WWE Announces Mixed Match Challenge Teams
WWE Mixed Match Challenge is returning on short notice. The Facebook Live exclusive charity program will begin on September 18th after Smackdown, with ten teams in the mix, combining old tag partners and new.
The returning teams are:
- Miz/Asuka
- Jimmy Uso/Naomi
- Rusev/Lana
- Braun Strowman/Alexa Bliss
- Finn Balor/Bayley
The other five teams are new to this year’s tournament:
- Bobby Lashley/Sasha Banks
- Jinder Mahal/Alicia Fox
- R-Truth/Carmella
- Kevin Owens/Natalya
- AJ Styles/Charlotte
Of the new teams, Styles/Flair is the obvious standout. However, I think the fact that they’re such obvious shoo-ins is a red herring. They’ll be taken down by some sort of team miscommunication – or destruction by Braun – but not by being outwrestled.
I think leaving Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega out of the mix is a strange decision. No disrespect, but it seems like they’d slot nicely into the Mahal/Fox spot. However, in a tournament setting you do need teams to lose early on, and putting rising stars in that position would indeed be a bad move.
I still think Facebook Live is an annoying medium for this, but I can’t blame WWE for diversifying and trying to get some folks who don’t watch regular TV or subscribe to the Network. Either way, Mixed Match Challenge is a fun little low-stakes addendum to regular programming, and some of the new teams will definitely put a cool new spin on it.
-Bobby Murphy (@RobertJMurph)
Image courtesy WWE.com