5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (23 Jan - Results & Review)
1. Pesky Mask Business Holds Everyone Back
The upside to this is that most will appreciate WWE’s writers trying to give everyone something to fight about, but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically interesting. Nathan Frazer beat Johnny Gargano to theoretically win Axiom’s mask back from Gargano. As aforementioned last week, his tag partner likely has loads of these things in storage, so why is this particular mask so special? Also, Fraxiom looked like total goofs when Gargano and Candice LeRae grabbed the mask back and ran away.
The saga rolls on.
Unfortunately, Triple H's crack team of writers (looking at you, Road Dogg) managed to fudge the hot SmackDown tag-team division and make everyone in it less interesting. Also, Johnny might need a new pal now Tommaso Ciampa is gone or he’s cooked. Put it this way: It would be a colossal shock if he broke out into a successful singles run without a partner there to back him up.
Fraxiom's lot in life at the minute seems to be 'well-meaning idiots'. They could easily grab that mask back from Gargano and LeRae or tell the couple they simply don't care about it. That's how flimsy the story is. This is verging on fighting over a Japanese shampoo commercial like Booker T and Edge did back in 2002.
If nothing else, that iconic pair could point to money as motivation. Axiom and Frazer can't do the same in 2026. They should be banging on the creative team's door and suggesting ways to make things better, because they're in trouble if this is all WWE has for them.