Breaking Down the Best and Worst of the WWE for Week of Oct. 27

Hell in a Cell's main event was in itself both a peak and a valley for WWE.

A pair of men demanding to become the company's next marquee stars made an emphatic statement inside a rattling steel enclosure. It was hard to hear that statement, though, over all the snickering.

A silly sci-fi ending capped off a bit of violent storytelling that will have fans thinking back to the days of Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum T.A. or Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer.  

Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro provided excellence on both TV and pay-per-view. Sami Zayn's slow climb back to gold entertained.

There was plenty of quality wrestling to take in, enough perhaps to clear one's of thoughts of how poorly the WWE Network numbers were.

Best: Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro Twice

Dolph Ziggler's show-stealing ways continue.

He and Cesaro put on two of the best bouts of the past week, adding prestige to the Intercontinental Championship in the process. SmackDown played host to their first IC title bout. Cesaro smashed The Showoff into the mat and knocked his head back with uppercuts.

It wasn't enough.

Ziggler, after suffering a string of non-title losses, suddenly looked strong again, the resilient champ gutting out a victory. Cesaro wanted another crack. He challenged Ziggler to a rematch at Hell in a Cell.

Ziggler then fended him off again in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match at the pay-per-view.

Some fans will cry foul because Cesaro lost in consecutive falls. That's not WWE burying him; it's the company offering up the unexpected (how often do these things end like that?) and making a titleholder look more than deserving of that status.

Leading up to that decision, Ziggler and Cesaro put on two great shows. This is the kind of action that is supposed to be a part of the chase for the IC crown.

Worst: Poor Numbers for WWE Network

The WWE Network is a treasure trove of nostalgia and entertainment for the fans, but it's not pulling in the kind of money the company had hoped.

WWE sent out a press release detailing its financial numbers over the quarter. The key figure there is 731,000. That's how many folks subscribe to the WWE Network, a long way off the goal of reaching 1 million subscribers.

The move to the streaming service was a bold, risky one. While WWE waits for this to pay off, its wallet is hurting. The press release noted a $5.9 million loss. 

CEO Vince McMahon and company are willing to try just about anything to make this work and to get people to make the WWE Network a part of their monthly budget. The required six-month commitment in order to get the $9.99 price is now gone. WWE is even offering the network to new subscribers for free in November.

On his blog, Jim Ross laid out some good ideas on how else to get the numbers to pick up, including featuring "vignettes of network offerings to remind fans of what they are missing" on its TV shows.

Best: Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins Inside the Hell in a Cell

Credit: WWE.com

Dean Ambrose clotheslines Seth Rollins.

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins reminded us just how much a Hell in a Cell match can squeeze its hands around the audience.

The steel structure provided the ideal home for their searing fury. A match their story has been building up to for months did not disappoint.

Ambrose was an enthralling madman, flinging steel chairs around the ring, sending Rollins through tables and attacking his archenemy while wearing a grin. The foes fell off the side of the cell and later tore themselves off stretchers, paying homage to Mankind and Undertaker's classic match in 1998.

It looked as if the race for the Match of the Year award was ready to be won by two emerging stars given an opportunity to close the show.

Then came the hologram. 

Worst: The Hologram

Credit: WWE.com

Dean Ambrose sees a ghostly figure.

Some will argue that Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose's match should have been decided without interference or that Ambrose should have earned definitive revenge. Maybe. But it's not as if you can't have a classic match that ends with an intruder deciding the outcome.

Refer to Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels at Badd Blood 1997.

It's the corny way that WWE approached this that made it so off-putting. Smoke rose from the center of a ring and then a hologram ghost appeared.

Even if WWE had James Cameron in control of that stunt, it would have been hard to pull off without coming off like a punchline.

It sucked some of the life out of Rollins vs. Ambrose. It directed the conversation away from a terrific Hell in a Cell match and an all-around successful show.

There had to be a better way to introduce Bray Wyatt to the bout. 

Best: Sami Zayn's Road to Redemption

One of WWE's better stories is unfolding at NXT. After a number of losses in key matches, Sami Zayn has promised to earn his way back to the NXT title.

Along what is being referred to as his "road to redemption," he faced Titus O'Neil. The bulking powerhouse from the main roster defeated Zayn the last time around. Thursday's clash was another tough match for the NXT prospect, as he struggled to overcome O'Neil's brute force.

A bit of straight-forward storytelling, hero toughing it out against monster, powered a standout match.

This was some of the best work that we've seen from O'Neil and another bullet point on the section of Zayn's resume that reads "excellent performances."

The narrative now moves on, Zayn having several victories ahead of him before he can return to contender status. Next up is Tyler Breeze. The male model/grappler came out to the ring to taunt Zayn.

Another leg of Zayn's journey awaits, this one especially promising.