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The Mixed Match Challenge debuts Tuesday night on Facebook Watch and is WWE's first attempt to present a mixed tag team tournament.
The event features the men and women of Raw and SmackDown Live teaming up to compete for the right to win a $100,000 donation to a charity of their choosing. Top male Superstars, including Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode, Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura, will team with some of the most prominent female competitors on the roster, such as Becky Lynch, Bayley, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax, in a single-elimination tournament that will not only attempt to attract new viewers but also promote gender equality.
The first round will feature Raw vs. SmackDown matches, some of which could provide fans with some extraordinary in-ring action.
What are those matchups, and which of the teams are the best, the worst and the strangest?
Find out the answers to those questions with this preview of the revolutionary concept.
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- Finn Balor and Sasha Banks vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya
- Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss vs. Sami Zayn and Alexa Bliss
- The Miz and Asuka vs. Big E and Carmella
- Goldust and Alicia Fox vs. Jimmy Uso and Naomi
- Apollo Crews and Nia Jax vs. Bobby Roode and Charlotte
- Elias and Bayley vs. Rusev and Lana
On Thursday, WWE's Cathy Kelley announced the brackets for the inaugural Mixed Match Challenge via Facebook, and several of the bouts stand out as interesting for one reason or another.
Those first-round matches will feature teams of Raw Superstars battling SmackDown Superstars and are as follows:
The most interesting match of the first round will pit Strowman and Bliss against Zayn and Lynch, if only because of the history between the four competitors.
Zayn gave Strowman his first real test on the Raw brand as a resilient underdog who survived 10 minutes in the ring with The Monster Among Men. That program served as one of the few bright spots of Zayn's Raw run.
Bliss dethroned Lynch over on SmackDown, ending The Lass Kicker's fairytale run as women's champion and making her life a living hell in the process.
The chemistry between the performers involved, not to mention the potential for storytelling given the evolution of the characters since then, should make for an entertaining watch.
Balor and Banks vs. Nakamura and Natalya is a close runner-up given how immensely talented the four competitors are between the ropes. The war between The Demon and The Artist in NXT was one of that brand's greatest matches, so the promise of more interaction between them is mighty appealing.
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It is difficult to find two better wrestlers who have been more underutilized throughout their WWE careers than Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch. Arguably the one team whose abilities best mirror each other, they have the potential to go the furthest of the blue-brand's tandems.
The question becomes whether Zayn's status as one of the lead villains on SmackDown Live will adversely affect the team's ability to emerge victorious.
WWE will almost certainly want a high-profile babyface to win the whole thing, especially with the potential for a brand-new audience on Facebook Watch. A cowardly heel who relies on best friend Kevin Owens to help him win matches now, his and Lynch's likelihood of knocking off the likes of Nakamura, Balor, Strowman and Roode's teams is relatively low.
Still, from an aesthetic perspective and in-ring quality standpoint, Zayn and Lynch rank as one of the best duos in the field.
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On paper, the pairing of Miz and Asuka is one of the strangest in the competition.
Asuka is a fierce, undefeated badass who will kick an opponent's head clear off her shoulders if necessary. The Miz is a cunning, sometimes cowardly heel who oftentimes relies on Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas to assist him in his most prominent bouts.
That dynamic, though, is exactly what makes Miz and Asuka such intriguing partners.
The egomaniacal villain taking credit for victories earned by the mysterious warrior is a story the creative team can tell throughout the tournament and would be a great way to make the ordeal mean even more.
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Bobby Roode has essentially been portrayed as Ric Flair lite since arriving in NXT in 2016, what with the arrogance turned up to 10 and the extravagant robes and theme music. Therefore, it makes sense he would partner with The Nature Boy's daughter, Charlotte Flair, for the Mixed Match Challenge.
Aesthetically, the team makes sense.
Roode and Charlotte are similar in their presentations. They are traditional wrestlers with championship resumes, and they carry themselves with class and dignity. They are the golden team of the tournament, a duo management could look at and be proud to tout as the winners of the first Mixed Match Challenge.
Do not be surprised if that is exactly what happens.
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Considering how inconsequential Goldust has been to the Raw brand over the past six months or so, it was interesting to see him announced for the Mixed Match Challenge. Ditto Alicia Fox, whose star has fallen quite a bit since her most recent push around Survivor Series time.
Grizzled WWE veterans who have won championships and worked with stars who would go on to bigger and better things than they have, they are hardly Superstars one would expect to be highlighted in such a tournament.
Their eccentric personalities make them a perfect fit, but it is strange they would be included given some of the men and women who are not.
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Yes, the uncertainty surrounding Enzo Amore's availability for the tournament likely threw a wrench into WWE's plans, but putting together Nia Jax and Apollo Crews feels lazy and, furthermore, makes little sense.
There is seemingly no connection to play off of, and the idea that Jax is rejecting on Titus Worldwide in social media posts does nothing to generate any sort of excitement for the team. Given how enhanced Jax's presence has been in recent weeks via her budding relationship with Amore, it is disappointing to see her so casually teamed with Crews, who has been a non-factor of sorts in recent months.
A renewed tag team push for him and Titus O'Neil via victory over Sheamus and Cesaro may well change that, but on the surface, this is one of the more lackluster teams in the challenge.
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Rusev and Lana make total sense as a team based on their real-life marriage and their history on television, but that does not make the pairing one of the best in the tournament.
Instead, it almost certainly dooms Rusev to another high-profile loss and an early ousting from the challenge thanks to Lana's less-than-stellar in-ring game.
The Ravishing Russian, for as superb as she is on the microphone and as a presence at ringside, is not a solid enough wrestler between the ropes to convincingly beat anyone without tons of cheating and tomfoolery.
While that could occur, the idea the happy couple knocks off Elias and Bayley in Round 1, let alone anyone else, is a bit far-fetched.
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The charismatic Shinsuke Nakamura and the third-generation competitor Natalya will make up one of SmackDown Live's most formidable duos.
Two celebrated in-ring workers, they have no history to speak of but have the personalities to play off each other well and, more importantly, the in-ring skills to help deliver some of the best action of the tournament.
While it is unlikely they win the whole thing, the duo figures to be one of the more impressive blue-brand offerings, and their first-round match against Finn Balor and Sasha Banks could well feature the eventual winners of the inaugural tournament.
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Whereas Rusev and Lana are a real-life husband and wife combination that is rather one-sided in terms of ability between the ropes, the same cannot be said for Jimmy Uso and Naomi.
A real-life married couple with multiple championships to their names, the duo is dynamic and could surprise quite a few people when the tournament kicks off Tuesday night.
Fast, agile and athletic, Uso and Naomi could cause problems for the more traditional wrestlers in the tournament and may even score an upset or two. If they can get past the eccentric Goldust and Alicia Fox pairing, do not be surprised to see them make a deep run.
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Arguably the best team in the field is Finn Balor and Sasha Banks.
Beloved by internet smart marks and casual fans alike, the team consists of two stars who helped lay the foundations for NXT and create genuine excitement for the brand. They are both former champions in developmental and the main roster and have a charisma about them that appeals to everyone.
Balor's recent change in demeanor, not to mention his reunion with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, has the leader of Balor Club reassuming his position as one of the top stars on Raw, while The Boss is always among the favorites to strike gold in the women's division.
While they drew a tough challenge in Round 1 against Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya, do not be surprised to see Balor and Banks win the whole thing.
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Voted on by fans via a Facebook poll, Bayley's partner was originally slated to be Samoa Joe. Injury forced him out of competition, though, and runner-up Elias advanced to the Mixed Match Challenge to form a unique tandem with the former women's champion.
The sinister songster and the hug-loving Superstar make up one of the strangest tandems in the tournament, if only because their personalities do not mesh at all.
Elias is a cunning, cerebral and manipulative villain. Bayley is a lovable underdog. Unlike Miz and Asuka, whose differences can be blended together to tell a story that makes sense, the most this seems to bring is the potential for a few comedy vignettes and promos.
Whether that hurts Elias and what was starting to look like a push of sorts, complete with renewed aggression, remains to be seen.
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Much like Nia Jax and Apollo Crews, the duo of Carmella and Big E is one of the worst in the field because of the completely thrown-together nature of the pairing.
Yes, fans voted on Big E to partner with Carmella, but regardless of which of New Day's three teammates earned the victory, a partnership with The Princess of Staten Island just feels slapdash.
There is no history, so there is nothing for the performers to play off of. With no background or obvious connection, the pairing just does not work on paper.
Sure, the potential for them to prove everyone wrong and go on to do great things exists. Both Big E and Carmella have shown on numerous occasions they can deliver entertaining promos and breakout performances when needed.
It just does not feel like this will be the ideal setting for that to happen.
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Beauty and The Beast comes to life in this pairing, as The Monster Among Men, Braun Strowman, partners with Raw women's champion Alexa Bliss.
Strowman is an unstoppable force who will not hesitate to use his superhuman strength to pull down entire television sets on opponents, while Bliss is a charismatic yet cowardly villain who talks a big game and takes a hellish ass-kicking when the time comes.
They have nothing in common on the surface but could prove to be the breakout team of the tournament given their popularity and the attention WWE Creative routinely pays to them.
Whereas others simply do not make sense, this odd couple looks like one destined to have a substantial run in the tournament thanks to their significant roles on WWE television every Monday night.
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