Breaking Down the Best and Worst of the WWE for Week of August 31

When WWE leaned on tried-and-true narratives, things clicked for its monsters, tag teams and gladiators.

The company presented Braun Strowman as a terrifying force who strengthens The Wyatt Family. It drew drama from the tournament format. And it allowed Cesaro to look good in defeat two times over, thanks to ailing ribs.

It was with its women that WWE failed this week. A Beat the Clock challenge simply didn't have enough time to do much of anything. That supposed showcase of the women's division wasn't nearly as groan-inducing as what the writing team is doing with the women at Dolph Ziggler's and Rusev's sides, though.

The Summer Rae-Lana angle is embarrassingly bad.  

Should there be any fans out there who are just now catching up on Raw, NXT and SmackDown, be sure to skip everything involving those two women. Instead, fast-forward to Cesaro's two gems and tag team competition unfolding at Full Sail University.

Best: A Monster in the Family

Braun Strowman doesn't appear to be the second coming of Andre the Giant, but he's massive, scary-looking and a perfect fit for the bearded brutes known as The Wyatt Family.

Despite his limited ability and appearing to be hesitant in his first match on Raw, Strowman still made quite the impression. He flung Dean Ambrose around. He dominated to the point where he didn't once hit the canvas.

In the short bout, Strowman felt like a giant sea creature toying with a skiff. 

That's how you introduce a monster heel. That's how you book the early chapters of the behemoth's tale. Eventually, someone will expose his vulnerability, but for now, WWE has a powerful piece to plug into its storylines, and The Wyatt Family feels like a far more dominant and far more fearsome group.

Masking Strowman's weaknesses and shining a light on his strengths is smart business. The moment a wrestler finally does cut him down is going to be a tremendous one.

Worst: Summer Rae Soap Opera

Pitting Dolph Ziggler, one of WWE's best in-ring performers, against an explosive brute and emerging star in Rusev makes perfect sense. There was potential to have a series of good matches and give each guy a strong foil to work against.

How WWE has decided to go about their rivalry, though, has been mind-boggling.

The story's insistence on heading down a soap-opera road is wasting both men's talents. It's a hackneyed narrative now filled with Summer Rae accusing Ziggler of making her his mistress. A shower scene and jealousy in excess have this angle becoming even more melodramatic. 

WWE has stripped everything interesting from Lana's character. She's one-dimensional now, the scorned girlfriend with a penchant for catfighting. 

This hasn't been fun. It hasn't been a way to boost any of these wrestlers. Simply put, it hasn't been worth anyone's while.

Jim Ross summed it up well when he wrote on his blog, "I think that I still know a good storyline when I see one and this one isn't it."

Best: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Kicks Off

The inherent excitement of the tournament format is one that WWE uses too infrequently.

In just the earliest stages of the new Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, fans have already seen the power of the tourney at work. For one, it highlights a large number of teams. Both the duos of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, and Rhyno and Baron Corbin emerged from Wednesday's NXT with momentum in hand.

More of that is on its way.

NXT general manager William Regal welcomed indy wrestlers Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa to the field. Fans later saw that Finn Balor and Samoa Joe are joining forces to try to win this competition. 

With those teams poised to each make their mark, there's a loud buzz around NXT and its tag team division specifically. 

And WWE gets to play out this story for several weeks. That makes the shows feel more connected and for the eventual payoff to be more powerful.

The main roster needs to follow NXT's lead here at some point. 

Worst: The Clock Beats the Divas

Call it the condensed revolution.

WWE keeps talking about the change that's happening in the Divas division, but a lot of that is just talk. The company did make history by booking the first-ever women's Beat the Clock Challenge. The problem was, though, that WWE fell back on old bad habits.

It simply didn't give the women enough time.

The first bout lasted just over three minutes. The next one was just 1:40. Telling any sort of story in that span is next to impossible.

This is the kind of shafting that inspired the uproar about the division in the first place. It's an insult to these performers. It's an insult to the audience.

Don't give fans the microwave-popcorn version of wrestling when it's time to showcase the women.

Best: Cesaro Kills It in the Ring

Cesaro twice delivered the match of the night.

On Monday's Raw, he battled Kevin Owens in a long, grueling contest that ended with him clutching his ribs and Owens celebrating. On Thursday's SmackDown, he stepped into the ring with tape around his ribs and Sheamus staring him down.

Both times out, the action was physical, intense and engaging.

Each result gave the heel a significant win. The King of Swing wasn't exactly buried in either case, though. The first loss had a giant asterisk next to it thanks to his rib injury. The story of the second one revolved around the heart it took to fight through pain and push Sheamus all the way to the end of the bout.

While WWE has yet to decide if Cesaro is worthy of climbing the ladder up to the point of main event status, it clearly values him. He's the company workhorse—the guy who provides the top-notch in-ring action between all the more goofy fare on WWE TV.