The WWE Mixed Match Challenge Is Back – Here Are The Favorites

It’s been just five months since the conclusion of the inaugural Mixed Match Challenge, and WWE announced during SmackDown Tuesday night that the series will return for season two on Sept. 18.

Like the first season, the second season of the Mixed Match Challenge will air exclusively on Facebook Watch, and a handful of season one teams are returning to action – including Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman.

Yes, TEAM LITTLE BIG IS BACK, BAY-BAY!

Other returning teams include the husband-and-wife tandems of Jimmy Uso and Naomi and Rusev and Lana, as well as season one winners The Miz and Asuka.

After that, however, some of the teams get weird. Here’s the rest of the field for season two of the Mixed Match Challenge:

• AJ Styles and Charlotte Flair
• R-Truth and Carmella
• Bobby Lashley and Sasha Banks
• Finn Balor and Bayley
• Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox
• Kevin Owens and Natalya

Right off the bat, two teams that jump out at me as exceptionally odd are Lashley and Banks and Owens and Natalya. To say that these pairs are mismatched is a gross understatement, although Owens/Natalya has entertainment potential. As for Lashley and Banks, it seems as if WWE threw them together because they didn’t know what else to do with them.

As for the rest, Mahal and Fox are also cobbled together, but not as odd a pairing as those mentioned above. Bayley wanted to team with her buddy Balor in the first season of the MMC, so it’s nice that WWE threw her a bone here. R-Truth and Carmella have had a nice little comedy routine going on the last few weeks. And of course Styles and Charlotte would hang together – they’re the champs.

All that being said, which team will go the distance in the second Mixed Match Challenge?

Obviously, Styles and Charlotte stand a good chance of making it to the final; again, they’re the champs. I also expect the teams of Balor and Bayley and Bliss and Strowman to last well into the competition, if not win it. Additionally, I won’t be surprised if Lana and Rusev outlast many of the other teams, given that they’ve already been working as a team on SmackDown and at pay-per-views.

On the flip-side, definite non-contenders include Mahal and Fox and Truth and Carmella, although I’m sure the latter will have great comedic value.

To be honest, I’m surprised that WWE renewed the Mixed Match Challenge so soon, given reports that they weren’t too satisfied with the performance of the first one. However, they obviously saw some value in it to bring it back so quickly; perhaps this time around the MMC teams will have more of a presence on Raw and SmackDown.

Frankly, just give me more Team Little Big. That’s all I want.