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

At its best, WWE programming leaves fans both thrilled and eager to see what lies ahead.

At times, the company accomplished that as it set Cesaro and Tyson Kidd free on the tag team division, closed the door on the Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose rivalry and allowed the Divas some room to work. The central WWE storyline, though, had the opposite effect.

Monday's Raw closed with The Authority thinning out the roster, leaving fans feeling like John Cena looked that night—deflated.

The things worth celebrating on WWE shows were mostly small—hints of intriguing directions the future could offer mat workers like Cesaro. Unfortunately, the lows of the week were of the big-picture variety.

It's hard to get too pumped about WWE's journey toward the horizon when one sees how often newcomers smash their faces into a wall.

Best: Cesaro and Tyson Kidd Adding to Tag Team Division

There is a new electricity surrounding the tag team division. Thank the seemingly random pairing of Cesaro and Tyson Kidd for a good chunk of that.

The newly formed duo seem to be having a blast together. That in turn has made the sagging division a lot more fun.

Cesaro and Kidd battled Los Matadores on SmackDown. The budding chemistry between the new teammates, not to mention their inventive double-team moves, had that bout end up being one of the best things involving the bullfighters in a long time.

If they can pull off that kind of match against a low-tier comedy act, it's exciting to imagine what Cesaro and Kidd could do in a full program opposite The Usos.

The two underrated stars appeared on Monday's Raw as well. They posed as members of Adam Rose's Rosebuds before going on the attack. It was a welcome surprise—a moment that served as a statement from Cesaro and Kidd. 

Hopefully, ambushing Rose isn't a precursor to a rivalry with him but instead a showcase of just how hungry these heels are to do some damage and get noticed.

Worst: Undercutting The Ascension

Just weeks into The Ascension's main-roster run, the word "bust" is already being tossed around.

WWE's handling of the team has led to much of that talk. Not only has the company altered the team's gimmick, making it more Halloween-like, but it provided mixed messages on Monday's Raw.

After rolling over a pair of jobbers, Viktor and Konnor began to talk of themselves as if they were the greatest team ever. They mocked Demolition and The Legion of Doom. That's an odd choice for a variety of reasons.

For one, the duo's newest look feels like a ripoff of the latter team. Why bring attention to that?

It's also a squad The Ascension can never fight. And to be claiming best-ever status this early feels cheap.

To push back against those claims, John "Bradshaw" Layfield dumped on The Ascension on commentary. He said it wasn't anywhere close to The Road Warriors.

When the heel announcer is not buying what the new heel team is selling, it makes it look bad. JBL always talked about how The Shield was right up there with The Freebirds in terms of impact. Sometimes he referred to it as the greatest group in wrestling history.

That kind of hyperbole starts to sound true after a while.

When an entire commentary team dismisses a team, as it did The Ascension, that negativity hurts how the audience perceives it. JBL and company should be frightened and in awe of Viktor and Konnor, not snorting in disapproval.

Best: Ambulance Chaos

With little story to work with, Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose continue to go out and beat each other like rugs. Their latest gimmicky fight saw them crash into and collide inside an ambulance on Monday's Raw.

Dolph Ziggler and Bad News Barrett's Intercontinental Championship match earlier in the night was better from a wrestling and story perspective, but Ambrose and Wyatt delivered weapons-centric amusement that was hard to forget.

Ambrose jumped off the ambulance, hitting a soaring elbow drop that broke a table underneath Wyatt. The two foes pounced in fervid fashion, using a stretcher, the ambulance doors and the concrete under their feet to leave their mark on each other.

The battle brings their rivalry to an end.

Ambrose is now free to head toward a new enemy, one where he might actually get a few wins. Wyatt, meanwhile, appears to be getting the image-repairing treatment from WWE. That could mean building him up for a marquee WrestleMania showdown.

In both instances, we move on from fun, hollow violence to something potentially more promising. 

Worst: Where Is Erick Rowan Going?

Erick Rowan locked horns with his former mentor and father figure for the first time ever. The student had since rejected the master's ways.

With that story behind it, Rowan vs. Bray Wyatt should have been something special. Instead, it was a standard match on SmackDown—no buildup, no aftermath.

Big Red has to be wondering why WWE pulled him away from The Wyatt Family at all.

His babyface turn has led to his taking a series of knockout blows from Big Show, losing to Luke Harper courtesy of two crooked referees and then being one of three men The Authority fired on Monday's Raw.

As much momentum as Ryback and Dolph Ziggler have had as of late, it's a safe bet that this fired narrative is going to lead to big things for them. It's less clear what's in store for Rowan.

WWE has abandoned his gimmick as a wine-making, puzzle-solving genius. It has wasted the chance to make bouts against Wyatt or Harper big deals. 

Rowan has to hope 2015 gets a lot better fast. 

Best: Paige vs. Nikki Bella

Manami Toyota vs. Aja Kong, this was not. Still, Nikki Bella and Paige delivered a good match that was easy to get invested in.

The obvious difference in their showdown on Tuesday's Main Event compared to usual Divas fare was the time they had to work with. Per ProFightDB.com, the match lasted 11 minutes and 36 seconds. WWE would normally try to cram four Divas matches into that time frame.

Given more room, Paige was better able to tell a story of resiliency, surviving Nikki's punishment and making a comeback. She looked gutsy and fierce, traits hard to exude when a match is limited to a handful of moves.

Nikki has certainly made strides in her ring work. That's not something fans have been able to see, though. A longer match with an actual in-ring narrative to build around helped her come off better as a heel.

The level of aggression each woman displayed bettered the match as well. 

Treat the Divas bouts like throwaway affairs, and that's exactly what they become. Allow the women a proper stage to perform on, and not surprisingly, the results are far better.

Worst: That Sinking Feeling at the End of Raw

The Authority's first night back in power saw it pursue vengeance first in underhanded fashion and then in the most straightforward way possible. Monday's Raw ended with Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan out of jobs and John Cena pouting amid a cloud of confetti.

It's a heel's job to do unjust things like that, right?

There is a distinct difference in being upset with a heel and with the product itself. This is a case of the latter.

The Authority wasn't gone nearly enough, and to now backtrack on Team Cena's heroics at Survivor Series is deflating. It's eerily similar to Triple H taking away the WWE title from Daniel Bryan in 2013. The Authority dominating all over again is too much of the same thing.

It doesn't help that when three men lost their jobs, the camera was so often focused on Cena. 

There are a lot of directions this thing can go, but it most certainly can't be another Cena-saves-the-day tale. That's more tired than The Authority angle.

Trudging through all the false starts and "Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown" moments in 2013 and 2014 was worth it because it led to a defining triumph for Bryan at WrestleMania. WWE better have something on that level planned for this story too.

Best: Sami Zayn Opens Up

When scripted words meld with genuine emotion, wrestling can leave a fan having to explain why he is crying about a man in spandex.

Sami Zayn has made fans emotional several times with his wrestling, but he did so with his words on Thursday's NXT. He talked about how much winning the NXT title meant to him and how much it hurt him that his best friend turned on him in the same night.

Zayn told fans that he didn't win the belt, but that he and the fans together did so.

It's a corny sentiment but one that worked. His emotions beamed off the screen, and he gave his best verbal performance to date.

This is the kind of connection Ryback surely wanted (but failed to do) when he delivered his emotional speech last week. It's more evidence about just how good Zayn is and why he will thrive on the main roster.

He has many more hills to climb as an invested audience watches on with lump-filled throats.