WWE Announces Season 2’s Mixed Match Challenge Teams

WWE aired the first ever Mixed Match Challenge tournament earlier this year, which aired from Jan. 16 to Apr. 3. The Miz and the previously undefeated Asuka were the inaugural winners, and they are among the announced teams for the second Mixed Match Challenge.

The first WWE Mixed Match Challenge tournament this year was truly a success, because we got an opportunity to see male and female superstars interacting with each other. This is rare on WWE Television, and when it does happen, it isn’t nearly as entertaining.

Tag teams like The Miz and Asuka, Sasha Banks and Finn Balor, Big E and Carmella, and Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman became fan favorites. Nia Jax and Apollo Crews also had some hilarious promos on social media, and who can forget how Sami Zayn ended up eventually convincing Becky Lynch to turn to the dark side?

Today, Cathy Kelley announced that WWE will air a second Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Watch (not the WWE Network, though there will likely be Network replays as with Season 1), and she announced the teams on social media. You can watch the announcement below.

The first episode will be on Tuesday, Sept. 18 with a pre-show beginning on Facebook Watch at 9:50 p.m. ET. That is, of course, a very interesting pre-show time, and I wonder if viewers will be split between this show and 205 Live…

R-Truth and Carmella HAVE to be considered the headlining tag team! We’ve seen Truth confront Carmella for “ducking” him, since he kept trying to fight for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Even after Carmella lost the title at SummerSlam to Charlotte Flair, Truth kept trying to track her down, with Tye Dillinger playing the role of reluctant babysitter. It appears all he was trying to do was tag with her, and it will be interesting to see how he convinced her to partner up with him for the tournament!

The Miz and Asuka, Team Little Big (Strowman and Bliss), Rusev and Lana, and Jimmy Uso and Naomi will remain mixed tag partners.

Finn Balor and Bayley, Bobby Lashley and Sasha Banks, Mella and Truth, Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox, AJ Styles and Charlotte Flair, and Kevin Owens and Natalya.

I, for one, am excited to see Balor and Bayley tagging after their history in NXT. I’m also wondering how the heck Owens and Natalya are going to co-exist, but we’ll see if Nattie can find a way to make it work. Owens is one of WWE’s most melodramatic superstars, but Natalya is one of the most calming influences. You could say Mahal and Fox may have a similar dynamic.

The Miz and Asuka won the first Mixed Match Challenge, and the $100,000 charity donation was given to the Rescue Dogs Rock Charity.