Breaking Down the Best and Worst of WWE for Week of Dec. 9

Stellar performances made up the best of the WWE week; poor choices, from the company and fans alike, made up the worst.

CM Punk and Dean Ambrose provided a pair of matches that had a tight grip on the audience's attention. Natalya, Curtis Axel and Brodus Clay were a part of a must-watch Wednesday. What WWE didn't add to the TLC 2013 lineup, as well as two Slammy slip-ups, counterbalanced that excellence.

Heading into the final pay-per-view, WWE thrilled far more than it overwhelmed, though.

From Ambrose's attempts to weaken Punk before TLC to a new reason to tune into John Cena and Randy Orton, here is the best and worst of the week in WWE action. 

Best: CM Punk vs. Dean Ambrose (Twice)

CM Punk and Dean Ambrose delivered the best match of the night on two shows in a row.

On the Dec. 6 SmackDown, Ambrose selected himself to represent The Shield against the former WWE champ. An intense, engaging bout ensued.

Ambrose looked to punish Punk by attacking his injured ribs or by yanking back on his hair. Punk escaped a nasty armbar, avoided the headlock driver and eventually hit the GTS for the win. Ambrose sold the finisher in dramatic fashion, his legs crumpling like paper underneath him.

A few days later on Monday's Raw, Punk and Ambrose clashed once again.

While not being quite as compelling as in their SmackDown matchup, Punk and Ambrose again showed off stellar chemistry. Ambrose's tension with the rest of The Shield grew. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins seemed to be increasingly irritated with Ambrose's cockiness.

They teased a split between the group, and that dissension makes the upcoming handicap match at TLC a lot more interesting.

Worst: 2 Questionable Slammy Award Winners

The fourth-best match of WrestleMania 29 won the Slammy Award for Match of the Year. Neither of the two women who have held the Divas Championship this year won for Diva of the Year.

The majority of the Slammy Awards went to logical winners. For those two awards, large-scale head-scratching followed the announcement of the winners.

John Cena vs. The Rock won for Match of the Year, a honor that has usually been one of the more prestigious of the Slammys. John Cena had a number of matches this year that were better than that one, including his Raw clash against CM Punk and his SummerSlam bout against Daniel Bryan.

The Bellas won the Divas of the Year Slammy.

Meanwhile, AJ Lee gave the most memorable promo of the year and the best feud when she and Kaitlyn collided.

PWInsider.com (h/t WrestlingInc.com) reports that the voting was "100 percent legitimate." Fans of Cena and Total Divas seemed to have been highly active on the WWE App then.

Best: Main Event, Start to Finish

The Dec. 11 edition of Main Event managed to entertain for the entire hour.

Most of the time, the show features one standout match and two throwaway bouts. Not only did this episode deliver three excellent contests, but it provided a peek at a tag team's possible split.

Curtis Axel vs. Dolph Ziggler began the show with well-worked action. Both Ziggler and Axel aren't in the positions their fans would like to see them in, but they remain two of WWE's most consistent in-ring performers.

They showed off that trait once again by doing their best to make this match feel like it belonged on a bigger stage.

Natalya and Alicia Fox followed with one of the better Divas matches of the year.

Fox was compellingly vicious, nailing Natalya with a boot to the face and tearing at her hair as she put her foe into a headscissors. Natalya more than warmed up for her title match with AJ Lee at TLC; she reminded us that she is the company's best female mat wrestler.

Even Tons of Funk vs. R-Truth and Xavier Woods was entertaining.

Brodus Clay continued his shift into a darker, more aggressive character. He beat up on Woods during and after the match. Tensai had to pull him off Woods. Animosity between the Tons of Funk teammates simmered. An implosion is impending.

Wednesday's Main Event provided a blueprint of the ideal version of that show. Stick two athletic ring-workers together for a solid amount of time, follow it up with two wrestlers who rarely get the chance to have to showcase their abilities and end it with the advancement of a midcard narrative. 

Worst: No TLC or Ladder Matches Added to Pay-Per-View Card

TLC 2013 is getting just one TLC match.

As exciting as that match promises to be, the fact that this final week of hype for the pay-per-view didn't add any gimmick matches to the card is disappointing. Last year's event featured two TLC matches, while TLC 2011 gave us a Ladder Match to go along with a TLC main event.

The 2013 offers no Tables Match and no action involving a ladder other than John Cena vs. Randy Orton.

If WWE is going to build a pay-per-view around a gimmick, it has to utilize the gimmick far more than this. That's why Survivor Series has felt less and less special. The traditional elimination tag match has not received enough focus in recent years.

This week was a chance to pit a number of teams against each other in ladder-centered action. WWE added Fandango vs. Dolph Ziggler to the card instead.

Best: The Authority and Randy Orton's Relationship Strained

At the end of Monday's Raw, a brawl erupted involving everyone from Shawn Michaels to Stephanie McMahon.

Orton knocked over McMahon by accident. Triple H hit Randy Orton with a Pedigree.

That created the buzz-generating image of John Cena standing alongside The Authority as Orton struggled to get to his feet.

While some will criticize Triple H for ending the show as the focus, there is one major positive to take away from this fracas: Orton and The Authority's dissolving relationship adds intrigue to the Orton vs. Cena match at TLC.

The chaotic ending to the show creates a number of questions in fans' heads. Will The Authority turn on Orton? Will Triple H screw over both Cena and Orton?

The stakes were already high with the Unified Championship on the line, but this newest twist births a subplot which gives the match added depth.