Breaking Down the Best and Worst of the WWE for Week of October 5

The gap between WWE and NXT was especially glaring this week.

WWE followed a solid show at Madison Square Garden with yet another lackluster Raw. SmackDown was skippable. Many of the stories failed to connect. Rusev continues to be a joke, and Stephanie McMahon's alignment seems to be malleable. Furthermore, Cesaro is missing in action.

And as good as John Cena vs. Seth Rollins was in New York, no one will be writing poetry about it, as fans may certainly do about Sasha Banks vs. Bayley II at NXT TakeOver: Respect.

That bout succeeded at every point, from its buildup to its execution and from its ability to thrill to its emotional power. It was a showcase of what NXT is getting right.

The kind of electricity that flows through the audience when it watches a match like that is something WWE's main roster is missing too often. Raw's ratings struggles are not surprising. No narrative on that show is nearly as effective as what NXT produced at the top of the TakeOver card.

Best: The New Day Step into the Spotlight

WWE offered two surprises. For one, it decided to truly get behind some fresh faces, and second, it chose The New Day as those faces.

The heel trio closed Monday's Raw as the triumphant destroyers. Long just a comedy act, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E showed some welcome bite. They clobbered Dolph Ziggler, stole his U.S. title shot and later laid out every babyface within kicking range.

The New Day followed that up by opening SmackDown in all their gloating glory before Big E earned a cheap victory over Ziggler.

Too often, the tag team champs are forced to play bit roles and watch as other names grab the spotlight. Not here. WWE is investing in these energized, annoying villains. 

That has to continue. Let them earn a definitive win against The Dudley Boyz. Have them continue to sit high on the WWE food chain. 

They are, after all, the most entertaining act going. Rolling with them instead of leaning on names from the past is the smart move. 

Worst: Who Is Stephanie McMahon at This Point?

Stephanie McMahon is a chameleon. From moment to moment, her character shifts, leaving one unsure of who she really is.

This week was a painful example of that. 

On Monday's Raw, she played to the Boston crowd, getting them to cheer for her by name-dropping Tom Brady. That placating side of her didn't last long, though. McMahon was soon berating the babyface Kane and telling them that if he lost his title match, she would fire him.

She is vicious in one segment and a supporter of what's fair the next. On Raw, she was the merciless executive who was barking at The New Day. At NXT TakeOver: Respect, she was the caring, supportive matriarch of the women's division.

The lack of clarity with her character is maddening. And it distracts from every segment she's a part of.

Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net summed it quite well when he wrote: "Her character isn't mysterious. No one is sitting around wondering what she will do next. Her character is confusing and they need to pick a direction and stick with it."

Best: Sasha Banks and Bayley Outdo Themselves

If someone intrigued by pro wrestling goes to their WWE-loving friend and asks for a match to introduce them to the art, the answer should be Sasha Banks vs. Bayley II.

Their Iron Man match at NXT TakeOver: Respect represented the medium at its peak. The wrestlers built up the drama beautifully. Their passion pulsated through the screen. The in-ring narrative hooked the audience, leaving them with moist eyes, lump-filled throats and hands stinging from clapping.

The praise flooded in.

Indy wrestler Amazing Red tweeted, "That's how it's done!"

Mick Foley added on Twitter, "No one who watched #NXTTakeOverRespect will forget this moment." 

Audrey Sitterson of the Straight Shoot podcast called it, "WAY better than the first bayley/banks match"—a bout that many were ready to name Match of the Year.

Bayley and Banks advanced the upswing that women's wrestling at WWE is experiencing.

They were tasked with the pressure of making history as the first women to main event a TakeOver and as the first women to fight in an Iron Man match. Rather than that pressure weighing them down, it seemed to provide them wings. Banks and Bayley soared at Full Sail University, further changing what we thought was possible within the women's division.

Worst: The Cheese Factor Amplifies in Rusev-Summer Rae Storyline

The devolution of Rusev continues.

A monster on the rise is a star in a squared-circle soap opera that gets less interesting as it goes along. His feud with Dolph Ziggler and story with Summer Rae has teased at moving toward intensity and aggression, but on Monday's Raw it returned to its corny core.

A recap of Summer and Rusev's relationship played on the screen on Monday's Raw and did so for a long time.

It was among the cheesiest things WWE has produced. And it's still unclear who is supposed to be benefiting from this angle. Putting Rusev in comedic moments isn't going to elevate him; Ziggler hasn't looked like a star in the least throughout this narrative.

The only thing this has accomplished is to provide proof of how poor an actor Summer is.

Lana's absence has taken the one electric element of this feud away. It's now just inspiration to flip over to Monday Night Football.

Best: Another TakeOver, Another Triumph

An instant classic main event, standout performances from Tyler Breeze and Apollo Crews and the final battles of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic made sure that NXT continued its habit of outdoing itself.

NXT TakeOver: Respect was taut, thrilling and moving. On his blog, Jim Ross called it "an outstanding show on all fronts." 

The tag tourney featured a trio of excellent bouts. Asuka arrived in emphatic fashion. Baron Corbin, Scott Dawson, Breeze, Crews and Dana Brooke all shined. And the event closed with a match for the ages, as Bayley outlasted Sasha Banks in an Iron Man match.

WWE did miss an opportunity to elevate a rising team such as Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, but it sure made the process of crowning the first Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners was entertaining.

While the main roster's calendar is crammed full of events that often don't feel as big as advertised, NXT's quarterly schedule allows for more buildup, more suspense and more room to tell stories in between shows. That was evident on Wednesday night. The latest TakeOver made full use of what separates NXT from WWE proper.

And now NXT can take its time in journeying to the next show. Officials have until December 16 to pack the cannon with explosives. The impending boom is sure to be another big one.