WWE duo told to change gear because they looked like Roman Reigns

The Usos revealed on the latest episode of The New Day’s Feel The Power podcast that they were told to change their WWE gear because they looked too similar to Roman Reigns.

Back in 2016, Jimmy and Jey stopped wearing facepaint and began dressing in all black following their heel turn on SmackDown.

At the time, Reigns – The Usos’ biological cousin – was a prominent Superstar on the RAW roster, but Jey explained that WWE’s decision-makers still wanted them to change their new attire after deeming that it closely resembled Reigns’ black-vested look.

“Obviously, for the heel change, we needed to change everything, but they were saying when they had first seen us working in all black, it was like, 'You guys look too much like Roman. Don't look like Roman.' 'Man, who the hell else are we supposed to look like? We're in the same gene pool, uce.'” [H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcription]

The Usos turned heel in September 2016

As you can see above, this is the gear that The Usos wore at Backlash 2016 – their first WWE pay-per-view as a heel tag team in five years.

Jey also told The New Day that he and Jimmy desperately wanted to stop wearing facepaint, which was a key aspect of their babyface characters, and they fought backstage to receive permission to change their appearance.