Turnbuckle BEATdown: YEETS lost like tears in the rain as Gunther beats Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight title

Jey Uso’s World Heavyweight title run lasted 51 days. That’s it. The man that could get an entire arena, and Pat McAffee, to YEET until he told them to stop lasted all of 51 days. The Ring General, Gunther, choked him out this past RAW, leaving fans in shock. Everyone expected Jey to have a longer run with the belt, and there was merit to the belief. Jey has fans on the palm of his hand, he put in the work to earn his place as a main eventer, and he’s great at hyping up any match he’s involved in. So, why was the dream cut short?

There doesn’t seem to be an easy explanation for this, other than bad storytelling or a big change in plans that needed to happen fast. What’s clear is that this title change does a disservice to both Gunther and Jey.

First off, I don’t see a problem with Gunther getting his title back. Gunther is a massive pull that has incredible mic skills and the ability to get people to root against him with ease. He’s a force of the kind main events are built on. But to make Gunther that scary titan that can draw comparisons to André the Giant, storylines and promos have to be put in place to hype the potential of a title change. A stage has to be set so that whoever falls, falls hard.

Second, longer championship runs equal higher stakes. Jey’s 51 days felt like a party that had no intention of stopping, ever. It’s difficult knowing we’re not going to see that. I was hoping for a seven to eight month run as champ, at least, with title defenses against Logan Paul (again), Solo Sikoa, LA Knight, Finn Bálor, and maybe even Bron Brakker, to name a few. Given Roman Reign’s 1,316 day run as the World Heavyweight title holder, it seems reasonable to accept that the WWE doesn’t’ want to see their belts stuck to just a few superstars for long stretches. More belt rotation is the name of the game now. Long title runs are impressive, they create legends, but they can hog a lot of the spotlight.

As talent-stacked as the company is right now, shorter reigns make sense. But 51 days for a wrestler that’s as popular and over as Jey currently is feels insufficient. If wins have to feel earned in wrestling, so do losses. It’s perhaps one of the most underrated components of sports entertainment. The ‘how’ and ‘when’ of a loss matters more here than anywhere else. Jey just wasn’t given the time to earn that loss.

Perhaps Money in the Bank is to blame. With the briefcase in Seth Rollins’ possession, it seems likely he’ll cash in sooner rather than later. With John Cena and CM Punk scheduled for a title match later this month at Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Punk take the win over Cena just for Rollins to come in and snatch the belt from him moments after the match is done. This means that in this scenario the WWE would have two heels at the top, competing for total domination.

It’s an interesting idea, but should this happen, Jey’s history with Rollins could’ve laid the groundwork for a lot of story in the months to come. A heel and a face with a complicated history between them who now hold the two most important belts in the company has money written all over it. Unfortunately, the higher ups went in a different direction. Whether it’s the right one or not remains to be seen. Maybe they want the newly returned R-Truth to take the belt from Gunther. One can dream.

Will Jey run it back? It’s not a hard sell. The fans are clearly still willing to YEET the moment the music hits. Gunther v. Jey 3 does have a nice ring to it, too, and if the result favors the former champ, then we might get a longer reign out of it. As it stands, though, Jey will have to settle with being one of the hottest wrestlers in the WWE with a rabid fanbase that wants him to be their champion.