This past year both Tag Team divisions on RAW and SMACKDOWN LIVE have been hot due to strong feuds on each brand. The USOs vs. The New Day opened the eyes of many, as while the USOs were always good/great wrestlers, the Samoan brothers showed the WWE universe the evolution of their characters that has resulted in positive feedback.
WWE.COM: Let’s start with SummerSlam. You had one of the best matches of the year against The New Day on the Kickoff show, but did you feel slighted that you weren’t featured on the main card?
JIMMY USO: [Long pause] Hell yeah, we felt slighted. You grind to get on these shows. One of the biggest pay-per-views of the year is SummerSlam. We had one of the hottest rivalries of the year with New Day going into SummerSlam. So to be put on the Kickoff was a slap to all our faces. Me, my brother and The New Day. We did our thing.
JEY USO: All year we been doin’ our thing, like my brother said. Hottest rivalry in the game. A tag team rivalry. The Usos and The New Day. We done killed Battleground. What else we kill, Uce?
WWE.COM: You’ve had all this success, the fans are responding to you, but like you said, some of these major events are still just beyond your grasp. Do you feel like there’s any escalating pressure at this point to deliver with that hanging over your heads?
JIMMY: There’s two major shows The Usos ain’t never, ever, ever been on. The two biggest shows in WWE. One, SummerSlam. The other one?
BOTH: WrestleMania.
JEY: Always Kickoff. Always get there, always get right there but never on there. I feel like we’re doing everything we’re supposed to do and then some. There’s gonna be a time when you can’t hold us back no more. There’s gonna come a time people are gonna want The Usos. Put us on the big stage man, the main card, the WrestleMania card we deserve to be on. You know what hurt me most? I’m sitting back last year watching WrestleMania. I see three, four other tag teams in the match. Me and my brother been here the longest. Been putting in work for the longest. All of a sudden I see a tag team that ain’t even a real tag team. This other tag team just got here. What’s the deal with that? I don’t know, and I really don’t care. Why? Because I know they can’t stop us. The cream rises to the top, Uce. And me and my brother? We’re the cream.
WWE.com: You changed up your whole style this year, especially the way you deliver on the mic. Tell us how that new approach came about.
JIMMY: As far as change goes, we needed it. We had a good run with the painted-up Usos. The colors, doing the Siva Tau was cool, showing the Universe our heritage. But you start to feel it when it’s time for a change. If you don’t adapt and evolve, you will get left behind in this business. We knew it was time to change. The people knew it was time to change. But this change was solely for me and him. Put our feet down. “Hey Uce, this is what we’re gonna be. This is us, and if they don’t like it, the hell with them.”
JEY: We say what’s on our mind, Uce, and people are gonna listen. They wanna listen. Our whole [persona] right now is The Usos. It is me and him 100 percent. If you ran into us at a Walmart or a Publix, you are gonna get what you see on TV.
JIMMY: That’s what makes it more unique. People get drawn to it. When we talk, you wanna listen. You wanna hear. You’re stuck to the screen. You wanna hear what comes out of our mouth. Like brother said with delivery, we’re twins. We’re twinning. We’re winning because we’re twinning.