Former WWE head writer Vince Russo has criticized the creative direction for Solo Sikoa’s faction, the MFT. Speaking on the latest episode of Sportskeeda’s Brodown, Russo called the recent string of SmackDown video packages a stalling tactic, predicting the group will “get beat” as soon as they wrestle together again.
His critique focused on Sikoa’s promos, which have introduced different members each week. Russo pointed to Tonga Loa’s vignette and the more recent spotlight on JC Mateo as proof the company is using this approach to “buy them five or six weeks.”
On the show, hosted by Mac Davis, Russo expanded on his view. “Here’s what they’re gonna do with that. This is buying them time now. This is gonna buy them five or six weeks. Every week, he’s gonna highlight a different guy in the group. He did it last week, and he did it this week. Fine. But you and I know damn well what’s gonna happen. We’re gonna go through every guy in the group. Now we’re gonna bring them back, and they’re gonna lose on week one. We’ve seen it a million times. If you’re doing this and these guys come back with a new attitude and they’re gonna dominate, that’s fine. But they ain’t gonna do that. So they’re wasting five weeks of our time, highlighting each person because as soon as they come back, they’re gonna get beat.”
The latest package aired on the September 26 episode of SmackDown and focused on JC Mateo. In the promo, Sikoa emphasized Mateo’s Olympic background and multiple championships across promotions, saying he trusted Mateo to keep the group in line.
This emphasis on promos comes while Sikoa has been off television as an in-ring competitor. His last televised bout was on August 29, when he lost the United States Championship to Sami Zayn.
Despite the absence, Sikoa remains a central figure on SmackDown. He recently wrestled Jacob Fatu in a Steel Cage Match at SummerSlam 2025 and continues to play a major role in the brand’s top storylines heading into the year’s final months.