WWE Programming's Best Match for Week of January 3

This week's edition of Main Event saw a far more satisfying showing for Charlotte than her recent match on Raw against Natalya. She faced longtime rival Sasha Banks, and both women demonstrated why they're turning heads down in NXT.

In fact, with a bit more time this could well have snatched Match of the Week. However, we've seen better from the pair in the past when they've been given longer to work with—and I'd wager that we haven't seen their definitive match yet.

The Usos met Gold and Stardust once again this week and, despite the overexposure this matchup had, it was just as good as you might expect from the talent involved. These are four tag team masters—a top-tier tag bout is to be expected from then.

Erick Rowan and Tyson Kidd had an entertaining encounter on Superstars, with Kidd being particular well cast as the outsized underdog. Rowan has far more potential than some would give him credit for, but it helps that Kidd is one of the finest in-ring competitors on the WWE roster at present.

We saw a clash of the midcard champions to open Raw, as Dolph Ziggler met Rusev. As you might imagine, we didn't get a conclusive finish—but what we did get was very intriguing. A feud between these two might be an intriguing prospect for the Road to WrestleMania.

Finally, despite not being as hyped as a match between the two should be, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins from Raw was a fine contest. Reigns continues to improve in the ring—but with competition as good as Rollins, anyone would look as least passable.

Match of the Week for January 3: Finn Balor and Hideo Itami vs. The Ascension on NXT

The main event of this week's NXT broadcast was a rematch from the highly praised R Evolution. However, rather than simply cover the same ground to pad out television time, this rematch flipped the script and gave fans something different to focus on.

The R Evolution contest was Finn Balor's moment to shine; the pomp of his entrance was only the start of a starmaking performance that saw him really take charge of the match. A strong in-ring showing was needed to demonstrate that there is more to Balor than spectacle.

However, it meant that Hideo Itami didn't look as impressive as he might have otherwise. That was remedied this week, and we saw Itami take the lead while Balor followed. This is the sort of considered booking that's helping every tier of the NXT roster flourish.

Settling into NXT has been a steady process for Itami, but he's come a long way over the past couple of months. The more comfortable he gets, the smoother he is in the ring—and, as anyone who's familiar with his work can attest to, his best work is among the best in the world.

Credit: WWE.com

It seems that both Balor and Itami might be set for singles competition now that their matter with The Ascension is settled. That's an exciting prospect given the sort of talent that NXT has for them to mix it up with.

The future of The Ascension looks a little more confused. Their NXT run was at its zenith when they were steamrolling all competition, and their Raw debut fell short of that. It remains to be seen whether they'll be able to forge a path in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, Konnor and Viktor have demonstrated that they can hang with the best and brightest over the course of their feud with Itami and Balor—even if they're not quite on the same level as those international stars. Both duos have very different paths ahead of them, and it's difficult to say which is more challenging.

Did another match stand out for you this week? Make your voice heard in the comments section below.