Look, Jey Uso is a great professional wrestler and deserves his spot on the WWE WrestleMania 41 card. The internet era of wrestling fandom has adopted the tradition of complaining about one or two super popular (or infamous on the heel side) talents on the Road to WrestleMania.
The last several years have had an added bit of tradition, which is usually about Gunther’s opponent. Sami Zayn was a better choice than Chad Gable, and Jey Uso is a better choice than AJ Styles or the various other names pitched online.
When you look at what it takes to be a pro wrestler, there is really no way not to come to another conclusion.
YEET!!!#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/VIU3nG4jcz
— WWE (@WWE) February 2, 2025
While lost to the ancient internet circa 2016, WWE legend William Regal gave some great wrestling advice in a lengthy post. The full text is still floating around but to summarize it all into four points for easy reading, consider these the top-line tips to follow.
First, you need to be a student of the industry. Secondly, be great at what you are great at; own what you are not.
Next, you should make everything you do matter to the fans. Lastly, try to be a one-off.
Born and Bred for Pro Wrestling
The student of the game advice has been uttered in vain by grumpy veterans, but it is true. The best in the business know the business very well.
That doesn’t mean they are lifelong fans; they just put in the time to see what has worked and hasn’t worked in the past. There are very few exceptions to this rule, and the people who didn’t do that are often only in the industry for a quick stint before moving on.
Jey Uso and his whole family grew up in wrestling history. In the videos Regal would recommend, Jey had front-row seats and backstage access. Nepotism is undoubtedly a fraught topic in the workplace.
That being said, for the wrestling industry, it comes with perks. While Jey may not remind people of his famous family, seeing them for decades has clearly informed the way he built this current persona, and it has found the success that many of his family have over the past decades.
There are No Limiting Factors to Greatness
In addition to his advice about mastering the basics in the ring and practicing promos and character work, William Regal emphasizes that every wrestler will be bad at something. It is legion among the most vocal on X and other apps to highlight those areas, and Regal advises wrestlers to do the opposite. If you are not good at something, don’t do it.
Jey’s limited move set is likely the result of his mastery of that advice. If you have only a handful of high-impact moves, then those are the ones that you use. Even his opponent, Gunther, while more likely to use a variety of maneuvers, cuts very rudimentary promos of the “I am a wrestling master” variety.
His attempt at using class and privilege was an unmitigated disaster saved by the matches between him and Damian Priest. Every great wrestler does what they know works best whenever they are performing, which is why they always get a reaction.
A story doesn’t need to be long, or even very good. A good wrestler will make it make sense, even if it doesn’t. That is something both Jey and Gunther excel at in different ways.
Jey Uso is a Great Professional Wrestler; Ask the Crowd.
There isn’t a move in the proverbial toolbox that matters if the crowd doesn’t care about you. The annals of wrestling history are full of talented wrestlers who had everything you needed when the bell rang, but nobody cared by the time their matches started.
There have even been recent examples of often-overlooked stars like Ricochet adding a smarmy character and instantly finding more success in AEW. Jey Uso is a great professional wrestler because no matter how many moves he has in his moveset, the fans are excited to see them, excited to see him.
Getting people to care about you is one of the more challenging aspects of wrestling. The promotion determines the stories you tell, and the matches you win or lose are similarly not your call. Jey Uso has had some fortunate runs in his career, no doubt, but has also been handed some terrible ideas.
That hasn’t blunted his rise up the card though because, each time out, he makes the fans interested. Some of that is natural but, as Regal indicates, not everyone has that “Elvis” aura.
Jey has been around a long time, so it isn’t a natural phenomenon. It is a deliberate decision every time out to maximize his minutes by engaging with the crowd, not performing for them.
Can You Use it in A Sentence?
What is Yeet? It seems, like aloha, to shift meaning in different contexts. Fans can exclaim it when Jey meets his opponent out of the ring to win the Royal Rumble, then use it to agree with a friend or welcome another person into a conversation.
An inordinate amount of time is being spent on the “overreliance” on Yeet in the Jey Uso character. Like Rusev before him, the internet feels that the word is over and not the wrestler. They are half correct.
Yeet is very much over. That is because nobody in the company, or all of wrestling, can use it like Jey. It is a fresh gimmick in an industry that can get stale at a moment’s notice.
He connects with audiences and has proven himself to be a great professional wrestler on his own because you can’t pin Jey Uso into a specific character. You can describe him easily, of course, in just one word, really. That description, though, is totally unique, and the gimmick hasn’t been used by anybody else, let alone somebody better.
There have been wrestlers who dance, and there is an active wrestler with the same look and moves as Jey, who isn’t nearly as over right now. Being a Samoan wrestler isn’t unique.
His dad, Rikishi, was even a dancing Samoan wrestler. The Yeet-afication of Jey is what sets him apart; it describes his essence while leaving room for development.
The Company Line for Why Jey Uso is a Great Professional Wrestler
Fans correctly point out that they do not care about certain metrics that WWE or AEW might consider when pushing a wrestler. For many folks, the company designation is not relevant to assessing a performer. It would not be right, though, to ignore the very real reason why WWE sees Jey Uso as a great professional wrestler.
He brings in a ton of money in merchandise. He sells out his appearances at Fanatics events. Basically, Jey is making a profit for them.
Like it or not, money is, and always will be, the business side’s top priority, and they will reward the stars that provably expand their revenue with prominent spots to keep them happy and focused on the brand.
Meet me in the big apple on 3/10.
YEET!
Jey https://t.co/488J6J3Wy5— The Usos (@WWEUsos) March 5, 2025
The Last Word from a Legendary Voice
William Regal attributed this last bit of advice to the late great Roddy Piper. The Rowdy One said, “Always wrestle from your heart. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Don’t play at pro wrestling.”
You can see when an athlete is technically gifted. You can also see when a good actor is talking to the audience. It is hard to know when a wrestler locks in because, at that point, he is 100% real despite Jey’s crazy outfits and the silliness of the character.
Perhaps, actually, it is because of those things. Jey handled himself phenomenally in The Bloodline. Working with family had everyone perform at their best.
He was performing, though, in a way that Sami Zayn or Roman Reigns were not. Since going alone, Jey has stopped playing as a wrestler. He seems like his authentic self, and it worked to his great benefit.
WWE has plenty of talented guys that I still don’t believe. They may have the OMG move of the night, but they won’t ever have the lasting moment fans remember forever. Being the guy who can illicit that moment is the only mark of a great wrestler that matters.
Yeet.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – WWE – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on Jey Uso, WWE WrestleMania 41, and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.
You can check out WWE programming on Netflix (Raw), USA Network (SmackDown), The CW (NXT), Tubi (WWE Evolve), A&E (WWE Superstar Sunday – Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and Peacock (WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on YouTube, and catch fast-paced action on X (WWE Speed).
