WWE officials have high expectations for Jey Uso on the RAW brand.
Just weeks after he “quit” SmackDown and WWE entirely during The Bloodline’s ongoing drama on Friday nights, Uso returned to the RAW roster this past Saturday at WWE Payback. The storyline saw Cody Rhodes noticing a wrong that he felt compelled to right while watching SmackDown, so he used all of his political clout to get Jey hired on the RAW brand. Uso came out to a big babyface pop and ended up shutting down The Grayson Waller Effect by superkicking the host while Rhodes looked on from the stage, apparently in approval but a little worried because he said before the introduction that he hoped he wouldn’t regret the decision.
According to an update from Fightful, WWE officials are hopeful that Jey can break through as a singles star without The Bloodline’s storyline.
WWE worked hard to keep Jey’s roster change a secret. While Jey was reported to be backstage at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon, his name was not included on internal run sheets that listed the Payback matches and segments for the night. Shawn Daivari produced the segment with Uso, Rhodes, and Waller.
There has been no word on what this means for the upcoming Uso vs. Uso match. On Friday’s go-home SmackDown, Jimmy Uso continued his storyline with Solo Sikoa and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. At one point, Jimmy vs. Jey was rumored for Payback, possibly with WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi as the special referee, but some in WWE felt that Payback was too soon for their first match. There was also talk that the match should be saved for WrestleMania 40, but some argued that April is too far away. WWE was expected to get multiple matches from the brother vs. brother feud, so it will be interesting to see if they have dropped that aspect of the program by moving Jey to RAW.
Jimmy worked with the returning John Cena in addition to the angles with Sikoa and AJ Styles on Friday’s SmackDown. Jimmy interrupted Cena’s in-ring promo to explain why he made Jey lose at SummerSlam – he was saving his brother because he loves him and would do it again, but he also didn’t want Jey to win and become corrupt like Cena or Reigns. Jimmy attempted a superkick on Cena, but it was blocked, and Jimmy was knocked out with the Attitude Adjustment.
The original plan for Uso and Cena on SmackDown was for Cena to interrupt Uso’s promo rather than the other way around. WWE had previously announced that Jimmy would speak for the first time since Jey “quit,” and that this would be the promo Cena would interrupt to begin his return.
On a related note, Cena stated during his SmackDown promo that he didn’t find out about the Payback hosting gig until he was backstage in the Gorilla Position preparing to enter the ring. Last Thursday, it was reported that Cena would most likely host Payback. According to reports, WWE came up with the idea “very recently,” and Cena was not informed until Friday.
There has been no update on the rumors of WWE doing a Cena vs. Rhodes match while Cena is back for a limited time. It’s also unclear whether Cena will appear at WWE Fastlane on Saturday, October 7 in Indianapolis, as WWE has previously stated. He’s scheduled for the Fastlane go-home SmackDown on October 6 in St. Louis and the post-Fastlane SmackDown on October 13 in Tulsa, so a Fastlane match or appearance would make sense.
Cena’s current WWE schedule is as follows:
* Friday, September 8 at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, India (Superstar Spectacle, teaming with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)
* Friday, September 15 at the Ball Arena in Denver, CO (SmackDown)
* Friday, September 22 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ (SmackDown)
* Friday, September 29 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA (SmackDown)
* Friday, October 6 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO (SmackDown, Fastlane go-home show)
* Friday, October 13 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, OK (SmackDown, post-Fastlane show)
* Friday, October 20 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX (SmackDown)
* Friday, October 27 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI (SmackDown)
