After 28 short days, Jey Uso‘s Intercontinental Title run is over as quickly as it began. However, it would be a crime to condense Jey’s reign into the single title defense he had and a few promos.
In fact, Jey’s 28 days with the strap may have been the most important 28 days in the development of multiple characters, including Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, and his former tag team partner, Jimmy Uso.
This is how a title reign, as short as it may be, can successfully be used as a plot device in a years-long story.
Coming up Short and Constant Manipulation
Before the September 23 episode of Monday Night Raw, when he won the belt, Jey Uso’s singles career was defined by falling short in big moments, losing all seven of his previous singles championship matches. These included three defeats to Roman Reigns, which became a recurring theme in Jey’s story.
Because of his initial shortcomings to Roman in the Fall of 2020, Jey became Roman’s Right Hand Man, standing by his side for nearly the next three years until his brother, Jimmy, superkicked Roman, ending their partnership.
During this period, Roman manipulated the Usos to do his bidding, which included taking out all challengers to his Universal Title and keeping a stranglehold on the Tag Team Championships, which they held for a record-setting 622 days.
Through these three years, Jey Uso was only allowed to wrestle 25 singles matches, none of which were for a championship and almost all of which were to weaken Roman’s challengers.
Despite Reigns being on top for the better part of four years and not letting anyone sniff his gold, the underlying story of Jey’s potential breakout always lingered. Jey was often given the featured spot in tag matches and usually the pinfall win.
Of course, Jey’s character worked like gangbusters, especially during his feud-turned-friendship-turned-feud with Sami Zayn, with whom he shows tremendous chemistry.
These made Jey a fan-favorite and even led to him handing Reigns his first pinfall loss in a tag team match at Money in the Bank 2023.
There was always a singles star in Jey Uso waiting to strike. The only problem was that the Tribal Chief would not let that star come out on his watch.
Family Woes
Once Jey freed himself from the shackles of Reigns’ manipulation and left the Bloodline on the June 16, 2023, edition of SmackDown, he was fast-tracked right back to a feud with Reigns, facing him for the Universal Title a third time at that year’s SummerSlam.
However, despite thinking he was in the clear, Jey was betrayed by the person he least expected, his very own brother, Jimmy.
Despite being a widely panned move then and now, Jimmy’s heel turn on his brother encapsulated an overall problem with Jey: he could not get his big break due to others meddling in his business.
This was not only a problem when he was hunting for singles gold but extended to his tag team escapades as well.
After winning the Tag Team Championships with Cody Rhodes from the Judgement Day at Fastlane, Jey and Cody lost them right back to Finn Balor and Damian Priest due to yet another run-in from Jimmy.
This pattern continued on the February 19, 2024, edition of Raw, when Jey lost a match for Gunther‘s Intercontinental Title, yet again due to interference from Jimmy.
That marked five opportunities at gold for Jey, including his Hell in a Cell loss to Reigns in 2020 and an earlier loss to Austin Theory for the United States Title, which ended due to outside interference, all from his own flesh and blood.
In other words, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa went out of their way to make sure Jey remained a loser for as long as possible.
Some People Change, Others Don’t
Following Jimmy’s loss to Jey at WrestleMania 40 and Jimmy’s exile from the Bloodline, Jey ventured into singles competition. Although Jey experienced both success and failure, he was frequently labeled as WWE’s “nearly man.”
While he reached the semi-finals of the King of the Ring tournament and secured a World Heavyweight Title match against Damian Priest at Backlash France, he often fell short of major victories.
However, on September 23, Jey’s fortunes changed, much to the displeasure of the Bloodline.
While Jey fought to establish himself on Raw, the Bloodline underwent a transformation. Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were no longer in leadership roles. Solo Sikoa assumed the mantle of Tribal Chief, supported by Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu.
This new Bloodline wreaked havoc on the SmackDown roster for months, even getting the upper hand on Reigns a few times, leading him to enlist the help of former rival Cody Rhodes.
Just twelve days after Jey’s title victory over Bron Breakker, Jimmy Uso returned from a six-month absence at Bad Blood, aligning with Roman to combat the New Bloodline. With Jimmy back, Roman hoped to reunite Jey with the family.
However, the Jey Uso that Roman had once manipulated was gone. Jey, now the Intercontinental Champion, had become independent, thriving as a singles competitor for the first time in his career.
Despite his newfound independence, Jey couldn’t escape the looming family drama, especially with Jimmy’s return and The Rock’s looming presence. On the October 14 episode of Raw, Jimmy attempted to reconcile with Jey, but Jey rejected his brother’s overture.
Jimmy’s actions were independent of Roman, who had no interest in reconciling with Jey due to their tumultuous past.
However, brothers will always have a bond, which was demonstrated further when Jey returned to SmackDown on October 18 to check in on the Bloodline Civil War.
Confronting Solo Sikoa for the first time since WrestleMania 40, Jey stared into the eyes of a man mad with power, trying desperately to convince him not to break up the family yet again, using his newly-won Intercontinental Title as an example of how he was thriving by himself.
At the same time, Reigns and Jimmy were not used to Jey having his own success.
Desperately needing him to return to their side, Reigns decided to take matters into his own hands, telling Jey for the first time that he was proud of him, which was duly met by a “No Yeet” from Jey.
As it stands, Roman telling Jimmy he’s proud of him could mean one of two things.
Either Roman was trying out one of his old manipulation tactics again, in which he would shower Jey with fake compliments to keep him as a loyal servant, or he had genuinely turned a leaf and realized he would need to connect with Jey on a more personal level if he wanted a chance to reconcile with him.
This is where that shiny leather strap comes into play. For almost half a decade, Reigns was the one with the gold, often two belts simultaneously, with Jimmy and Jey doing whatever possible to stay in his good graces.
This time, however, Jey held the belt and the power, with Roman trying to butter him up and get on his good side. In many ways, Jey Uso was the one in charge, and Roman Reigns now knew what it felt like to be given the short end of the stick.
Sure enough, in the main event segment of SmackDown, when Reigns and Jimmy were getting battered by the New Bloodline, Jey was nowhere to be found.
He abandoned his family just like how they abandoned him for the last year, giving them a taste of his own medicine. Now the man with the title, and thus, the responsibilities, it was back to Raw for the Yeeted One and a rematch with Breakker for the IC Belt.
Familiarity Breeds Contempt, and a Crossroads
Unfortunately, Jey Uso learned the hard way that some things never change.
During his rematch with Breakker, Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu made a cross-promotional trip to Raw to interfere, ultimately costing Jey his match and the title with the help of Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, making Breakker a two-time IC Champ and Jey once again titleless.
This leaves Jey Uso at a crossroads. He went to Raw following WrestleMania 40 to escape the Bloodline, and for a moment, he thought he finally did it. Whatever was happening on SmackDown didn’t matter to him, as he was on Raw with his friends, yeeting until the cows came home.
In some ways, Jey’s repeated pursuit of a singles championship felt like not only a way to prove himself as a standalone superstar but also a way to give him a full-time excuse to be away from his family on SmackDown.
Unfortunately, family ties are too strong to break, and with Jimmy’s return and Solo’s power getting to his head, a reunion of the Original Bloodline consisting of Roman Reigns and the Usos may be in order.
Jey Uso tried to break apart from his family, but his Intercontinental Title could only get him so far. In the end, what Jey’s 28 days with the belt and subsequent loss taught him was that family is a bond stronger than any piece of leather can hold.
Despite only holding the Intercontinental Title for less than a month, those 28 days gave Jey exactly what he needed; a reason to reconcile with his family to fight the bigger evil.
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