The 12-week WWE Mixed Match Challenge kicked off in earnest on Facebook Watch on January 16th after SmackDown Live. In case you need it, here’s a refresher on the teams and challenge bracket.
If you still haven’t watched the week 1 match and don’t want to know what happened, this is your warning that there are spoilers beyond this point.
In the first match of the Mixed Match Challenge, the cool kid team of Finn Balor and Sasha Banks took on the rather eccentric duo of Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya. It was an entertaining kickoff to the tournament, including a fun spot where Nakamura caught Sasha when she attempted a suicide dive on Natalya.
.@SashaBanksWWE, meet @ShinsukeN…
➡️ https://t.co/81bOkAzJNG pic.twitter.com/YgIs2ensn3
— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) January 17, 2018
However, in the end, Team “Boss Club” defeated Team “Naka-meowa,” as Nattie so eloquently dubbed them. After their victory, Dasha Fuentes asked Banks and Balor who they’d most like to face next: Asuka and The Miz or Big E and Carmella. But they didn’t give anything away, saying they were willing to take on any and all challengers.
Despite their avoidance of the question, however, it seems likely that Asuka and The Miz will defeat Carmella and Big E next week. As entertaining as ‘Mella and Big E are sure to be, there’s no way WWE is going to let Asuka – who remains undefeated in singles’ competition – lose her first match in the challenge. So I say look forward to a huge match between Banks and Balor and Miz and Asuka in Week 7.
Here are some of my other predictions for the Mixed Match Challenge moving forward.
Weeks 3 and 4 will respectively feature Braun Strowman/Alex Bliss vs. Sami Zayn/Becky Lynch and Goldust/Alicia Fox vs. Jimmy Uso/Naomi. It seems like a foregone conclusion that Strowman/Bliss will pick up the win in Week 3, as they’re both at the top of their respective divisions. Plus, the physical comedy of their team is just too good to waste. As for Week 4, that’s a more difficult call – but I don’t think WWE would let the real-life husband and wife duo of Jimmy Uso and Naomi lose their first match.
Weeks 5 and 6 will feature Elias/Bayley vs. Rusev/Lana and Apollo Crews/Nia Jax vs. Bobby Roode/Charlotte Flair, respectively. Again, the Week 6 matchup will obviously go in favor of Roode and Charlotte; they’re both champions, and the team of Nia and Crews was haphazardly thrown together after Enzo Amore missed a week of action thanks to the flu. However, unlike Jimmy and Naomi, I don’t think the real-life married team of Rusev and Lana will win their match in Week 5. They’re both heels, and having fan-favorite Bayley lose in the first round just doesn’t seem right (plus I personally quite enjoy her pairing with Elias and believe there’s high potential for comedic value).
If the above predictions come true, we’ll see Strowman/Bliss vs. Jimmy/Naomi in Week 8 and Elias/Bayley vs. Roode/Flair in Week 9, which are both Raw vs. SmackDown matches. Check back later to see if my predictions were correct, as well as more predictions moving forward!
Who do you think will win the upcoming bouts in the Mixed Match Challenge? Do you agree with my predictions or not? Sound off in the comments below!