Jey Uso is the new world heavyweight champion. Uso defeated Gunther in the opening match of WrestleMania 41 on Saturday night, making good on the opportunity he received by winning the Royal Rumble in January.
The win is the culmination of a build that began for Uso in 2020, a year where he broke through as a viable singles star in the crowdless ThunderDome period of the early COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Uso was going one-on-one with his cousin Roman Reigns and earned the moniker “Main Event Jey Uso.” Uso’s popularity continued to grow through periods both aligned with and fighting against Reigns and The Bloodline.
After winning the Rumble, Uso set his sights on Gunther, a man who had defeated him in a February 2024 match for the intercontinental championship, a May 2024 match in the King of the Ring tournament, and again in January when Gunther was able to successfully defend his world heavyweight championship. Uso chose a match with Gunther over one with undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes to prove he could defeat one of the most dominant men on the WWE roster.
As expected from such a big match on the WrestleMania stage, both Uso and Gunther repeatedly hit their best moves but were unable to put the other away. Uso kicked out of Gunther’s powerbomb, survived being hit with the championship belt and fought off a sleeper hold to continually frustrate the champion. Down the stretch, Uso called on Gunther to continue firing his heavy chops and strikes, even laughing as Gunther brutalized him.
After countering a Gunther powerbomb with a powerbomb of his own, Uso took to the top rope to hit his Uso Splash three times before locking Gunther in a sleeper and forcing Gunther to tap out.
Uso won the biggest match of his life on the biggest stage of them all and his name is now etched into history as a world champion. While celebrating his victory, Uso was joined by his twin brother Jimmy as the pair basked in the moment.
WWE legend Paul Heyman recently talked to CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri and shared his thoughts on why Uso is a man who can be trusted to carry one of the two biggest title belts in the company, and why some of the disappointment over the build to the match between Uso and Gunther expressed by fans should be brushed off.
“Tell me the criteria, the metric, the analytic, or the economic basis by which this criticism is levied on Jey Uso,” Heyman said. “Here is information that I, your Wise Man, am privy to. Quarter-hour ratings: Jey Uso goes through the roof. Minute-by-minute ratings: Jey Uso goes through the roof. T-shirt sales online; Jey Uso, either number one or number two, consistently since even before the Royal Rumble. In-arena t-shirt sales; Jey Uso, number one or number two, consistently, with very few dates that are exceptions to the rule since before the Royal Rumble.
“When people say, ‘Jey Uso has been kind of a letdown. The reaction when he won the Rumble was good, but then it simmered down.’ Really? By what metric? He’s driving numbers, he’s moving revenue, he’s a commerce facilitator. He’s selling tickets. He is bringing in revenue to a company that is publicly traded and therefore, with that revenue and gross revenue and net revenue, the stock goes up. Where has he not scored? Those who say he has not scored or has been disappointing or is less than he was at the Royal Rumble, do not know what the f— they are talking about.”