WWE Programming's Best Match for Week of January 24

While the outcome of Royal Rumble may have been disappointing, it's been a pretty good week for WWE in terms of in-ring competition. It's a continuation of a well-established trend—talent has the chops to put on a good match, but the surrounding storylines just don't hold up.

It's a shame to see such a strong roster go to waste. There are technically gifted wrestlers excelling from the bottom of the card to the top; it's just a shame that the only ones being supported by engrossing storylines are still in developmental.

Honourable Mentions

Daniel Bryan and Kane had an enjoyable Casket Match on SmackDown that will hopefully end their lengthy feud. The pair certainly have chemistry, but it's been stretched about as thing as it can go—since his big win at WrestleMania 30, Kane has been present in the vast majority of Bryan's televised bouts.

This week's edition of NXT featured a pair of really excellent matches. Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd was as good as you would expect given the talent involved, and both men brought their best. The NXT Championship No. 1 Contender's tournament has already produced some excellent contests, and it's not finished yet.

The tag match that saw Charlotte and Bayley face Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch was also a standout. The four-way for the NXT Women's Championship at Takeover looks set to be spectacular—and well deserving of the main event spot, if that turns out to be the case.

Elsewhere, the pre-show match at the Royal Rumble was a showcase for some of the most underrated talent on the WWE roster. If you missed it, it's well worth checking out.

Match of the Week for January 31: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble

There should be little surprise that this match took the top spot this week; while the Rumble itself left the majority feeling flat, the title match that preceded it was a very early contender for the 2015 Match of the Year—and no doubt a bout we'll still be discussing for some time to come.

With Seth Rollins present to liven up the played-out Lesnar-Cena confrontation, a heady pace was set from the opening bell, and it didn't let up once until The Beast came out on top. Cena was the weak link here, but Rollins and Lesnar had more than enough pep to make up for his uninspiring performance.

Credit: WWE.com

For the first time since SummerSlam, Brock looked like the destructive force he's been billed as. Rollins and Cena being forced to team up provided an interesting dynamic between the two, and made for an organic story that played out throughout the match.

The most important takeaway here was just how natural The Architect was in the main event. Not just anyone can make such a transition look as easy as Rollins did on Sunday, and he looks set to have a very good year if things carry on in this manner.

His jaw-dropping Phoenix Splash near the bout's climax demonstrated just how varied his arsenal is—and just how smart it is to keep these moves hidden away while he's playing the villain. Rollins will be a huge fan favourite down the line, it's just a matter of when that switch is best flipped.

If things play out as they look likely to over the next few months, this will go down as the best match of Lesnar's title reign. At any rate, it'll go down as one of the all-time classics to unfold at the Royal Rumble—it's just a shame that what followed wasn't anywhere near as engrossing.

What's your pick for Match of the Week? Reigns vs. Big Show perhaps? Or the Diva's tag from the Royal Rumble? Let us know in the comments section below.