WWE Programming's Best Match for Week of September 27

There's been plenty of in-ring action worth your time this week, ranging from spirited pay-per-view title defences to exciting television matches you might have missed. Once again, we've seen a range of talent given the chance to shine, and, more often than not, they've made good use of the opportunity.

Honourable Mentions

Continuing his run of excellent matches on Superstars, this week saw Justin Gabriel take on Kofi Kingston and once again prove that he has a lot to offer in the ring. The self-styled "4Fiddy" took to Instagram earlier this week to tease his departure from WWE, which would be a real shame considering his work of late has been his best since he joined the company.

Elsewhere, Dolph Ziggler made a spirited defence of his newly regained WWE Intercontinental Championship on SmackDown against Cesaro. In recent weeks, there has been something of a drought in terms of top-quality matches on the show, so it was a pleasant to see a bout stand out.

Ziggler and Cesaro are an ideal pairing in the ring, and their short match was a tantalizing glimpse of what will hopefully be a long-running program. Based on the finish, that certainly seems to be on the cards.

Night of Champions proved to be a solid pay-per-view despite its inconsistent build, and one match that really stood out was Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton. These two have met before, but they pulled out all the stops to make this encounter a memorable one.

Despite suffering from a massively overused finish, this was a match befitting the talent involved and a worthy end to Jericho's current run, if that is indeed the case.

Match of the Week for September 27: Sheamus vs. Cesaro at Night of Champions

Despite the fact that this was a match we had already seen several times this year, both on television and pay-per-view, the quality of the performers involved made it one of the most anticipated matches on the card ahead of Night of Champions—and it did not disappoint.

The build may have been somewhat artificial, but this one was never going to be about that. We expected a hard-hitting bout that would tell a story in the ring, and that’s exactly what we got.

These two kicked lumps out of one another, and it was a joy to watch. Typically, two men with the sort of offence that Sheamus and Cesaro possess can fail to connect when they face one another, but it’s a testament to the versatility of the pair that they made it work to such great effect.

Credit: WWE.com

Obviously, the most efficient way of making a big man look dominant is to pair him with a smaller opponent; the inherent appeal to seeing two titans face off can sometimes lead to neither really being able to capitalize on his size and strength.

However, Sheamus and Cesaro are both experts at tempering their own move sets and styles to mesh with that of their opponents. A focus on strikes and sheer physicality made this seem like a real collision.

All too often in a match like this, when we see both men fall to the ground, too exhausted to go on, it can fall flat. However, these two earned that moment and timed it perfectly for its maximum effect.

Credit: WWE.com

Comparisons will be made between this match and the similarly hard-hitting bout between Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi that took place in New Japan Pro Wrestling last weekend. Many would point to that as the better contest of the two, but in the end, it’s a matter of context.

Shibata and Tanahashi put on a match for an NJPW audience, just as Sheamus and Cesaro tailored their performance for a WWE crowd. For their respective audiences, both matches were pitched perfectly to achieve a similar end product: both men looking like strong, resilient competitors even after a decisive finish.

Did another match stand out for you this week? Miz vs. Ambrose? Usos vs. GoldStar? Cena vs. Lesnar? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.