At the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble, Jey Uso shocked the wrestling world by eliminating John Cena to secure a world championship match at WWE WrestleMania 41. Soon, that world became divided as well, with some naturally excited for the "Main Event" performer, while others felt he wasn't ready for the major opportunity that came after it. While appearing on"SHAK Wrestling," WWE Hall of Famer and former ECW booker Paul Heyman addressed the criticism aimed at Uso.
"When people say 'Well, you know Jey Uso's been kind of a letdown. This whole thing with Jey Uso has been kind of a letdown. It's not what we originally thought it was [going to be]. The reaction to Jey Uso winning the Royal Rumble was so overwhelming, then it kind of simmered down.' Really? By what metric?" Heyman asked.
"He's driving numbers. He's moving revenue. He's a commerce facilitator. He's selling tickets. He is bringing in revenue to a company that's publicly traded and therefore with that gross revenue and therefore the net revenue, the stock goes up. Where has he not scored? So those who say he has not scored or has been disappointing or is less than he was at the Royal Rumble do not know what the f*** they're talking about."
According to Heyman, Uso has been a big financial asset to WWE across ticket and merchandise sales as well as television ratings. Within the merchandise department, Uso has consistently driven t-shirt sales, so much so that he's fluctuated between the first and second highest draw since before the Royal Rumble, with very few exceptions for those in arenas. Ticket-wise, Heyman confirms that Uso has remained within the top three sellers since the February 1 premium live event. Viewership-wise, Uso has gone "through the roof," both in quarter hour and minute-by-minute ratings. Now, Uso also resides as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "SHAK Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
