Roman Reigns’ feud with his cousin Jey Uso not only helped turn the tag team specialist into a singles star, it fueled Roman’s excellent turnaround.
Roman Reigns’ time as WWE Universal Champion has become truly legendary. His reign with the gold has made him the longest reigning champion in WWE for over three decades with nearly 900 days (as of this writing) with the belt around his waist. Over the past three years, Reigns has wrestled with some of the all-time greats, delivering some brilliant matches, great storylines, and moments that will no doubt last forever. However, it can be argued that his first real title fight was his best, and that was against his own cousin, Jey Uso.
Roman Reigns has had several brilliant moments and matches during this title reign.
Saying Jey Uso’s match with Roman Reigns was the best doesn’t mean everything that followed was bad, as Reigns’ run with the Universal Championship has seen one great match after another. However, all he says is that the Jey Uso story was so good that nothing else has reached those heights. It’s quite a catch when looking at some of Reigns’ other fights over the past three years, with storylines involving Edge, Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, and many more, all outside of the main draw.
Additionally, Reigns has wrestled some big names like Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena, though these star-studded matchups didn’t have the same level of intensity and storytelling as the Jey Uso rivalry. Other fantastic matches involving names like Matt Riddle , Cesaro, Logan Paul, and Finn Balor were tremendous, and the in-ring story told was classy each time, but it still fell short of masterclass quality between Reigns. and his cousin
The history between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso helped give birth to the “tribal chief” gimmick
Roman Reigns’ story with Jey Uso was perhaps the most important of this entire run. When he returned in 2020, Reigns moved towards being a heel, which had been a long time coming and something fans had been looking for for a while. His attitude and arrogance were an immediate hit, but he needed to find something that would take it to the next level, and not remain a cliché and swamp standard who insults people and cheats to win. When confronted by someone from his own family, he developed the persona of “Tribal Chief” and became truly despicable.
In the absence of his tag team partner Jimmy Uso, Jey became the number one contender in a shocking development, but it was one that fans online were very supportive of. He was not only someone new to the title scene, but he also bucked the trend of tag team members forgetting when one of the two gets injured. WWE built Jey up as a plucky babyface, and he played the underdog to perfection. Plus, he still had a good view of Reigns, and this played into what would become a devastating story.
As the weeks passed, Jey’s faith in Reigns waned and her defiance of her cousin increased. Reigns wanted Jey to side with him, but Jey rejected the autocratic rule the champion wanted over his family and WWE. This led to some very heated competition in Clash of Champions, and it was remarkable to witness. The lack of an audience due to the pandemic allowed the dialogues to unfold in the ring, feeling more like a movie than a conventional match. Reigns’ descent into darkness continued as he was at odds with himself as he dished out the punishment, unsure of whether or not he would go on to become a great villain.
The fights between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso were an emotional whirlwind
Reigns would win, but WWE wisely kept the storyline until the next pay-per-view. Reigns fought Jey inside Hell in a Cell, and once again it was a dramatic and emotional roller coaster ride, and both this match and the last one were highly acclaimed by fans, and the ratings for him on cagematch.net show just that. Jimmy’s involvement, coming to his brother’s aid and agreeing that the pair would align alongside Reigns, were the first steps in The Bloodline becoming the most dominant act in professional wrestling.
The image of Reigns standing with the elders of The Bloodline, looking down at The Usos in the ring, whom he had physically and mentally broken down to the point where they admitted defeat and established themselves as his lackeys, was fantastic. To date, none of Reigns’ other Universal Championship feuds have come close to this, especially since developments in The Bloodline are still continuing more than two years later, as Jey’s involvement in the Sami Zayn saga feels like a continuation of all the bad blood. that existed in 2020. Zayn’s story may well surpass Jey’s when he challenges for the Universal Title, but as of now, Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso is the number one fight of this storied run as champion.