The curious case of Jey Uso is becoming more interesting with each passing week. The YEET Master has evolved from one of the most popular yet unidimensional and cartoonish characters on WWE TV over the past year into a complex and layered character, about whom fans have become unsure over the past few weeks.
Uso's evolution has been from a legendary tag team wrestler to a man resisting Roman Reigns and developing a singles pedigree, to acquiescing and becoming The Right Hand Man, and then going on to become his own man away from his family, away from Reigns and Jimmy Uso, winning singles gold, becoming the YEET man, winning the Royal Rumble and then the World Heavyweight Championship from Gunther at WrestleMania.
However, after he lost the World Heavyweight Title, he struggled to come to terms with losing the championship and not being able to regain the top spot. His ego is soaring high, his insecurities are showing, he is damaging a seemingly repaired relationship with Jimmy Uso, and he is looking for people to blame, whether it's CM Punk or LA Knight. In short, Uce is crashing out, and Jimmy, surprisingly, yet logically, is seemingly bringing out the worst in Jey.
Jey Uso is becoming someone he once hated, but he did acknowledge, and that is what spawned his singles run in the first place
This week on RAW, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes returned to the red brand to open the show. He was confronted by World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, and the two had an incredibly compelling exchange of words as they made sense of the past and the present, and staked their claim as the face of the company for the future.
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As the two world champions in WWE, with a rich shared past and yet a fresh and exciting dynamic, the build to the main event of WWE Crown Jewel potentially has "blockbuster" written all over them. However, Rhodes's presence on RAW also allowed another compelling dynamic to be explored: Cody and Jey.
The American Nightmare is the man who brought Jey Uso to RAW back in 2023. He gave Jey the chance not just to establish himself, but to redeem himself, and eventually, truly become "Main Event" Jey Uso.
Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes have been a major part of each other's story and journey to World Title glory
Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso not only won tag team gold together in 2023, but they also united inside WarGames, transforming from adversaries to trusted allies and great friends. In fact, after his loss to John Cena at WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes, after a month-long hiatus, made his return to save Jey Uso from Logan Paul and John Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event.
At Money in the Bank, they teamed up against Logan Paul and then-Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena. Bear in mind: Jey Uso was a champion then, and Cody wasn't. There was no insecurity and no lust, but the tables have now turned, and the situation is different. Interestingly, Uso lost his title to Gunther on the Monday Night RAW that followed MITB.
Anyway, then, they clashed on RAW a few weeks later in the semi-finals of the King of the Ring tournament, where the winner of the tourney also received a world title shot at SummerSlam. Cody won that match and went on to win the Undisputed WWE Championship back from John Cena at SummerSlam. Jey Uso, meanwhile, dealt with The Vision, teaming with CM Punk, Sami Zayn, and Roman Reigns at various points, with considerable conflict also arising.
With Reigns out injured following Clash in Paris, Zayn having moved to SmackDown, his contentious relationship with LA Knight deteriorating by the week, and him antagonising CM Punk following Roman Reigns' warnings, Jey Uso needed help, and it arrived in the form of his twin, Jimmy.
So, when Jimmy kept struggling to help Jey through his psychological troubles, Cody's presence last night prompted Big Jim to ask The American Nightmare to help.
What happened between Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes on this week's RAW?
This week on RAW, Cody Rhodes reaffirmed his faith in Jey Uso and attempted to help him through his feelings of perceived failure, whether it was against The Vision or his quest for title glory once again.
But Jey Uso is a man who has had a taste of what it feels like to be on top, and now he is obsessed. That means ego, arrogance, fractured relationships, talking down to Jimmy, and an insatiable thirst to return to the top and to stay there. There is no need to mention who that reminds us all of.
However, it is now manifesting itself into an utter lack of self-control. Last night on RAW, as Cody tried to help Jey through his troubles, Jey's focus kept drifting to something else: the Undisputed WWE Championship belt. He clearly does not care for fighting off The Vision, or winning tag team gold with his brother after years, or even teaming up with his brother at all.
In fact, perhaps, he looks at the prospect of winning tag team gold, especially alongside Jimmy, beneath him; not just beneath him, a reminder of a past he is ashamed of.
He does not want advice; he does not seek counsel. All he wants now is a World Title around his waist. If that cannot be the World Heavyweight Championship, then it might as well be the Undisputed WWE Championship.
Clearly, relationships, ethics, and morality are dwindling priorities for Jey Uso, and his ambition and desperation are leading him down a dark path. Jimmy Uso's arrival only seems to have exacerbated that, and Jimmy's warnings and, in fact, betrayal of Jey Uso, seem to now actually make a lot of sense. Here's what he had said to Jey while explaining his actions at SummerSlam 2023:
“'Jimmy betrayed Jey because he’s jealous.' I did what I did at SummerSlam not because of jealousy, Uce. You really wanna know? Man, I was afraid. Alright. I was afraid to lose you… I would never be able to live Uce if I let you and watch you become an egotistical, lying, manipulative a**hole like Roman Reigns."
Well, perhaps, Jimmy did, in fact, know his brother and how his family operates better than fans who criticised that turn from a booking standpoint. His explanation had been followed by Jey taking out Roman, superkicking Jimmy, and quitting WWE, before Cody Rhodes brought him over to RAW. And now, all of this may mark a pivotal point in the lives of all these characters if Jey ends up turning heel on Cody, perhaps at Crown Jewel.
Jey may move back to SmackDown, targeting Rhodes and the WWE Championship. Given WWE's track record of mishandling storylines involving these characters, it could be one of the best stories WWE has told over the past few years. Jey Uso's tale initially seemed to be one about breaking free from his family's traditional ways, becoming his own man, achieving wonders no one ever imagined, and doing it all with a smile on his face, YEETing as he became the quintessential underdog babyface of the modern era.
Now, however, it has taken on a completely different direction: that of a man for whom family is nothing but a past legacy he needs to not only uphold and protect, but also surpass. Why? To satiate his own ego. It has become a tale of insatiable desire, unchecked ambition, and a tragedy of hubris. It has become a tale of history repeating itself; of Uso falling much like Roman Reigns did, due to pride, arrogance, and selfishness in the name of family.