WWE Programming's Best Matches for Week of October 17

Bleacher Report readers voted Sasha Banks versus Bayley from NXT Takeover: Respect as the best match of last week—and that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

The NXT Women's Championship is among the most prestigious belts in pro wrestling today, and it's gained that reputation in a relatively short space of time thanks to great matches such as the one last Wednesday. The bout was fully worthy of both the main event position and its stipulation.

Fans will no doubt be debating the relative merits of the Respect main event against Banks and Bayley's match at Brooklyn—and there's a case to be made for both bouts. However, one thing is clear: Women's wrestling is in rude health as of 2015.

Contender No. 1: Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena on Monday Night Raw

It's safe to say that, in terms of ring work, the United States Championship Open Challenge has been among the best things to happen to WWE television in 2015.

We've seen a swathe of competitors take a stab at John Cena and his title, and there have been really excellent matches. However, if there's one criticism to be made of the regular segment, it's that it can sometimes seem like more of an exhibition than a championship match.

That being said, this week's instalment was quite different. Rather than simply being a showcase for Cena and his challenger, Dolph Ziggler, the match was used as a platform for some potentially important character development on the part of the Show-Off.

Ziggler has been showing signs of a return to his villainous ways for a little while now but never quite as visibly as during this bout. Of course, it also functioned as a lengthy, competitive match to spice up the middle hour of Raw.

What's more, the continuing rumours Cena is set to take time off, as reported on F4WOnline, have made his Open Challenge all the more unpredictable. It seems likely he won't have possession of the belt for too much longer—but it's difficult to say just who is set to take the title from him.

It's great to see Dolph put back into a situation where he can use his in-ring ability to its fullest potential. His feud with Rusev has largely been built around its bloated soap opera-style storyline, which doesn't really play to his strengths.

Contender No. 2: The No. 1 Contendership Battle Royal on NXT

The past several years of the Royal Rumble might have been enough to convince some fans that WWE has lost the knack for putting on a compelling Battle Royal, but this week's edition of NXT demonstrated otherwise.

There are typically two ways such a multi-man match can play out. The first is the amount of competitors in the ring leads to a sloppy, confusing bout in which much of the action is limited by the amount of space available until only a few are left. Thankfully, that didn't happen here.

Instead, we saw a match that made the most of the amount of talent in the ring. Plenty of individuals got an opportunity to showcase their skills—and in the process, the seeds were sown for a number of intriguing storylines that look set to play out over the coming weeks.

Of course, having an unexpected winner added a considerable amount to the overall quality of the match. Samoa Joe seemed like the favourite to come out on top ahead of time, but relative newcomer Apollo Crews picked up the win to set up an exciting NXT Championship match.

Picking up a few eliminations in the early going seemed like a method of legitimizing Crews in the face of his eventual dismissal from the match. In a sense, his strong start was something of a double bluff for anyone who's familiar with this sort of context.

It was effective, which is a good way of describing this match as a whole. It was a satisfying main event in its own right but also a bout with one eye firmly set on the immediate future of the NXT brand.

Contender No. 3: Sheamus & Bad News Barrett vs. Neville & Cesaro on SmackDown

Despite all four men involved in this match having had their ups and downs over the course of 2015, the quartet has enough quality to ensure that a tag match such as this is going to be good.

However, when these two teams met on this week's edition of Monday Night Raw, the four-minute match left a lot to be desired. That sort of television bout simply doesn't offer enough time for such a talented array of athletes to each get a fair shake of things between the ropes.

Credit: WWE.com

On Smackdown, the rematch went on much longer—and it was all the better for it. If you're unconvinced that longer matches generally turn out to be better contests, this week's encounters between these two pairings should be proof enough.

While it's a shame to see Neville and Cesaro both adrift at present, at least putting them in matches such as this allows for plenty of opportunities for both men to demonstrate their skills. Both are at their best between the ropes, and that was certainly evident here.

Credit: WWE.com

Meanwhile, Sheamus and Bad News Barrett is a duo that has the potential to make a serious run for the Tag Team Championships. The pair have excellent chemistry, and their no-nonsense style of brawling makes them rather different to any team in the division at present.

Tag team wrestling has long been a poor relation to singles competition in WWE, but bouts such as this demonstrate why that's a mistake. Pairing up promising talent with one another allows more of the roster to get on the show—and the very best wrestlers are apt to bring the best out of others.

Which bout was your match of the week? Don't forget to make your choice by voting in the poll and then stating your argument in the comments section below.