4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (30 May - Results & Review)

3. Something Isn’t Clicking With JC Mateo

WWE had a clear goal in mind for JC Mateo's soft squash-esque win over R-Truth on Friday's episode of SmackDown: Present Mateo as a powerhouse who uses his low centre of gravity to trick opponents into thinking he isn't strong as an ox. The bout was short, but it wasn't snappy enough to get the job done and tick off that 'JC is a beast we should care about' box.

This writer hopes he’s wrong in the long run, but Jeff Cobb in WWE as Solo Sikoa’s muscle Mateo isn’t really working thus far. He had a fine enough win over Truth here, and his finisher looks great on the right people, but yeah - something is missing. Dude has tag-team guy written all over him, so that could be his ceiling during this surprise run with the company.

The sooner WWE gets to the stuff between Sikoa and Jacob Fatu with Mateo sandwiched in between, the better. In fairness, it was nice to see JC attacking Jimmy Uso when Solo was trying to recruit though. Slowly casting him as a brute Sikoa doesn't have the leadership to control would amplify a story Solo has already been telling with Fatu anyway, and at least that'd give Mateo some menace.

Would anyone really be shocked if Fatu burned through both these guys then moved on to pastures new (Damian Priest, for example) whilst Solo and JC attacked the tag-team division? That wouldn't be the worst use of Mateo in particular, because something isn't hitting the way WWE wants it to.

He's only just arrived on the WWE roster and he's already up and down.