WWE Programming's Best Match for Week of June 14

In a particularly strong week of matches on WWE television, it's clear that both in and out of storyline there's a sense that the race is on to reach the top of the card in the absence of a WWE World Heavyweight champion.

With WWE seemingly set to display a renewed focus on in-ring work based on recent shows, putting on excellent performances in TV matches would appear to be a smart way for any member of the roster to state their case to be the top dog.

What this means for the fans is excellent television, and this week has certainly shown flashes of that excellence in several top-notch bouts.

Honourable Mentions

In the latest instalment of their ongoing feud, Sheamus and Cesaro put on yet another hard-hitting contest that once again demonstrated the excellent chemistry that the two share.

You would think that this will be one of the last matches between the two, given how many they've had in recent weeks, but at this point both men are still doing plenty to keep the series fresh.

On the other end of the scale, the relatively fresh match-up of Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler continued on Main Event this week in another strong bout.

Seth Rollins is stepping out on his own, and Ziggler is a fantastic opponent for this moment in his career. We've seen Rollins in tag matches and we've seen him as an underdog against John Cena and the like in singles competition, but we haven't seen all that much of him against opponents of his own size on the main roster.

Fighting Ziggler allows Rollins to open his war crate a little further, and that can only be good news in terms of differentiating himself in his post-Shield role. Given 20 minutes on a pay-per-view, a future Ziggler-Rollins bout could definitely steal the show.

Match of the Week for June 14: Sheamus vs. Bad News Barrett on Monday Night Raw

For a rivalry that has been producing top-quality matches for years now—even before both men made their way to the WWE—it's rare that a match between Sheamus and Bad News Barrett won't impress.

Plenty has been said about Barrett's renewed vigour thanks to his "Bad News" persona, but I think it's time that Sheamus got a bit more credit for his work this year.

When he returned at the Royal Rumble, it seemed like there might not be much of a spot for Sheamus on the Road to WrestleMania. That turned out to be true, but Sheamus plugged away in his various television feuds and has been putting on great matches all year.

To many, the characterization of Sheamus is beyond stale at this point, but it's difficult to argue that he doesn't have some serious chops in the ring. His brawling work against both Barrett and Cesaro in recent weeks has been great, but that's not all he can do—his matches against Christian earlier in the year were put together rather differently but were still excellent.

Midcard feuds are something that fans always clamour for, and with good reason. Looking at the last few weeks of WWE television, with back-and-forth matches between Sheamus and Cesaro and Sheamus and Bad News Barrett, amongst others, it seems like we could finally be on track for the midcard to fulfill its potential.

Was your favourite match this week something different? Did Ambrose vs. Wyatt make more of an impression on you? Make your voice heard in the comments section below.