Royce Keys and OTM didn’t attack the Usos on Raw this week so much as stage a small crime scene in a parking lot, and it’s the first time in months WWE has made me put my phone down mid-scroll.
Nobody had to cut backstage afterward and explain why it mattered: you could see it in the blood.
Here’s what happened, because if you missed it, you need the play-by-play before you get the take. As Raw went on the air, Keys and OTM (Bronco Nima and Lucien Price) jumped Jimmy and Jey Uso before either guy could get near the building. Keys smashed the windshield of their car with a crowbar and dragged Jey out busted open, blood and all, while OTM powerbombed Jimmy through the rear glass. Netflix pixelated Jey’s face because it was that bad. I’ve rewatched the clip more times than I’d like to admit.
That’s already more violent than anything this angle has done all summer. Then Jacob Fatu showed up carrying a lead pipe, Keys and OTM peeled out in their own car to get away from him, and Fatu stormed through the crowd to the announce table, furious, promising war on all three of them for what they did to his family. WWE’s CCO Triple H later posted the uncensored footage with the caption “Destructive. Dangerous. And at #WWERaw.”
https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/2094622773012283485
Somebody green-lit a car getting demolished on purpose.
My dad texted me “did you see this” before the segment was even over, which is the actual metric I use for whether an angle worked. He hasn’t texted me about a Raw segment since spring.
I’ll admit the counterargument, because it’s a fair one: WWE has cried wolf on “shocking” before, and by Thursday a lot of those moments get walked back in some backstage promo that explains away the violence. That’s been the actual problem all year — angles that needed a Talking Smack appearance to justify why anyone should’ve cared. This one doesn’t need that.
Nobody has to tell you Fatu’s rage is real when you just watched a guy get pulled through broken glass. Fatu’s fury tracks the second you remember he’s tangled up in the Bloodline’s family business the same way Reigns and the Usos are.
Roman Reigns reportedly told Fatu to handle Keys himself, which sets up a grudge match WWE hasn’t earned honestly in a while. Later in the same show, Solo Sikoa turned up bleeding backstage, Fatu denied touching him, and Reigns settled his own beef during the same Raw where Reigns dropped LA Knight with a Superman Punch — a show that also had room for a Women’s Intercontinental Championship match and a Penta-Rey Fenix tournament final.
I don’t need Keys and OTM explained to me in a vignette next week. I already believe they’re dangerous, and WWE showed me instead of telling me. Go read the rest of this week’s Raw fallout if you think I’m exaggerating.
