable shift in the tide turning against Jey. Fans were riding the wave of John Cena’s chase to a historic 17th World Title, as well as CM Punk’s pursuit of finally main-eventing a WrestleMania. Meanwhile, Uso coasted into the PLE having nearly dethroned Gunther just a week earlier; the most recent in a string of close calls for Jey. It felt like 50% of the IWC wanted Cena to win the Rumble, while the other 50% were rooting for Punk, which left the eventual winner in an unfavorable position moving forward. Once Jey punched his ticket to Las Vegas and fans assumed either Punk or Cena would be bumped from one of the two headlining matches at WM41, people immediately took to discrediting WWE’s resident hype man:
“He’s just a catchphrase and an entrance. Yeah Jey is super over, but that doesn’t mean he should be a top guy. The dude literally has three moves. Jey Uso versus Gunther or Cody isn’t worthy of main-eventing WrestleMania. He stunk up the joint against his twin brother the year prior. If it wasn’t for The Bloodline, Jey wouldn’t even be getting this opportunity. It’s an absolute insult having Gunther drop the belt to Lil’ Roman.”
And the negativity just mounted from there, like the dislikes on WWE’s YouTube page every time Jey beats a less polarizing fan favorite. Reigns’ former righthand man didn’t do a particularly great job handling the pressure either. He went from being asked to say very little of substance to suddenly standing alone in the ring cutting promos at the start of RAW every week, struggling to catch his breath after yeeting from the nosebleeds. The magnitude of the moment clearly got to Jey as the Road to WrestleMania went along, which caused concern amongst Trips & Co. and created doubt as to if he even deserved to beat Gunther. The fact that we had seen the two wrestle multiple times previously, as well as the overall lack of excitement towards WM41, only served to pour more gasoline on the fan-fueled wildfires.
Jey and Gunther’s showdown in Allegiant Stadium somehow ended up being their weakest match in terms of quality, and a lot of fans did not take kindly to The Ring General tapping out. It didn’t feel believable. Jey making Gunther submit to his own move, and in such quick fashion felt like quite the stretch. You compare that World Heavyweight Title bout to the quality of the men and women’s triple threats, and it’s no wonder why Jey and Gunther went on first. That bullshit was nearly as lackluster as Cody and Cena’s first rodeo.
After becoming one of the few men to defeat Gunther in WWE, World Champ Jey Uso should have been the focal point of RAW following WrestleMania 41. He wasn’t though. The formation of Seth and Heyman’s faction took center stage, while Jey continued to YEET his little lungs out as more of a sideshow act. And while I suspected Uso’s reign wouldn’t be a lengthy one, the company’s decision to end it after only 7 weeks gave the impression that they were already pulling the plug on the Jey Uso trial run. It felt like a sudden course correction of getting the belt back on Gunther – and ultimately Rollins – as soon as possible.
Some of the blame falls on the company’s shoulders, because the direction of Jey’s character since SummerSlam has drew more criticism than McIntyre’s feud with Rhodes. From beefing indefinitely with The Vision to getting pulled back into the Bloodline family drama, letting Roman bend his ear again, being a dick to his brother Jimmy, teasing a heel turn but not committing, losing big match after big match, throwing temper tantrums, and then suffering a full mental breakdown that lasted a whopping 7 days.
They’ve put this poor man through the ringer over the course of 2025. It reminds me of when a hit TV series buzzsaws one of their main characters through a dozen different storylines within too short of a timespan, and the only direction left is to kill the character off after whoring them out. The audience is so overwhelmed and confused that they eventually become desensitized to the manner in which said character is written into the show.
I occasionally catch myself missing quiet, brooding Jey Uso who relied more on facial expressions, and thrived on emoting the internal struggle of the moment whenever he was at a difficult crossroads. Fun-loving babyface Jey has proven to be a hot commodity over the past few years, don’t get me wrong. It’s elevated the 2025 Rumble winner to new heights in his career, yet that kind of character also comes with limitations. There’s no future for that version of him in terms of continuing to win at a high level and racking up World Championships. You can’t knock the formula, because the reaction is explosive every time his music hits. I watched the Kansas City crowd on hand for RAW lose their goddamn minds when The Usos came out. Parents in the audience were passing their children right over to Jey without a second thought. The whole venue was rocking. White folks were making fools of themselves. It’s contagious.
And then there are instances like what happened at Wargames, where Jey’s yeeting atop the cage in the middle of what’s supposed to be the most brutal match of the year. WWE however is only worried about creating a scene that’s gonna go viral; not that it’s a bad look for Jey all around. Haters are just lying in the weeds waiting to pounce at this point. Every botch or miscue suddenly becomes magnified because people are hellbent on breaking the dude down, even though everybody on the roster flubs a move here and there. I’ve read weird takes where fans have accused Jey of pulling a Jeff Hardy and showing up to work under the influence. Or claimed he’s crashing out mid-match after screwing up a spot when the guy’s actually just selling. Any nitpicky reason to pile on and try to bury Jey.
It feels like the vast majority of fans view Uso as a very popular midcard act who can occasionally flirt with the main event, but nothing beyond that. The IWC is all for bumping along to his song and dance shtick, so long as he’s opening the show or chasing lesser goals such as becoming the Intercontinental Champion. Jey seemingly went from having no ceiling a year ago to fans placing him in a box shaped around his perceived potential and skillset. Parameters that Uso has outperformed at times, but not consistently enough in the eyes of many pundits.
Will his rise to the top be remembered as one big fat failed experiment? Would you go as far as to deem it a colossal failure? Or is the vitriol aimed at ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso overly harsh and unwarranted? I honestly don’t think you can hate on his workrate. These Samoans are bred to deliver the goods when that bell rings, and Jey’s contributed to his fair share of bangers this year. Once you start placing him next to the likes of Punk, Seth, Roman and Cody however, that’s where the gap in character work and delivery becomes glaring.
If Jey’s WrestleMania push had gone as well as Hunter hoped, I have no doubt Uso would be the one facing John Cena in his final match this weekend. What better way to bookend 2025 than by beginning it with their interaction at the Royal Rumble, and then following that with The GOAT putting over the company’s next cash cow in his last match? Unfortunately, Jey’s lost so much steam over the past 12 months that winning the LTIN tournament and facing Cena would’ve still put him in a lose-lose situation. Uso struggled to step up and sufficiently fill the role, and Triple H wasted no time in circling back to Mr. Reliable (Gunther duh). Oh and just in case you needed clarification that WWE was waving the white flag on Jey’s checkered run atop the company, look no further than The Usos recently announcing their return to the tag team division.
To renew their old rivalry with New Day apparently, which has me contemplating who had the more disappointing World Title reign – Kofi or Jey? I’m inclined to say the latter, and that’s with taking Brock’s public execution of Kingston into account. I suppose this means The Usos will be competing for tag team gold when WWE returns to Las Vegas? That certainly wasn’t on my WrestleMania bingo card a couple weeks ago. Not only did Jey’s spot on the depth chart just drop dramatically, but as far as capturing another World Championship goes, it just isn’t in the cards given how his first run unfolded.
I by no means am saying that ‘Main Event’ Jey Uso is dead and gone forever. As far as making his massive push feel like a fluke wrapped inside a creative miscalculation though? The damage is done I’m afraid. Whether it’s his own cousin or the current #1 contender to the Heavyweight Title, WWE has painted the picture that Jey can’t hang with the company’s top dogs. He’s yesterday’s news, while names like Bron Breakker have become front page material in the meantime. The fact that Jey Uso reached the level he did is crazy and super commendable, but going from the highest of highs at WM41 to a major demotion by December is crazy work. Maybe this is just a slight detour to avoid him receiving the same treatment that Reigns initially experienced from the masses. Or perhaps there’s another name set to be pushed to the moon in the New Year. Someone who possesses more of that Megastar mojo and momentum, despite all the L’s he keeps eating…