Jey Uso was moments away from winning the Intercontinental Championship from the seemingly unbeatable Gunther Monday night, when his brother interfered.

Jimmy Uso distracted his twin by ringing the timekeeper’s bell, which allowed The Ring General to successfully retain his title and forged a path to WrestleMania 40 and the culmination of a sibling rivalry that began at SummerSlam last year.

Is that the right choice, though?

Has WWE botched the introduction of a rivalry that will write its most significant chapter on the grandest stage in professional wrestling?

In a storyline with the length and overarching nature of The Bloodline, it is somewhat surprising to see WWE preparing to rush Jimmy vs. Jey Uso onto the WrestleMania card when there is still unfinished business with both performers.

Jey’s story is that of a man looking to prove himself on his own and without The Bloodline. That is why he moved away from his family on SmackDown and headed to Raw. It’s why the chase of his first singles title and his showdown with Gunther was such a big deal.

Fans bought into Jey’s story, wanted to see him pay it off and hold championship gold while free and clear of Jimmy, Solo Sikoa and Roman Reigns.

The initial tease of a feud, and an in-ring promo that announced that direction to the world were met with great enthusiasm, suggesting the idea of Jey dethroning Gunther and ending his near two-year reign as intercontinental champion.

There was plenty to do on that front, with Jey heading into ‘Mania after passing tests in the form of Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, then challenging Gunther for his title and embarking on a strong run as a singles babyface champion before bringing the siblings together for a showdown at WrestleMania in 2025.

Of course, there is logic behind what Triple H and WWE Creative have laid out to this point.

Jimmy has cost Jey the tag team, intercontinental and undisputed WWE universal titles at different points over the last year, with the idea being that he does not want his brother to succeed without him. Doing so would suggest that Jimmy is the weaker of the two.

The problem is that Jey already won the tag titles with Cody Rhodes, so that logic goes out the window.

It would have meant more if Jey won the IC title and went on a great run, while Jimmy evolved from being a Bloodline lackey to earning some quality wins.

The idea of Jimmy being the one to end his brother’s reign would have given him greater purpose than just randomly showing up to cost him victories while simultaneously never winning himself.

The storyline involving Reigns, The Rock and Rhodes forced WWE Creative to sharply pivot from its original plans for WrestleMania, and it’s not out of the question that those changes greatly affected other wrestlers and stories in that same universe.

Jimmy vs. Jey being a big piece of that puzzle.

Perhaps the company was forced to fast-track a match it originally did not plan on conducting at WrestleMania this year. Maybe, it had to take on a different form amid ever-changing creative.

Whatever the case, it is entirely possible that what we are seeing in reference to the sibling rivalry is not what the original intention was. It’s also possible this was what Triple H and Co. had in mind the entire time.

If that is the case, it feels uncharacteristically rushed, especially since the rivalry was just addressed at the Royal Rumble, where Jimmy did nothing to ensure the elimination of his brother, giving the impression that he would have been totally OK with Jey cashing his ticket to WrestleMania and challenging Reigns, something even less consistent with the story.

Jimmy vs. Jey is a match that has to happen. It makes sense given the betrayal that occurred at SummerSlam and everything that has happened since.

It just didn’t have to happen now, before Jey really established his own star and before Jimmy could be taken seriously as someone who can actually defeat his clearly superior brother.