You could have switched the ending of this Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw” with last week’s ending, and I would have not noticed.

Roman Reigns and Jey Uso’s feud against Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker is one of WWE’s hottest stories going into SummerSlam, but don’t be fooled: it’s not because of the feud’s booking. If anything, this feud’s booking would be its downfall if the parties involved were not the absolute stars that they are. How else are we expected to engage with a feud that is sustained on next to nothing but post-match run-ins and unsanctioned beat-downs?

Reed and Uso locked up in Monday’s main event in anticipation of their New Jersey tag match, and the match itself was, in a less-than-shocking, even-more-disappointing turn of events, absolutely meaningless. The two of them looked fine in the ring, but the match was just a vessel for the post-match beat-down formula that this feud has been sustained on. It was last week’s ending, verbatim: Reed and Breakker exhibit hooligan behavior, Reigns’ music hits, Reigns enters the ring with the exact same expression. Reigns charges Reed and Breakker, they hit finishers, show ends. While the small details might be different — whoever is left standing tall alternates like this unsanctioned violence is a barter (you scratch my back, I scratch yours; you put me over, I put you over) — I just described 90% of this feud’s “development.” I’m telling you, you could splice every moment of this feud into one compilation, and I wouldn’t be able to tell you in what order they happened in.

It’s not just that this feud’s beats are copy and pasted, it is that they completely lack any sort of direction. It would be one thing if there was some progression to this feud: you can have two post-match run-ins in a week, but things need to change. Things need to escalate. What you can’t have happen is the same booking with no noticeable difference. That is the definition of insanity. I think I’m going insane from how stale it has already become. For a main eventer like Reigns, and up-and-coming stars like Uso, Reed, and Breakker, there should be some more variety to bring more eyes onto this feud. Relying on sheer starpower while sticking to the same tricks only does so much for the attentive viewer. Otherwise, it is nothing more than a farm for social media shortform slop.

The only redeeming quality of this main event was the shoe beat. I could not tell you why Reed found the need to take that Uncle Reigns’ shoes, but seeing Reigns’ curled up body, his feet *out* for everyone, with “Executive Producer: Paul Levesque” plastered over was insane. It almost saved this show ending for me, because it was different! If this feud’s booking had that same level of innovation every week, this feud would have been a home run.

Unfortunately, the creativity well has run dry, just like this feud. And this show. And SummerSlam.

Written by Angeline Phu