6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (8 Nov - Results & Review)

4. No Entrances, No Tags, No Problem!

Trawl through social media and you'll see a lot of sniping comments pointing out that DIY vs. Pretty Deadly lasted less than 90 seconds and featured exactly zero tags. Literally. Johnny Gargano didn't actually do anything physical at all. He stood on the ring apron in awe of the dervish his partner had turned into since a tension-packed promo skit behind the curtain earlier.

Personally, this guy doesn't have an issue with Tommaso Ciampa going wild on PD and blowing off steam with a quickfire win. It followed up on that tense standoff between DIY partners backstage (Ciampa was peeved that Johnny congratulated Motor City Machine Guns). The match was super-short, but it had focus, and that's always preferable to some bland 5-10 minute back and forth without any.

Cole even brought up that Tommaso's behaviour reminded him of "the old Ciampa from NXT". That's worth keeping an eye on, not least if Tommaso can bring the evil side out in Gargano. Their team could do with an edge anyway, because they've been supplanted as the happy go lucky grafters since MCMGs arrived on the scene. That spot has been taken from you, gentlemen. Time to move on.

Basically, if this is the start of a slow burn heel turn for DIY, then bring that the hell on. Ciampa teaching Gargano how to be more ruthless sounds juicy, and it'd give the pair something meaningful to do on TV over the coming months. Not mad at the thought of heel DIY vs. Machine Guns on PLE in early-2025.