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When Jey Uso won the Intercontinental Championship on Monday Night RAW last month, it drew a mixed reaction from fans across the IWC.
Some celebrated the booking decision, others hated the idea ofto “bury” Bron Breakker, and others still just sort of felt meh about the entire situation, as the promotion hasn't had a clear storyline for the belt since Gunther held the strap.
Fortunately, one WWE Hall of Famer who firmly fell into the former category is Rikishi, Uso's father and the elder statesman of The Bloodline, old and new. Taking to his Off the Top podcast, Rikishi celebrated the booking decision, as, in his opinion, no one deserves the belt more than the “Yeet Man.”
“I am so proud, man. So, so proud. Besides Jey’s sons, I’m probably the number one fan of Jey right now. I always been. I’m happy, I’m proud, I’m proud to be his pops. I’m proud that the fans are proud. I don’t know who was more excited, [if] I was or the fans because when I [saw] the reaction of the fans and the reaction of my boy, you think about it. That was a long road. What is it, 15 years or 14 years? You dominate the tag team division, and then you finally break off into singles competition, not knowing which way is it gonna go,” Rikishi explained via Fightful.
“But you see it, the fan-favorite, you see the entrance, you see the everything, everything about the character of Jey. For me, Jey is not a character. That is really that kid. That kid is just a lovable kid like that. He’s not a liability, he’s not a troublemaker. He’s a company man. He’s a good role model. So he’s one of those kids that, as far as for corporate, as far as for being that community person, to be able to be a role model to kids or even parents in the community, he’s that kid. He’s been through some stuff. Being a son of wrestler and being on the road, you see a lot of stuff. You can either go left or go right. So all his career, at the end of the day, the choices that they make are their choices, and he’s made the right choices all the way through, and look it, your new Intercontinental Champion.”
While fan reactions to Uso winning the IC Title at first were mixed-to-poor, as some didn't understand why Breakker was being squashed so early into what felt like a well-earned push, it's hard to argue with many, if any, of the points Rikishi brought up, as Jey is incredibly popular, a merch-selling machine, and a worthy singles champion. And the best part? It looks like Uso's feud with Breakker is far from over, so fans will get to have their cake and eat it too.
Rikishhi had one issue with Jey Uso's IC Title win
While Rikishi is clearly proud of his son's efforts, there is one thing that would have made the situation all the sweeter: he should have won the belt on a PLE.
“I thought the match was absolutely amazing. Man, I would have loved to see that match on a big pay-per-view though. You know what I mean?” Rikishi asked. “Kind of tease it on a Monday Night RAW, and then go into some type of pay-per-view and just let them go. I would have loved to see some blood, you know what I mean? It’s just the drive to be number one. Because they really brought some awareness to that IC Title, and now with Jey holding it, get ready to run because you’re gonna be busy, son.”
For some reason, WWE appears content to use the mid-card title belts, tag team title belts, and even their World Heavyweight Championship belts on television to pop a rating, with even Sami Zayn's shot at Gunther coming on television instead of a PLE. If that's good enough for Gunther, then Uso is in good company.
