There aren’t many people on WWE’s roster more over right now than Jey Uso. The legendary tag team wrestler and former member of The Bloodline has really connected with fans as a singles performer, to the point where he’s now got arguably the most popular entrance in the entire business and is one of the company’s top merchandise sellers. He’s been rewarded for that popularity with consistent television time, but if you ask his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, that doesn’t mean he’s being used correctly.
For the past few weeks, Jey Uso has been seen flirting a bit with the newly returned Rhea Ripley. This has led to some obvious jealousy from her companion Dominik Mysterio, and it’s led to some random matches on Raw fans have been into. But the whole thing doesn’t sit right with Rikishi, who thinks the writers should be giving his son better storylines and more specifically, something that doesn’t involve his love life. Here’s a portion of his quote, which can be heard during an interview on his podcast Rikishi Fatu Off The Top…
SummerSlam. Where is Yeet? Let’s go. I dunno. Let’s write him in (that) he likes Mamí. Mamí? That’s the best those writers got? Let’s write this guy into a relationship with Mamí? What ya’ll trying to do? Break his marriage up? Ya’ll can’t put him in a good storyline so whatchu gonna do now? God forbid you guys try to tell (them) to tongue kiss each other on Raw. Shit, that better not happen.
Now, I’m never going to come down on a father for wanting the best for his son, and in this case, it’s also hard not to concede there’s at least a bit of Yeet in what he’s saying. For all of Jey Uso’s exploding popularity, he’s still taken a lot of losses in high profile matches over the past year or so, and he hasn’t been rewarded with any singles titles. Typically getting this over with fans is rewarded in a more concrete way than we’ve seen, and as of right now, it does seem like Jey is being used as high profile enhancement talent to help tell the Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio storyline, rather than getting his own storyline. I get why that’s frustrating.
But on the other hand, it’s also hard not to look into the future and see how likely things are to change. There’s a very real chance that Roman Reigns, the biggest modern star in the wrestling business, is going to return in less than two weeks at SummerSlam, and when he does, it’ll almost certainly be to set up a feud with Uso’s brother Solo Sikoa. When that happens, it’ll probably turn pretty quickly into a New Bloodline vs Old Bloodline feud that’ll very prominently feature Jey Uso and potentially a returning Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but based on how much fans loved The Bloodline’s earlier work leading into WrestleMania 40, there’s a distinct chance this could be one of the hottest stories in the history of wrestling.
So, yeah, the most important thing for Jey Uso is almost certainly to be a part of that storyline, his family’s storyline, that is probably going to enter a new phase in the near future. And when he joins that storyline, it’s going to be easier for everyone involved if he doesn’t have any dangling threads in the form of feuds with other people or titles he needs to defend. It’s better for him and everyone else if he’s focused on the Civil War in his family, not partially focused on that and partially focused on defending The Intercontinental Championship against people with no connection to The Bloodline.
Wrestling is about timing, and winning championships especially is about timing. Jey Uso is popular enough to be at least a mid-card champion right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right move for him or his character. I suspect he’s acting as a supporting player in other people’s storylines because there’s a bigger Bloodline-related story that’s about to begin. The fact that he’s still getting TV time and getting TV time alongside the most popular performers on the roster is a sign of how much WWE values him, but at the same time, I can see why Rikishi is annoyed and waiting for something else. Fingers crossed whatever comes next is worth it.
