4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (17 November - Results & Review)

DOWNS...

5. Bella Drops Vaquer

Urgh. Where to drop this one? There’s both good and bad to it, but the chips have to fall somewhere.

Nikki Bella was never going to get much mileage out of an aww-shucks babyface run in 2025, so her heel turn against Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer came at the right time last week. And WWE did the right thing by having Bella back it up with another attack Monday night. Vaquer came out for an in-ring interview, only for Nikki to drop her from behind in the entranceway. Bella continued to attack before the smoke had even cleared (literally), before grabbing the mic.

Nikki said that she didn’t return to WWE to be a cheerleader or Vaquer’s sidekick; she came back to take over the division that she once owned. Bella warned La Primera that she will give her a title match and eventually bow down to her.

All of this on the surface was fine… if you had the television on mute.

We have to acknowledge Nikki’s horrendous delivery. Nikki has always sounded like she’s reading a pizzeria menu when cutting a promo, and Monday wasn’t any different. But it negated the good of the blindside attack because you couldn’t believe anything that came out of her mouth.

One would think after nearly a decade away from WWE that Bella would have brushed up on how to speak like a convincing human being, but she’s just as wooden as ever. Maybe stick to sneak attacks and putting an “L” up to her forehead. It worked once before…

But to be fair, the attack itself was fine, and Nikki as a heel challenger is perfectly acceptable.