Jey Uso advanced to the semifinals of the 2026 WWE King of the Ring tournament last week on SmackDown, outlasting LA Knight, Finn Balor and Royce Keys in the multi-man elimination that reshaped the bracket.
Uso’s victory eliminated LA Knight, Balor and Keys from the tournament and set a one-on-one semifinal for Uso against Raw newcomer Je’Von Evans. The winner of that match will meet the winner of Oba Femi vs. Dominik Mysterio in the King of the Ring final at Night of Champions on June 27.
The win landed amid visible online backlash. Fans flooded YouTube and social channels after the SmackDown segment, and the official video of Uso’s victory had more than 70,000 dislikes at the time of publication. That response follows at least two previous episodes where videos centered on Uso’s major singles wins drew overwhelming negative reactions.
Uso’s recent run has produced headline moments: in March 2025 he defeated Austin Theory in under 30 seconds on Raw, in fall 2025 he won a battle royal that earned him a shot at the then-vacant World Heavyweight Championship, and he beat Gunther for that title at WrestleMania 41. His World Heavyweight Championship reign lasted 51 days. By December 2025 he had reunited with Jimmy Uso as a tag team and has since returned to a supporting role alongside Roman Reigns in The Bloodline.
The friction around last week’s result is not just about one elimination. Many fans framed the reaction as frustration that Uso is again receiving prominent singles opportunities while performers such as LA Knight—widely regarded as underappreciated—are removed from marquee tournament runs. That perception has been the through-line in the social-media outcry, and it helps explain why videos of Uso’s big wins repeatedly attract large dislike totals.
For the tournament itself, the practical stakes are straightforward: Uso’s win keeps him in the running for a King of the Ring crown and a match that could boost him back toward a top singles spot on WWE television. His immediate test is Evans, the Raw newcomer he is slated to face in the semifinals; whoever wins that match will move to the June 27 final at Night of Champions against the survivor of Femi vs. Mysterio.
The most consequential question now is whether Uso can clear Je’Von Evans and punch his ticket to the King of the Ring final at Night of Champions on June 27. A victory would answer the bracket problem—one match from a potential title-making run—while a loss would validate the critics who say the company has been prioritizing Uso at the expense of performers such as LA Knight.
