Ever wondered what the most painful finisher a wrestler has taken? How do you tell apart twins who dress alike during matches? What about their favourite match they’ve competed in? Former WWE tag team champion Jey Uso took the time to talk to SLAM! Wrestling about these questions and more in a two-part series. Part 1 deals with the past of the Usos brothers’ wrestling career.
The Past
Up until Night of Champions, the Usos held the WWE Tag Team belts for an impressive 202 days, the fifth longest reign since 2002. During that time, Jey and his twin brother Jimmy put together quite the list of title matches. But before he spoke about the matches in particular, he talked about probably the most important question that needed to be answered about the Usos as a team.
Telling the twin brothers apart
When the Usos first debuted, the announce team had trouble properly identifying which Uso was in the match and which one was on the apron. While Jimmy and Jey aren’t exactly identical like the Bella Twins (before Nikki’s surgery at least), it’s easy to understand the confusion. Jimmy is a few centimetres taller and a few extra kilos, but when both guys are in the ring, it’s not an easy thing to instantly pick up. Fortunately, the Usos now have a way for the fans to identify which is which: their face paint which they started wearing back in 2013.
Jimmy’s face paint is always on the right side of his face while Jey’s is on the left side. How did they decide this? According to Jey, it has to do with their Siva Tau entrance, specifically the placement of the cameraman. “My brother wanted his right side painted because it’s the closest to the camera,” Jey said. “When we do the dance I’m always on the left, he’s on the right.”
While it makes sense, it wasn’t that easy for the brother to agree on it. “We both wanted the face paint on the right side,” Jey said. “Jimmy said, ‘Look man. I’m closest to the camera. It’ll look better this way.'” Jey agreed but added the stipulation that Jimmy pay for his lunches and an agreement was made. “I gotta get my steaks,” Jey joked. “So that worked out for me.”
Fortunately Jey hasn’t made Jimmy pay for every single lunch since they made that deal, but the brothers do share traveling costs. “I get the rental cars and he gets the hotels and the food,” Jey said.
Favorite Title Matches
When you hold on to the tag belts for more than 200 straight days, you tend to build up an impressive resume of title defenses. Jey has three matches that he’s especially proud of being a part of when the belts were on the line.
“Hands down the Battleground two-out-of-three falls match is my favourite,” Jey said, referring to yet another great match between the Usos and the Wyatt Family’s Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. “It was my brother and I’s first ever two-out-of-three [falls] match. It was very special.”
The other two matches both took place during the Money in the Bank PPV, with one taking place in 2013 and the other in the 2014 edition. During the 2013 version, the Usos challenged The Shield for the belts and even though it ended up being a losing effort, Jey considers the launching pad of the Usos as a tag team force to be taken seriously. “We showed that we could compete with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins,” Jey said. “Cut to a year later and we’re now defending the tag titles.”
While not one of his top three, Jey was also very proud of their WrestleMania XXX pre-show match, which saw the Usos retain their titles against the Real Americans, Rybaxel, and Los Matadores in a Fatal Four Way Elimination match.
Among the many “WrestleMania Moments” that night produced, it signalled the end of the teaming up of the Real American’s Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro, something Jey wishes didn’t happen so soon. “I was really looking forward to running with those Real Americans but that turned sour for them,” Jey said. And just in case you’re wondering, yes, Cesaro is really as strong as advertised. “I’ve seen that guy workout in the gym,” Jey said. “The stuff he can do is just…wow. It’s scary as hell.”
Most Painful Finisher/Submission
Jey didn’t even have to think about this one. “Mark Henry’s World Strongest Slam,” Jey instantly responded. “That killed me. He’s so massive and strong that even when I’m on the other side of the ring, I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell am I doing here with him?'”
According to Jey, it’s not simply the force at which Henry slams a wrestler down, it’s the fact that Henry falls on top of you that makes it so much worse. “It’s exactly being stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Jey said. “You can’t breathe afterwards.”
As for the most painful submission he’s ever had to deal with? That would be the Sharpshooter he suffered at the hands of the Hart Dynasty way back when the Usos made their debut in 2010. “So painful,” Jey said. “That happened years ago and I still remember it hurting.”
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