Fan: Do you like Mami?
— sᴀʙʀɪɴᴀ || ᴊʜᴇᴀ's ʏᴇᴇᴛᴀʟɪᴛʏ (@whooooosah) January 31, 2025
Jey: I don’t like Mami. I don’t like her. LOVE her. 🫶🏽 LOVE @RheaRipley_WWE @WWEUsos CAN WE CAPITALIZE ON THIS PRIME REAL ESTATE THAT IS #JHEA #YEETALITY PLS pic.twitter.com/gJ6GMZ27O8
Credit: Fanatics Fest, January 31, 2025 - Royal Rumble weekend, Indianapolis
It was a light and sunny day. I was home, lying on my back after working my day job, minding my business per usual, when the eventual business that paid me was briefed.
Jey said he loves Mami?
My light blue-colored wall room was the White House press room, and I was the press secretary, using my phone to scramble for information on where this breaking news took place while sources confirmed the developing story. I eventually found and watched the glorious footage on the Fanatics Live app, then briefed the nation on my socials.
The nation’s response to this was unprecedented across my Twitter and TikyTok notifications, and justifiably so.
Meanwhile, on TikyTok, the next day:
The TikTok comment that started it all
Initially, I mentioned my designer friend Matt on Twitter, who consistently makes quality wrestling designs and edits, and left it at that. Days passed, and I made the connection that the front, “Jey Loves Mami!” could be stylized like Eddie Guerrero’s “I’m your Papi!” t-shirt, eventually flipped into “I’m your mami!” for Rhea, and the back design like his “Addicted to the Heat” t-shirt, derived from the 1983 film, Scarface, directed by Brian De Palma, starring Al Pacino.
Other than the hand heart gesture Jey did in that glorious livestream, the other design idea I thought of was from one of my favorite moments in the Jhea saga that took place in this segment on Monday Night Raw’s September 9th episode in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Source: WWE Monday Night Raw, September 2, 2024 - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
What J. Cole say? Dog ears perk up at the sound of your name? Jey’s hand-to-lips gesture when hearing Rhea’s name is memorable, and that became Jey Loves Mami V2. And I’m Jordan Belfort whenever I relive this moment. Any Jhea moment really.
Credit: DiCaprion - Tumblr
I tackled that design first, which consisted of placing the image on a split black and white background, changing the photo filter, and manipulating the contrast and shadows until it resembled the Scarface poster. Deciding on the “title” of this design, if you will, was difficult, but I settled with what Jey would refer to Rhea as on two occasions in 2023 when he first got to the red brand.
Source: WWE Monday Night Raw, October 2023 - Jey's "Ms. Rhea Ripley" moments
It’s Mami… Ms. Rhea Ripley, if you’re ucey.
I used the most similar font to the Scarface font, made it bold, and made two promotional graphics with the design. I uploaded the V2 graphic as a reply to that comment on TikyTok, and when I saw it generated some interest, I started looking for a local screenprinter in Miami, Against All Odds.
During that process, the V1 design was more challenging for me. The screenshot of Jey from the livestream was of too low quality and low resolution that I couldn’t achieve the same success with V2, so I enlisted illustration help from my trusted designer, Yuane, and the finished product was the illustrated, digital version of the ‘Love her’ moment as a halftone design.
The co-owner of Against All Odds offered me to come on-site and see the different t-shirt blanks. Since I own the “I’m your mami!” tee printed by Fanatics, I knew the shirt was soft, so I wanted to replicate that feeling to offset the heavyweight material I knew I would later use for other Jhea Yeetality designs. We decided on the company Tee Styled: 5.6oz mid-heavyweight combed cotton. Those shirts have my inside tags screenprinted on the neckline with my brand name, a generic tagline I thought was cool at the time, and my Twitter QR code.
Naming a merchandise brand “whooooosah” is quirky, unorthodox, and odd, but I’ve been using it since 2015 when I was going through my Martin Lawrence binge, including Bad Boys. The woosah scenes are my favorite.
When I was in film school in 2020, a mutual on Wattpad told me I’d have a production company. I thought it was far-fetched, but thought of calling it “whooooosah productions.” That won’t happen, but I wanted to use the name for something from my short list of wants, and it ended up being a merchandise brand. And so here we are: the want to make graphic tees since 2017, originally for my poetry book—an idea I shelved until 2022—now living through my 8-year-old childlike love for wrestling, and of course, Prime Real Estate Jhea.
And that’s how the “Jey Loves Mami!” tees were made.
If you liked this blog and love Jhea, cop a shirt or two, send me heart hands by using the checkout button, and tag me when you wear it!
Until we Yeet again.