Breaking Down the Best and Worst of the WWE for Week of March 16

WWE turned up the voltage on the electricity surrounding the build to WrestleMania.

After a few lackluster weeks, the company began to better use its stars, to trade goofy antics for actual wrestling storytelling. Brock Lesnar spoke for himself, Sting swung at The Authority, and the chase for the Intercontinental Championship got just the boost it needed.

While WWE hit home runs leading up to its biggest matches, the midcard offerings got dribblers instead.

The lead-up to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal has been uninspired. The Tag Team Championship scene has been even more tepid.

It feels as if WWE Creative is actually two different set of writers. One imagines that one group penned the stories surrounding the Battle Royal and the tag titles half-asleep. Meanwhile, another set of men and women were responsible for the bigger bouts, a group powered by passion, stepping up to the level that WrestleMania season requires.

Best: The Beast Growls

Paul Heyman has carried the Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns feud this far. He's been the highlight of this rivalry with The Beast Incarnate not playing a big enough role.

WWE changed that Monday night by letting Lesnar speak his mind.

In a powerful, raw interview, the WWE champ talked about how much he liked to hurt people. He promised to do the same to Reigns. It was some of Lesnar's best work, a direct approach to making the powerhouse look even more dangerous.

The success of that promo is proof that great wrestling buildup need not require anyone to reinvent the wheel. Just let the stars be themselves and the production team do its magic. Infusing rumors about Lesnar's contract into the storyline certainly helps as well.

Worst: Battle Royal Build Limps Along

The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal feels far from special. WWE has crammed a host of midcarders and big names past their prime into this bout with little narrative to work with.

On Monday's Raw, the focus was too much on Kane and Mark Henry. They were the center of a mock Battle Royal with The World's Strongest Man coming out on top after ousting Kane.

Big Show dominated Erick Rowan earlier in the night, the company reminding us just how formidable he is.

Showcasing the match's giants isn't working to make it more exciting. Teasing that any of those men will win it has the opposite effect. Kane and Big Show have been overexposed, WWE refusing to listen to how little reaction they are getting when placed in prominent positions.

The company has ignored the majority of the other men in the Battle Royal.

Adam Rose and Zack Ryder have been feuding on Twitter and that has only moved to the ring on Main Event and Superstars. Titus O'Neil and Darren Young reunited, but little has been made of that or their chances at WrestleMania.

This is Erick Rowan's first WrestleMania match, and he enters with no momentum. Too little has been made of the fact that former partners Curtis Axel and Ryback will be a part of this match. Goldust has been a non-factor.

Of course, that's quite a large number of moving parts, but with three hours of Raw and two hours of SmackDown, there has to be a way to have fans more excited about each man's prospects. 

Best: The Viper and The Vigilante

With The Authority encircling Randy Orton, fans knew that The Stinger was on his way. Expected or not, Sting emerging from the darkness with his hands tight around his baseball bat was a thrill to watch.

It was wise to only tease that Orton and Seth Rollins would battle. Instead of giving that WrestleMania match away for free, the company crafted a memorable image of The Viper battling alongside his unlikely ally.

As a whole, WWE has done a tremendous job of making Sting feel like a special attraction.

It has spaced out his appearances and made him look powerful when he does arrive. On Monday's Raw, he knocked Kane down with his bat before running over Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury. He came off as a superhero cutting through a crowd of goons.

It's unclear just what he and Triple H are going to do when their match begins, but most of what WWE has done leading up to that has been the kind of larger-than-life spectacle that makes wrestling and WrestleMania so great.

Worst: No Spark for Tag Team Division

The lack of depth in the tag team division is showing as mediocre teams are rising to the top.

Los Matadores are suddenly key players, closing in on being official contenders.  The New Day has made a move toward being in line to be tag champs as well.

With WWE ignoring The Prime Time Players and bungling introducing The Ascension, there aren't a ton of other options to face Cesaro and Tyson Kidd at WrestleMania. Jey Uso's shoulder injury makes matters worse.

The result has been a number of forgettable tag matches. On Raw, Kidd and Cesaro rolled over The New Day in just two minutes. On Thursday's SmackDown, Los Matadores and El Torito squared off against the tag champs and Natalya. It's telling that the highlight of that match was Natalya powerbombing the man in a bull costume and getting the pinfall.

WWE has to forgive fans if they aren't the least bit interested in whatever bout it comes up with for the tag titles at WrestleMania.

Best: SmackDown Gauntlet Match Shines

The Intercontinental Championship scene got serious on SmackDown. The result is far more hype for the WrestleMania Ladder IC title match.

WWE managed to elevate a number of contenders, make the champion look strong and produce some quality ring work in the process. 

Stardust looked vicious in attacking Dean Ambrose after their match. Ambrose snatched up a good supply of momentum by getting two wins in a single night and gutting it out with a bad shoulder against Luke Harper.

Harper looked strong against Daniel Bryan, flipping him on his injured neck and making Bryan work hard for his eventual win. Bryan and Dolph Ziggler then excelled together before Bad News Barrett began to swing his elbow at anything moving.

The choice to go the Gauntlet match route was refreshing. WWE too often just threw these guys into tag matches. This led to plenty of good action and the IC title hunt getting ample attention.

This clash served as a precursor to the show-stealing performance that these men will have at WrestleMania. That's exactly how you get folks amped to see that battle. Not a single "stolen title belt" gag was needed.