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Roman Reigns is currently involved in one of the most compelling WWE storylines of his career.
After winning the WWE Universal Championship in a Triple Threat match against The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman at WWE Payback, Roman Reigns found out on the September 4, 2020 episode of WWE SmackDown that his own cousin, Jey Uso, would be his first challenger for the title.
Since then, Roman Reigns has made it his mission to ensure that Jey Uso acknowledges him as The Tribal Chief of their family.
During their main event at WWE Clash of Champions, Jey Uso repeatedly refused to refer to the Universal Champion by that name. In the end, Jey’s injured twin brother, Jimmy Uso, threw in the towel and sprawled his own body across Jey to stop Roman Reigns from hurting his brother and tag team partner even more.
Now, with the much-anticipated title rematch set to take place at WWE Hell in a Cell, let’s count down five things that you might not know about both Roman Reigns and Jey Uso.
#5 Jey Uso was the first WWE Superstar to pin Roman Reigns
On the September 23, 2013 episode of WWE RAW, all three members of The Shield had to compete in an 11-on-3 handicap elimination match against the following Superstars: Daniel Bryan, Darren Young, Dolph Ziggler, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Justin Gabriel, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Rob Van Dam, Titus O'Neil, and Zack Ryder.
The match took place 10 months after Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins debuted on WWE’s main roster at Survivor Series 2012.
The Shield racked up lots of high-profile victories during those 10 months and it was rare that they suffered defeats, either as individuals or as a trio.
Heading into the handicap match, Roman Reigns had not lost via pinfall in any kind of match on WWE television.
That impressive statistic came to an end midway through the chaotic multi-man match when Daniel Bryan knocked Ambrose and Rollins off the ring apron before landing a series of dropkicks on Roman Reigns.
Jimmy Uso then hit Roman Reigns with a superkick, setting up Jey Uso to connect with a splash.
With Ambrose and Rollins recovering at ringside, Jey pinned Roman Reigns to eliminate him from the match.
#4 Jey Uso made Roman Reigns cry early on in their WWE careers
In 2011, Roman Reigns was still an up-and-coming rookie in WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental system. Meanwhile, Jey Uso had already started appearing on WWE’s main roster alongside two of his family members, Jimmy Uso and Tamina Snuka.
Speaking to CBS Sports in 2017, Roman Reigns recalled an emotional conversation that he had with Jey Uso around that period of time.
During a late-night dinner at a restaurant, Jey Uso asked Roman Reigns to give him details on how he would book his own FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship win.
Roman Reigns admitted that he broke down in tears because he knew he was too inexperienced to know how to succeed in WWE at that moment.
“I just wasn't on that level with him, and it kind of broke me down because I felt like I wasn't going to learn fast enough and become what I should be and what my family needed me to be. I think the pressure and just the emotion of that made me crack that night.”
For the record, Roman Reigns never held the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship. He did, however, win the FCW Florida Tag Team titles with Mike Dalton (better known as Tyler Breeze).
#3 Jey Uso wants to reunite with Roman Reigns
In storyline, Jey Uso has made it clear that he does not feel comfortable acknowledging Roman Reigns as The Tribal Chief of their family.
However, in reality, the six-time WWE Tag Team Champion has mentioned in media interviews that he would love to reunite with Roman Reigns and form a faction with him again in WWE one day.
Speaking to talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy in September 2020, Jey Uso said he would also like to turn heel in order to join forces with Roman Reigns.
“The Bloodline will come on and off. That will always be there. But imagine us running that thing full-blown – and I would love to be heel – a heel faction. Hell yeah, bro! I wanna see some Samoan Swat Team 2.0 type of things, man. It’s written by itself, right?”
As Jey Uso said, The Usos and Roman Reigns (aka The Bloodline) have teamed up on several occasions over the last few years.
Their most notable run together as WWE allies came in 2016 when they battled against AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows after WrestleMania 32.
#2 The Usos were told they looked too similar to Roman Reigns
Two months after The Usos and Roman Reigns finished their storyline with AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows, the 2016 WWE Draft separated The Bloodline between RAW and SmackDown.
Roman Reigns became involved in a United States Championship storyline on RAW with Rusev while The Usos moved to SmackDown and continued to perform as babyfaces.
Jey and Jimmy Uso’s run as good guys on the blue brand did not last for long. Within two months of the brand split, they turned heel by attacking Chad Gable and Jason Jordan.
Speaking on The New Day’s Feel The Power podcast, Jey Uso revealed that their original heel attire – black clothes with white shoes – had to be changed because it made them look too similar to Roman Reigns.
“Obviously, for the heel change, we needed to change everything, but they were saying when they had first seen us working in all black, it was like, 'You guys look too much like Roman. Don't look like Roman.' 'Man, who the hell else are we supposed to look like? We're in the same gene pool, uce.'” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
To avoid wearing similar ring gear to Roman Reigns, The Usos began to mix up their color scheme by wearing combinations of red, white and black, among other colors.
#1 Roman Reigns and Jey Uso’s promos are unscripted
Plenty of former WWE Superstars have complained about their promos being overly scripted, but that is definitely not the case with the Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso storyline.
In an interview on the Gorilla Position podcast, Jey Uso confirmed that the majority of the promos between himself and Roman Reigns on WWE SmackDown are unscripted.
“In terms of what I’m saying and what he is saying, not a lot [is scripted]. I am reacting to what he is saying because they can’t write our promos. They can’t write how he feels about me and how I feel about him.” [H/T WrestlingNews.Co]
Jey Uso added that WWE’s decision-makers know that both he and Roman Reigns can be trusted to deliver unscripted promos, which is why they are not given much direction before they speak on camera.
“We got to the level where they trust us and let us do our thing. It feels good to finally get to that level where they took the chains off us.”
The WWE Universal Championship challenger also admitted that he never expected to be involved in a storyline with Roman Reigns.
Although he does not know for certain, Jey said he suspects Vince McMahon came up with the idea and suggested it to the rest of WWE’s creative team.
