Opening tonight's episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, "Main Event" Jey Uso was living it up with the crowd, enjoying his entrance, when he was attacked by the world heavyweight champion, Gunther.
As a result of that attack—along with their history together—Uso grabbed a microphone and made it official that he's using his Royal Rumble victory to challenge Gunther as his choice of world champion to face at WrestleMania 41.
These two are no strangers to each other, having twice before battled for a championship Gunther was holding. Uso was one of Gunther's conquests during his record-breaking Intercontinental Championship run in February 2024, defeated him in the semi-finals of the King of the Ring tournament in May 2024, and most recently retained his World Heavyweight Championship over Uso at Saturday Night's Main Event a few weeks ago just prior to the Royal Rumble.
As it stands, the other Royal Rumble winner, Charlotte Flair, has yet to make a decision about who she's going to challenge, and both the women's and men's Elimination Chamber matches are nearly filled up with the winners of those facing whoever Flair doesn't choose and, by default, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship now that Uso has picked Gunther.
According to Royal Rumble statistics, while Cody Rhodes did defeat Roman Reigns last year, that was the first time since 2020 with Drew McIntyre that the men's challenger walked out of WrestleMania with the title. Overall, in the past 25 years, 13 of the Royal Rumble winners were successful at winning their chosen belt, 9 came up short, and two ended up not directly challenging at WrestleMania.
Can Jey Uso be another WWE Superstar who does the old school transition of winning tag team gold, then the Intercontinental Championship, and finally winning a world title after the Royal Rumble? He'll have a tall task ahead of him, but the crowd will assuredly be on his side.
So far, this is the only match official for WrestleMania 41, and it has not yet been announced which night (April 19th or April 20th) this will take place. We are unlikely to know that until at least several weeks from now, as WWE tends not to lay out the two-night card too well in advance anymore.
What do you think about this match? Is this the right call? Can Jey Uso win? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!