Here at the WINC Loved/Hated Department, we love to smuggle in a thing we loved disguised as a thing we hate, and I know it looks like that’s what I’m doing here. But I’m not. Tommaso Ciampa teasing a split with Johnny Gargano and breaking up DIY legitimately sucks. It sucks if they stay a team and both go heel, which is basically the exact same thing Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell just finished doing, and it sucks if Johnny stays a face and they feud, because at this point I’m not sure even people who loved their “NXT” saga would give a damn. That story mattered because Ciampa and Gargano were presented like superstars. Nobody turned on anybody until they had won the tag titles on the biggest possible stage and lost them in the only tag team match to ever main event a Takeover special. DIY have done nothing since reuniting on the main roster. Not one single thing. So who cares if they feud?

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Honestly, the most depressing thing about the whole thing is that even though there’s no upside to any of this, no possible good outcome, I was still kind of glad it happened, because at least something is happening. And what was the alternative — them winning the tag titles? The crowd couldn’t care less about them. Crickets. Nothing. The crowd didn’t want DIY to win; they were cheering for Truth, and for The Miz. The Miz. In 2024. There’s no coming back from that. You don’t put the tag titles on a babyface team that can’t get cheered over The Miz in 2024.

Here’s an idea: How about we split up DIY via the draft before any great betrayal can happen and have both guys go their own way again? At least Ciampa was seeing some singles success before he got hurt and Gargano came back, and Gargano should have a better shot of making it as a singles guy now that Dexter Lumis has been banished to the shadow lands. WWE waited too long before pulling the trigger on the DIY reunion, didn’t get behind them with any sort of real push after it happened, and have now had them lose so many tag title matches that there’s no believable reason for them to stay a tag team. It was a miss. Own it, and do what you can to salvage anything left. Don’t assume a heel turn will save them, and don’t stick them with each other in a singles feud that will also go nowhere. Just move on.

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Written by Miles Schneiderman