3 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (17 Oct - Results & Review)

Downs...

3. Solid, But What Are They Fighting For?

Normally, a match like Motor City Machine Guns vs. Los Garza would reach automatic 'Ups' territory without hesitation, but the whole thing actually felt pretty pointless. Sure, it was a tidy effort from all involved, but...what were they fighting for? The Wyatt Sicks are champs and have something going on with the MFT stable, so it’s not like the Guns and Garza were striving to become number one contenders or anything.

The one year anniversary thing Motor City had going on was flimsy, because they actually don’t have a lot to celebrate. This writer enjoyed the match just fine, but it’s hard to rubber stamp an ‘Up’ when the booking is so weak for things like this; even the announcers didn’t really know what to say about where these squads are going. That sense the division is drifting was hammered home after the match when Fraxiom and DIY set up their own match for seemingly no reason.

Tommaso Ciampa said he and Johnny Gargano decided to “stay out of the way” for the past 2 months. Wow, talk about weak. Get the belts off The Sicks, please. They’ve strangled this division’s momentum throughout 2025. It used to be one of SmackDown's biggest plus points, but now far too many of the squads are wandering around coming up with the lamest excuses for having matches or even being on television.

Why anyone thought to script that line for Ciampa is baffling. So, he and Gargano just decided to let firm rivals The Street Profits go after gold they've hunted out of the kindness of their own hearts? Nah, not having it. Way more is needed to contextualise these matches. Otherwise, they're just bouts for the sake of it and achieve sod all.