The usos

**The Usos** (born August 22, 1985) are a Samoan American professional wrestling tag team consisting of real-life twin brothers **Jimmy Uso** and **Jey Uso**, who appear in WWE. The pair were previously managed by Tamina Snuka and currently managed by Naomi.

Since joining the main WWE roster in 2010, they are two-time WWE Tag Team Champions and 2014 Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award winners. While in WWE's developmental system, they were one-time FCW Florida Tag Team Champions.

Jimmy (real name **Jonathan Solofa Fatu**) and Jey (real name **Joshua Samuel Fatu**) are the sons of WWE Hall of Famer Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi, nephews of The Tonga Kid and the late Umaga, and are part of the Anoaʻi family. As part of the family they are also the first cousins once-removed to fellow WWE wrestlers Roman Reigns, Rosey and The Rock, as well as the late WWE Hall of Famer Yokozuna.

## World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE

### Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2010)

Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Fatu) appeared at the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) television tapings on November 5, accompanying Donny Marlow to the ring.[8] Jimmy also appeared in a dark match prior to the FCW television tapings on November 19, defeating Titus O'Neill.[9]

The Uso Brothers began 2010 by defeating The Rotundo Brothers (Duke and Bo) on January 14.[10] In a clash of the generational wrestlers on February 18, The Rotundo Brothers teamed up with Wes Brisco to defeat The Usos and Donny Marlow.[11]
 They continued their association with Marlow at the television tapings
on February 25, when he accompanied them to ringside for a victory
against Titus O'Neill and Big E. Langston.[12] In March they were joined by Sarona Snuka, who began acting as their manager and on March 13, The Usos defeated The Fortunate Sons (Joe Hennig and Brett DiBiase) to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship.[13][14][15] They made their first title defense at the March 18 television tapings by defeating The Dudebusters (Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft) to retain.[16] They went on to successfully defend the championship against Percy Watson and Darren Young, Hunico and Tito Nieves, Skip Sheffield and Darren Young, and The Dudebusters, who they defeated by disqualification when Tamina pulled the referee out of the ring to stop him from counting the pinfall.[17][18][19][20] On June 3, The Usos lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to "Los Aviadores" (Hunico and Dos Equis).[13][21]

### Feud with The Hart Dynasty (2010–2011)

The Usos with Tamina in September 2010

On the May 24, 2010 episode of *Raw*, The Usos and Tamina made their debut as heels by attacking the Unified Tag Team Champions, The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith, and Natalya) [22][23] The following week, Raw General Manager Bret Hart stated that he had signed them to contracts. That night, the trio cut a promo,

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stating that they were looking for respect for their families. They

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were interrupted and attacked by The Hart Dynasty, who were seeking
revenge for the surprise attack the previous week.[24] The Usos attempted to attack The Hart Dynasty again on the June 7 episode of *Raw*, but The Harts were ready and gained the upper hand.[25] The Usos made their in-ring debut for the brand on the June 17 episode of *Superstars*, defeating Goldust and Mark Henry.[26] Three days later they made their pay-per-view debut by losing to The Hart Dynasty in a six-person mixed tag team match at Fatal 4-Way.[27] The Usos were scheduled to face The Hart Dynasty on the June 28 episode of *Raw*, but the match never started as The Usos instead attacked The Harts when they were entering the ring.[28] The Usos defeated The Hart Dynasty for the first time in a six-person mixed tag team match on the July 12 episode of *Raw* when Jey pinned Smith.[29] The Usos challenged The Harts for the Unified Tag Team Championship at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful.[30] On the July 26 episode of *Raw*, Jey Uso went against Randy Orton in his first singles match on the brand in a losing effort. They received another shot for the Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in a Tag Team Turmoil match, where they eliminated both The Hart Dynasty and the team of Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella before being eliminated by Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. On the December 6 episode of *Raw*,

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The Usos were in a fatal four way tag match and were eliminated, but

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Tamina stayed in the corner of Marella and Kozlov upon their winning of
the WWE Tag Team Championship; as a result, she turned face and left The Usos.

### Smackdown and NXT (2011–2013)

The Usos performing the Siva Tau as part of their ring entrance in 2014

On April 26, 2011, both Usos were drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft.[31] On the June 2 episode of *Superstars*, The Usos turned face when they competed against The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) in a losing effort.[32]
 Throughout June 2011, The Usos continued to exchange victories with
Gabriel and Slater in tag team matches, while managing to defeat them in
 two six-man tag matches while partnering once with Ezekiel Jackson and once with Trent Barreta.[33] As of the June 24 episode of *SmackDown*, The Usos have been performing the Siva Tau,

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a traditional Samoan war dance, as part of their ring entrance, using

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the dance to display their strength and energize themselves.[34][35] On the July 29 episode of *SmackDown*, The Usos challenged David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty for the WWE Tag Team Titles, but were defeated.[36]

The Usos then began appearing on the fifth season of NXT in September 2011, by delivering post-match attacks on the team of Darren Young and JTG.[37] The Usos then went on to defeat Young and JTG on the September 27 episode of *NXT Redemption*.

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However, just like how The Usos debuted on NXT, they were attacked

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after their win by another debuting tag team, Curt Hawkins and Tyler
Reks,[38]
 and The Usos were defeated by Hawkins and Reks the next week. In the
following months and into 2012, The Usos exchanged wins with Hawkins and
 Reks on NXT, while continually losing to Primo and Epico on SmackDown.[39] They also feuded with JTG, who had become Tamina's boyfriend.[40] In March 2012, The Usos began a feud with Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, after they mocked The Uso's pre-match Siva Tau.[41] Although The Usos beat Young and O'Neil in tag team matches, they were continually defeated in singles matches.[42] On the final episode of the fifth season of *NXT* on June 13, The Usos defeated Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty.[43]

At WrestleMania XXVIII, The Usos unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a triple threat dark match against champions Primo and Epico and Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel when the defending champions retained their titles.[44] At No Way Out,

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The Usos competed with Primo and Epico, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd,

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and The Prime Time Players in a Fatal-4-Way Tag Team match to determine
the Number 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Champions and were
unsuccessful.[45]
 On the July 16 episode of Raw, The Usos made an appearance dancing with
 their father, Rikishi, after Rikishi made a "Blast from the Past"
return defeating Heath Slater.[44] On the September 7 episode of *SmackDown*,

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The Usos were unsuccessful in winning a Triple Threat Tag Team match

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for No. 1 contendership for the WWE Tag Team titles against The Prime
Time Players, and Primo and Epico.

The Usos then started a feud with The Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron) on the August 15 episode of *NXT*,

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with a match between the two tag teams ending in the Ascension being

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disqualified; the Ascension then conducted a post-match attack on The
Usos.[46] On the August 29 episode of *NXT*, The Usos called out the Ascension, but the Ascension ambushed The Usos and again delivered a beatdown.[47] On the September 5 episode of *NXT*, the Ascension defeated The Usos.[48] The Usos then teamed with Richie Steamboat to lose to The Ascension and Kassius Ohno on the October 17 episode of *NXT*.[49] The Usos' feud with the Ascension was cut short when Cameron was released from WWE.[50]

### Pursuit of the Tag Team Championships (2013–2014)

On the June 3 episode of *Raw*, The Usos began to use face paint similar to their deceased uncle Eddie Fatu, as a means of further highlighting their Samoan culture. That same night, they defeated The Prime Time Players, which began the start of a winning streak.[51] On the June 5 episode of *Main Event*, they defeated Team Rhodes Scholars to continue their winning streak.[52] On the June 24 episode of *Raw*, the Usos defeated Tons of Funk and 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) to be number one contenders for Tag Team Championship and would receive their title match at Money In The Bank.[53] They began feuding with former champions, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of The Shield. That week on *SmackDown* they teamed with Christian to a victory over The Shield. However, the following week on *Raw* they lost to them. On the July 12 episode of *SmackDown*, Seth Rollins beat Jey Uso. The Usos challenged Rollins and Reigns for the WWE Tag Team Championships at Money in the Bank, but were unsuccessful. On July 19 episode of *SmackDown,* The Usos was attacked by The Shield but they were saved by Mark Henry. The Usos began an alliance with Henry. The same happened the next week on *Raw.* The following week they teamed to Henry in a losing effort to The Shield. The next week on *Raw* they were defeated by Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro ('The Real Americans'). That same week on *Main Event* they teamed with Henry to face The Shield but were again defeated. The next week on *Raw* they defeated Swagger and Cesaro.

The Usos in November 2013

The Usos competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match during the Night Of Champions Kickoff
 to determine The Shield's opponents in the Tag Team Championship match
later that night, but were unsuccessful as they were eliminated by The
Real Americans. However, the next night on *Raw* The Usos were
victorious over The Real Americans and Tons Of Funk in a triple-threat
tag team elimination match to once again become number one contenders
for The Shield's championships. Over the following weeks The Usos helped

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Daniel Bryan
from getting assaulted by The Shield. This resulted in The Usos being

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put into an 11-on-3 Elimination Gauntlet match in which neither of them
were eliminated and the Jey became the first superstar to pin Roman
Reigns in WWE. The Usos participated in a Triple threat tag team match against the team of Goldust & Cody Rhodes and The Shield for WWE Tag Team Championship at the Hell in a Cell pay per view, which they failed to win.[54]

The Usos were involved in the traditional Survivor Series elimination match at Survivor Series, teaming with Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a losing effort against The Real Americans and The Shield. The Usos would then begin a brief feud with The Wyatt Family in early 2014, teaming with Mysterio to defeat Luke Harper, Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in a six-man tag match on the January 6 episode of *Raw*, before defeating Bryan and Bray Wyatt

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in a steel cage match in the main event the following week. A week

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later, they defeated Harper and Rowan in a tag team match, with the help

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of Bryan, who attacked Bray Wyatt
at ringside after Bryan left the family. At the beginning of 2014, The

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Usos would go on a winning streak and began to demand a Tag Team
Championship match from The New Age Outlaws.

### WWE Tag Team Champions (2014-2015)

The Usos as WWE Tag Team Champions

On the edition of February 14, 2014 of *SmackDown*, The Usos along with Cody Rhodes and Goldust defeated the Outlaws and Ryback and Curtis Axel when Jimmy Uso pinned Road Dogg. The Usos received a tag title shot at the Elimination Chamber

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PPV against the Outlaws but were once again unsuccessful. After quickly
defeating the Outlaws in a non-title match the previous week, The Usos

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received another title match on the March 3 episode of *Raw*
against the Outlaws, and The Usos were finally successful, winning the
titles, their first ones in WWE. The next night on Main Event, The Usos
would successfully defend their titles against Los Matadores. At WrestleMania XXX, The Usos successfully defended their titles in a Fatal Four Way Elimination match against Ryback and Curtis Axel, The Real Americans, and Los Matadores. The next night on *Raw*, The Usos again defended the titles against the team of Batista and Randy Orton.

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Both teams were counted out and The Usos were assaulted by Orton and

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Batista outside the ring. The Usos then resumed a rivalry with The Wyatt Family, thus allying with John Cena. At Payback;

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they went as far as to sacrifice themselves through tables to

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incapacitate Harper and Rowan, to ensure Cena with a victory against
Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing Match. The Usos successfully retained
the championships against Harper and Rowan at Money in the Bank and Battleground. The Usos defeated RybAxel in a match on the edition of July 25, 2014 of *Smackdown*. On *Raw*, The Usos teamed up with Dolph Ziggler in a six man tag team match against RybAxel and The Miz which they won. The following night, on *Main Event*, The Usos picked up another win against Rybaxel. On the August 18 *Raw*, Goldust and Stardust defeated The Usos in a non-title match, which sets up a title match between the two teams a week later. Gold and Stardust

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would defeat via countout, thus the Usos retaining the championships.

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Goldust then demanded a rematch before he and Stardust attacked The
Usos, thinking Jey, who has hurt his left leg in the match, would
intentionally count out to retain. The Usos then dropped the titles to
Goldust and Stardust at Night of Champions, ending their reign at 202 days.[55] They earned their rematch on *Smackdown* but failed to regain it Then other a rematch on *Raw* and failed regain again. On the November 4 edition of *SmackDown*,

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The Usos were given a title match against Goldust and Stardust in a

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steel cage, but failed to recapture the titles. On the December 29
edition of *Raw*, The Usos recaptured the titles from The Miz and Damien Mizdow

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after feuding with them over Naomi's entertainment opportunities. On

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the January 9th episode of WWE "SmackDown" The Authority forced The Usos

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to defend their WWE Tag Team Championships against The Miz and Damien Mizdow and Gold and Stardust, despite many "close calls", Jimmy and Jey managed to retain their WWE Tag Team Championships. On February 22, at Fastlane, they lost the titles to Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.[56] Despite getting a rematch the next night on *Raw*, The Usos did not regain the titles due to Natalya interfering for a DQ win.

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## Other media

The pair starred in the first episode of *Outside the Ring*, where they cooked a traditional Samoan barbecue.[57]

Together, The Usos made their video game debut in *WWE '13* as downloadable content.[58] The Usos returned in WWE 2K15, as they were presented on the official WWE 2K15 trailer.

Jonathan is regularly featured in the reality television series *Total Divas*. Joshua has also made brief appearances.

## Personal lives

Jonathan Solofa Fatu and Joshua Samuel Fatu were born in San Francisco on August 22, 1985, Jonathan is the older twin, [6][7] and are of Samoan descent. They often perform the Samoan haka or Siva Tau before a match with Samoan tribal face paint. Their stage name "uso" means "brother" in the Samoan language. They are the sons of Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi. They are also part of the Anoaʻi family, they are first cousins once removed from Roman Reigns and Yokozuna, second cousins once removed with the Rock and the nephews of the late Umaga.[22] The brothers attended Escambia High School in Pensacola, FL. where they excelled at Football. They continued their football careers at the University of West Alabama where they both played linebacker. Jonathan played one season (2003) while Joshua played from 2003–2005.[59]

Jonathan Fatu married fellow wrestler and longtime girlfriend, Trinity McCray (a.k.a. Naomi) on January 16, 2014.[60]

## In wrestling

Jey Uso performing a diving headbutt.

* **Double team finishing moves**
	+ Double diving splash[61]
* **Double team signature moves**
	+ *Alley-Us*[62] (Pop-up Samoan drop)[63][64]
	+ Assisted hotshot[52]
	+ Backbreaker hold / Diving elbow drop combination[61][65]
	+ Double back elbow followed by double elbow drop[61][66][67]
	+ Double headbutt drop[61]
	+ Double superkick[64]
	+ Irish whip / Uppercut combination[68]
* **Individual finishing moves used by both**
	+ *Samoan Splash* (Diving splash)[69][70] – adopted from Jimmy Snuka
* **Individual signature moves used by both**
	+ Back body drop[71]
	+ Back kick[68][72] followed by an uppercut with theatrics[72]
	+ Diving headbutt[73][74]
	+ Double underhook suplex[66]
	+ Leaping shoulder block[75][76]
	+ Over the top rope plancha[77]
	+ Pop-up Samoan drop[63][64][76]
	+ Running hip attack to an opponent seated in the corner[73][78] – adopted from Umaga
	+ Spinning side slam[65]
	+ Stinger splash[64][79]
	+ Superkick[79]

* **Jimmy's signature moves**
	+ Float-over DDT[76]
	+ Full nelson bomb[80][81]
	+ Turnbuckle climb into a rebounded corkscrew senton to a standing opponent[82]

* **Jey's signature moves**
	+ Northern Lights suplex[83]
	+ Running forearm smash to a cornered opponent,[76][72] sometimes while performing a corkscrew[66][84]

* **Managers**
	+ Tamina Snuka[1]
	+ **Naomi**[85]

* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Get Up (Instrumental)" by Kevin Hart (2010)
	+ "Alga" by Jim Johnston (June 24, 2011–present; used during the Siva Tau)
	+ "Never Make It Without You (Instrumental)" by Fifth Floor (June 24, 2011–October 19, 2011; used after the Siva Tau)
	+ **"So Close Now"** by David Dallas (October 26, 2011–present; used after the Siva Tau)[86]

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Florida Championship Wrestling**
	+ FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time)[2]

* **WWE**
	+ WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times)[87][88]
	+ Slammy Award for WWE Tag Team of the Year (2014)[89]

* **Pro Wrestling Illustrated**
	+ PWI Tag Team of the Year (2014)[90]
	+ PWI ranked Jimmy #**25** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014[91]
	+ PWI ranked Jey #**26** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2014[91]