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2025 Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso has revealed why WWE briefly banned him from saying or sporting any merchandise relating to one word.
A tag-team specialist with brother Jimmy, Uso has experienced a remarkable meteoric rise which has seen him become one of the most popular singles acts in WWE today.
He shocked fans by eliminating John Cena to win the Royal Rumble in January and is now looking to go one better by beating bitter rival Gunther and becoming WWE world heavyweight champion for the first time at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas.
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Uso's incredible concert-style entrance and use of the word 'Yeet' is an integral part of his act and the phrase has been used on all types of fast-selling merchandise, including glasses, t-shirts and now even his own cereal called ‘Frosted Yeets'.
But while the 'Yeet Movement' is sure to be strong in Sin City on Saturday night, it nearly didn't happen for the 39-year-old.
The catchphrase, which is effectively expressing excitement and appears to originate from Vine many years back, was put on hold over a trademark issue.
The temporary abandonment was because a West Virginia independent wrestler called Kasey Huffman had trademarked the word in 2021. As a result, 'Main Event' was not allowed to say or wear Yeet on TV and WWE were forced to blur it out from his shirt.
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However, fortunately for Uso, the issue was quickly resolved and his ascension to stardom has continued.
"I think a brother already had it trademarked and for maybe a week I couldn’t wear it," Uso told SPORTbible in an exclusive interview ahead of WrestleMania.
"The following week I had it back on. If I didn’t have ‘Yeet’, I probably would have said ‘Yet!’ or something - they all would have sold the same I feel like it!
“But we got it uce and we back. Yeet!”
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WWE star and social media sensation Logan Paul has previously taken credit for coming up with Yeet. On an episode of his IMPAULSIVE podcast with Michael Cole, 'The Maverick' said he was "the original Yeet" after using it in old music and claimed he would be sending a "cease and desist" after accusing Uso of stealing it.
Responding to Paul, an unfazed Uso said: “My numbers are just higher than yours Uce. Yeet.”
Uso is comfortably one of the top superstars on the current roster and believes on the microphone, not many can touch him when he brings the level of passion and emotion displayed in his rivalry with Gunther.
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“I think I’m top one on the mic," Uso continued.
"I really feel like I’m a good talker because I do portray emotion or at least try to and make it look as real as possible because it is to me. I rate myself top three for sure.”
Jey Uso wants to test himself against The Rock
Uso has his eyes firmly set on finally getting a career-defining victory against Gunther in the opener of night one at WrestleMania but he also has huge ambitions of mixing it up with his cousin The Rock, a member of TKO's board and the biggest box star in Hollywood.
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He explained: "He’s so good and I just look up to that. As a performer I want to test myself too and make myself uncomfortable and see if I can get jiggy with it in there. If I can’t hold myself up to the biggest stars in the game then I feel like I don’t belong there.”
The WWE season in Clash of Clans runs throughout April, featuring Jey Uso as the Yeeter, who has already been deployed over 250 million times during battles.
Topics: WWE, WrestleMania, Spotlight
Josh Lawless