To be honest, Nikki Bella’s Y2K, Gwen Stefani, “this post finds me at a very Japanese time in my life” look was the most interesting thing about Bella’s Monday night segment.

And if we’re still being honest, I’m thoroughly over Bella and Vaquer’s feud — if you can even call it a feud. Week in and week out, Bella has been trying to make her case for the WWE Women’s World Championship. I’ll be optimistic: I think in some not-so-distant alternate universe, this could have worked out. We could have had an actual feud on our hands…if Bella wasn’t saying the exact same thing over and over again, and if Vaquer had a chance to respond.

Bella’s promo on Monday night was, to be very kind, middling. She didn’t say much of anything; in fact, I think you could have watched that promo on mute, and still have received the same amount of information. It’s almost like a checklist: “Nikki Bella is a legend,” region-specific sports-related heat, “this is what a champion looks like,” “I will destroy Stephanie Vaquer,” curtain call, and roll credits. You could splice Bella’s promo work from the past few weeks, and with the exception of her reference to Raquel Rodriguez’s gnarly goose egg, it would all sound like a promo that could plausibly be cut in one night. Bella’s talking a lot, but she’s not saying much. It is not a promo. It is noise.

Bella’s roundabout promos and insignificant title campaign, however, are not entirely her fault. Sure, she could have added a bit more sauce to her line delivery (it was very flat), but have you ever tried to start a fire with no kindling? Have you ever tried to keep a fire going with no kindling? It doesn’t work like that. If you get anything — and that’s a big if; a fire’s not going to burn without any fuel — it will likely be nothing more than a smolder: something that cannot keep anyone warm, and something that will only pollute the air you breathe with its acrid smoke. Vaquer is not here to give Bella, a woman known for her mic skills, any fuel to work with. What should have been a red-hot title campaign for a literal WWE Hall of Famer is nothing more than a smolder, because Bella has literally nothing to go off of. Bella’s promo tonight was bad, yes, but what else could it be if WWE isn’t willing to let Vaquer get her words in, or her lick back?

Bella’s promo was bad, yes, but her middling performance post-heel turn is a direct symptom of WWE’s failure to book Vaquer for anything but a premium live event.

Written by Angeline Phu