It’s been a wild year for the WWE roster as some unpredictable things have happened. Jey Uso shocked the world back in February when he won the 30 man Royal Rumble match, and ever since then his Royal Rumble win has been heavily debated among fans.
During episode 2 of WWE Unreal on Netflix the show focused on the creative discussions that led to Jey Uso’s Royal Rumble win. It seems that CM Punk and John Cena were the two favorites to win the match originally. At one point during a creative meeting Triple H asked the everyone in the WWE writers’ room who they saw winning the Royal Rumble, and the majority of the people sitting at the table said CM Punk.
WWE Supervising Producer Michael Kirshenbaum pushed for John Cena with the idea being that it would be a classic moment in time for Cena to win the Royal Rumble on his retirement tour. He then suggested a possible Elimination Chamber win for CM Punk. At the time the planned WrestleMania main events were CM Punk vs. Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
After the suggestions were made Triple H asked the writers’ room if they still see the WrestleMania main events as the same. WWE writer Ed Koskey then went on to share his thoughts on working Jey Uso into the mix when he said, “If I could get the math to work, I’d love to put Jey [Uso] in one of those spots. I just can’t currently with the world we live in, I can’t figure out who gets left out.”
Michael Hayes then chimed in during the meeting and added, “Ed got me thinking about Jey. You know, can you get Jey in that match?”
Later during an interview segment Hayes elaborated on his thought process and said, “I think in the case of Jey Uso, when somebody catches fire, they just catch fire. And sometimes you have to alternate all your plans. Who do we have on our roster that’s hot, that hopefully is maybe new and fresh, and all of a sudden, Jey Uso is checking all those boxes.”
Ultimately Jey Uso went on to win the Royal Rumble match and he defeated Gunther to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41.