Jey Uso advanced in the King of the Ring tournament on SmackDown. (Credit: Brien Adams/WWE via Getty Images)

WWE via Getty Images

Jey Uso is moving on in the 2026 WWE King of the Ring tournament, and WWE fans are having none of it.

The former World Heavyweight Champion outlasted fan favorites LA Knight, Finn Balor and Royce Keys on last week’s episode of SmackDown to punch his ticket to the semifinals. Uso is now set to face Raw newcomer Je’Von Evans in the final four, and the winner of that bout will face the winner of Oba Femi vs. Dominik Mysterio in the KOTR finals at Night of Champions on June 27.

With Uso taking one step closer toward another main event singles match, WWE fans are flooding YouTube and social media with negative reactions to Uso’s latest major singles victory. The YouTube video of Uso’s big win was instantly bombarded with tens of thousands of dislikes on the site, and at the time of this writing, it sits at more than 70,000 dislikes.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because this is a surefire case of de ja vu.

This marks, at least, the third time that a YouTube video featuring a monumental victory by Uso was overwhelmed with dislikes. In fact, it notably happened twice last year. The first came in March 2025 when Uso, just two months after winning the 2025 Royal Rumble, defeated Austin Theory in less than 30 seconds on Raw. The second came when Uso won a battle royal on Raw last fall and earned the right to face CM Punk for the then-vacant World Heavyweight Championship.

Amid Uso’s soaring popularity in late 2024 and into early 2025, he became a polarizing figure in the Internet Wrestling Community. Of course, other heavily-pushed babyfaces have suffered similar fates in the past. The likes of Roman Reigns and John Cena, among others, experienced significant pushback from fans during their rise to the top of the card.

Uso’s journey, however, has been significantly different.

ForbesWWE’s Reported Creative Plans For CM Punk’s Return

Cena (17 world titles) and Reigns (11 WrestleMania main events) are arguably the two most decorated singles stars in WWE history. Uso, however, has just one world titles to his name after shockingly defeating Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41 in 2025. Uso would hold that title for just 51 days. Outside of two one-night reigns foiled by Money in the Bank cash-ins, that’s the shortest World Heavyweight title reign since the title was brought back in May 2023.

Uso caught lightning in a bottle en route to a shocking 2025 Royal Rumble win and WrestleMania victory. But it didn’t take long for WWE to end Uso’s world title push and put him back in the tag team division. By December 2025, Uso had reunited with his brother Jimmy as a tag team. Now, he’s back playing second fiddle to Reigns in The Bloodline.

Therein lies the problem, of course. WWE is once again focus heavily on The Bloodline saga, the key storyline that helped revitalize the company over the past half-decade. The Bloodline’s reunion, with Uso once again playing a key role, is, unlike last time, missing the mark.

The once-riveting storyline feels more like lather, rinse, repeat, and WWE fans are responding accordingly. Last week’s edition of Monday Night Raw bottomed out with the red brand’s lowest average viewership since it debuted on Netflix in January 2025:

One possible explanation? Fan fatigue over The Bloodline, Reigns and, perhaps, the Usos. It’s not that Uso is a terrible performer. In fact, a significant portion of WWE’s fan base loves him. It’s the wide-ranging perception that Usos is being pushed again at the expense of underappreciated stars like LA Knight, as evidenced by Uso’s win in the KOTR 4-way match that featured “The Megastar.”

While YouTube dislikes can’t be the only factor in examining Uso’s popularity or value as a singles star, social media’s negative reactions to Uso amid plummeting Raw viewership are worth considering. Pro wrestling is a fan-driven business, and despite Uso’s continued popularity in some circles, WWE must evaluate just how strongly he will be pushed.

Even Uso himself has acknowledged the recent negative reactions he’s been receiving, and though he’s taking it in stride, WWE fans aren’t so forgiving. As fan pushback to Uso remains, this may be a rare occasion in which WWE’s creative team is forced to change course.