WWE Programming's Best Match for Week of June 27

After a middling couple of weeks, the past seven days have seen WWE firing on all cylinders. Between Raw, SmackDown and NXT, there's been plenty of in-ring action that's well worth your time.

The secret is a quality roster, but the continuing shift towards match quality as the focus of weekly television certainly assists it. The best athletes on the roster are elevating those around them, and it's having a far-reaching effect on the overall quality of WWE's output.

Honourable Mentions

Tag team main events are an overused trope in WWE, but this week played host to two excellent examples of this kind of match. Raw saw Seth Rollins and Kane take on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in a no-disqualification match, and the results were very good.

Similar intensity could be found on NXT, as Kevin Owens and Rhyno faced Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. That lineup is a sight to be seen in its own right, but the bout itself made the most of all parties involved.

NXT also presented an enjoyable women's match, as Emma took on Carmella. While Emma has lost much of her momentum over the past year, she's been great since her return to NXT, both in terms of her character work and her in-ring performances.

Finally, SmackDown saw an unexpectedly good match between Ryback and Mark Henry. The Sin City Silverback is making the most of his title reign at present, and his improvement in the ring is very promising indeed.

Match of the Week for Week of June 27: Cesaro vs. John Cena on Monday Night Raw

Whatever your personal thoughts on John Cena, at this point, it's impossible to deny he's been in more great matches than just about anyone over the course of 2015.

Of course, he's had terrific competition to play off, and that was particularly true on this week's edition of Monday Night Raw, as he took on the ever-impressive Cesaro. Tag partner Tyson Kidd's injury has cast the Swiss Superman adrift, but this excellent bout should give him some much-needed singles momentum.

Credit: WWE.com

Cena's open challenge for the United States Championship has quickly become one of the best segments on Raw on a weekly basis. Furthermore, it seems to be a point of contention for gifted grapplers looking to snatch a spot higher up the card.

A large swathe of the roster can now claim a great match with Cena as part of the open challenge. As a result, bragging rights can only go to the wrestler who has the very best match with the United States champion, and Cesaro may well have achieved just that on Monday.

Cena and Cesaro had a very lengthy match for weekly television, but it was hugely engaging. They have trained together before, and that familiarity shone through between the ropes.

Cesaro is often referred to as one of the best wrestlers on the WWE roster from a technical standpoint. It's sometimes difficult to quantify exactly what that means, but he demonstrated exactly why his abilities are so highly lauded when he took on Cena.

As well as his formidable strength, Cesaro is incredibly agile and lithe. Cena's new flipping powerbomb is an awkward move, to say the least; however, with Cesaro on the receiving end, it looked far more like something suited for a WWE ring rather than the world of backyard wrestling.

Cesaro has excelled in the tag team division, but it seems that his destiny lies in singles competition for the near future. Thankfully, it seems like he's about to make the transition look quite trivial.

The King of Swing is undeniably one of the premier in-ring talents active today. Based on Monday's match, it should be a given that his purported failure to "connect" with his audience is something of a falsehood; quite simply, Cesaro forges that bond with his wrestling rather than with a microphone.

What was your favourite match this week? Let us know in the comments section below.