6 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Backlash 2016

5. Uso Image Makeover

the usos
WWE.com

Kudos to whoever made sure that the Usos’ heel turn on SmackDown last week wasn’t just a thing that happened and the announcers had to remind fans of every two minutes.

Jimmy and Jey underwent an entire image change, ditching their facepaint and colorful outfits for simple black ring gear, ceasing their pre-match dance and jawing with fans as they almost slink to the ring. You could just feel that they had flipped a switch from smiling babyface tag team to surly, disillusioned brothers bent on winning.

A lot of times, image can help a wrestler immensely, but they have to connect with that image and convey it to the crowd. If Jimmy and Jey bounded down to ringside or smiled, it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. But everything about them said they weren’t the same brothers fans had cheered for years – and that was before the bell rang.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.