WWE Superstar Jimmy Uso has been arrested yet again on an alcohol-related charge, this time driving under the influence, as the six-time WWE tag team champion was booked Thursday morning in Pensacola, Florida. Per TMZ, Uso—who declined a field sobriety test—was cited for speeding and driving erratically after “swerving left and right.” Uso’s vehicle was said to have “reeked of alcohol” after he was pulled over.
This marks Jimmy Uso’s third DUI charge following arrests in 2011 and 2013.
Uso’s arrest comes a mere months after his February arrest following a drunken altercation with a police officer in Detroit, Mich., and a little over a year after his twin brother Jey was arrested for a DWI charge of his own. It also comes just over a week after WWE tag team legend Jeff Hardy—who has a lengthy substance abuse history of his own—was arrested on a public intoxication charge.
WWE’s statement on Jimmy Uso, much like its statement on Jeff Hardy and Jey Uso, was mostly designed to distance the company from the personal actions of its Superstars, noting “Jonathan Fatu is responsible for his own actions.”
Though WWE is within its rights in its rather standoffish approach, its irreverence toward these otherwise serious issues doesn’t seem to be helping. During an episode of Table for Three last year, Christian started the dinner conversation by jabbing Hardy for his ugly history with alcohol, saying, “Jeff I called you an Uber,” as the entire table (which also featured Edge and Matt Hardy) gave a hearty laugh.
WWE’s unsettling attitude toward these issues was once again on display Monday night on Raw as John Cena rapped about the Usos’ arrest history in the opening segment of Raw Reunion, which garnered WWE’s biggest audience of 2019.
Said Cena, “Respect for calling me out, but ain’t no way I’m getting bested. Y’all look just like your mugshots, how was it getting arrested?”
The bars were featured in an edited video clip of this exchange on WWE’s official YouTube channel.
Jeff Hardy and the Usos’ struggles with alcohol are clearly major causes of concern and far from being under control. For WWE to condone joking about these chronic offenses on nationally televised broadcasts shows very poor optics. Jeff Hardy and the Usos are all repeat offenders of very serious crimes involving alcohol, and somewhere between now and the past year and a half of legal issues for all three, it’s baffling that there are no known reports of any of these individuals being advised by WWE officials to at least check themselves into WWE-sponsored rehab.
Though they are independent contractors by definition, every arrest of a WWE Superstar reflects poorly on the publicly traded sports entertainment juggernaut, even more so when it is a repeat offense. WWE looks even worse by seemingly taking it all in stride by making light of these situations before trotting its troubled talent back on the road.
