Breaking Down Best and Worst WWE Matches, Superstars for the Week of Jan. 11

WWE trampled on the triumphant moment it created.

Kalisto's U.S. Championship win should have been the start of the company spotlighting a fresh face. Instead, his reign ended before the post-celebration confetti had even been swept up.

Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio on Monday's Raw showed WWE at its best—surprising, inspiring, exciting. The rematch on Thursday's SmackDown showed the company's opposite side. One couldn't watch that match and not scratch one's head raw afterward.

Elsewhere, Becky Lynch looked fantastic, Dean Ambrose brawled beautifully and Roman Reigns faced a gauntlet that flopped.

The feuds over the Divas title and the Intercontinental Championship are churning along. There are WWE's most engaging stories at the moment. Reigns' anti-authority tale and the U.S. scene, meanwhile, proved maddening.  

The following is a dive into those highs and lows, praising the elements of the WWE world that clicked and lambasting what's not working.

Best: Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus (Raw)

A conclusive ending would have made Ambrose's clash with Sheamus on Monday's Raw even better, but during a weak stretch of in-ring action, a celebration of brutality like this is plenty good enough to earn a spot here.

Raw kicked off with these two rivals bashing into each other. The battle left the ring steps dented and Sheamus in need of stitches.

Ambrose got a chance to look like just as much of a dangerous brawler as The Celtic Warrior.

And it's smart of WWE to have Ambrose engage in this side feud. If he were facing Kevin Owens each night, their story would surely get old fast. This way, Ambrose displays his toughness and gains some momentum by way of going toe-to-toe with a bigger man.

To truly aid The Lunatic Fringe, though, WWE should have given him a win at the end of the hard-fought match rather than the double count-out. The company needs to have Ambrose knock off guys of Sheamus' caliber to maximize his IC title reign.  

Worst: Roman Reigns vs. 'All' (Raw)

Baffling is the only way to describe how WWE Creative handled Reigns' latest battle against all odds.

To give Reigns a preview of what he is going to face in the Royal Rumble, Vince McMahon booked him in a "One vs. All" match. Although, the chairman made sure to note that Reigns wouldn't be facing the entire roster but some unannounced fraction of it.

The Ascension, The New Day and others then stood around at ringside as Reigns and Owens proceeded to essentially have a one-on-one matchup with a host of brooding spectators. 

WWE didn't use the stipulation well at all. The foes other than Owens didn't get involved until much later. And so fans waited around for this to be what was promised.

Throughout the night, WWE foreshadowed (with quite the heavy hand) that Brock Lesnar would arrive to break it all up.

The timing was such that Reigns' match dragged, and the audience kept peeking over at the entrance ramp waiting for The Beast Incarnate to emerge. Lesnar got his moment of destruction, but Reigns found himself lost in the tide.

As the Royal Rumble approaches, WWE has to be worried that it's fumbling Reigns' journey there. He went from red-hot right after TLC to lukewarm right now.

Best: Becky Lynch Flourishing as Babyface on the Hunt

Whether Lynch was promising to yank Charlotte's arm out of socket or tagging her with right hands, one couldn't help but move closer to the screen.

She has been emerging as a star of late. This week she continued that trend with a fiery rant backstage and a dominant win over Brie Bella on SmackDown.

Folks are starting to take notice of Lynch, who was recently just Charlotte's sidekick.

For one, Mick Foley tweeted that Lynch's "personality and talent have really been shining through." Pro Wrestling Torch's Sean Radican wrote on Twitter, "So happy to see her doing this level of work right now."

On SmackDown, she challenged Charlotte to a title match at the Royal Rumble. WWE may have planned to keep the crown on Charlotte, but Lynch is making the case that she should be wearing it.

Worst: WWE Failing The Wyatt Family

WWE just doesn't get it. The company continues to have The Wyatt Family flounder.

Just when it looks like Bray Wyatt and his clan have sharpened their teeth and are ready to feast on WWE's best, they are booked to look more bumbling than monstrous. 

On Monday's Raw, an unlikely set of opponents chased them from the ring. Ryback teamed up with The Social Outcasts to send The Wyatt Family in retreat.

As Kenny Herzog wrote for Rolling Stone, "Watching Heath Slater's Social Outcasts [the hash tag is implied] run Bray and his disciples out of the ring—albeit with Ryback's help—was an unenviable moment for WWE's most bogus bogeymen."

Wyatt and Co. ran away from a collection of jobbers. 

The Four Horsemen would never have done that with The Mulkey Brothers. The Shield wouldn't have fled from Los Matadores.

How then is anyone supposed to see The Wyatt Family as a force to fear at the Royal Rumble? 

The Wyatt Family should have destroyed Slater's posse. They should have been the aggressors and the victors to keep them looking like viable threats. And while Luke Harper and Erick Rowan did lay a beatdown on The Dudley Boyz after the bell on SmackDown, it followed another loss.

Best/Worst: Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio (SmackDown)

When Kalisto felled Del Rio and became the U.S. champion on Monday's Raw, WWE played it up as one of the biggest upsets and biggest moments in the show's history. 

An underdog had scaled a mountain. Kalisto seemed destined to be a new star. His win was the highlight of Raw.

And then just days later, WWE brought that train to a sudden stop.

Jim Ross wrote on this blog, "Hopeful that Kalisto keeps the US Title longer than it takes for his coffee to get cold." Nope. Del Rio defeated Kalisto on Thursday's SmackDown.

Wrestling-wise, that match was excellent. Del Rio was the vicious pitbull with his jaws tight around Kalisto's flesh. The high-flyer looked marvelous as the gutsy survivor. 

This had more action and drama than their bout on Monday night. Then WWE erased everything it built with a Del Rio win.

One could almost feel the air let out of everyone in the arena.

Why soil that story like that? Why even bother having fans invest in Kalisto's climb if he was going to tumble off the peak so quickly?

WWE is quickly ruining the cache John Cena had built for the U.S. title.