From the WWE Rumour Mill: Three big mixed tag-teams planned for Mixed Match Challenge

What's the story?

The WWE announced a partnership with Facebook Watch to stream a new show called the Mixed Match Challenge that will feature mixed tag-teams from Raw and SmackDown LIVE in a single-elimination tournament. Now that the exciting announcement has been made, the question on everybody's lips is - who will be pairing up to compete?

In case you didn't know...

Following the announcement, several of WWE's Superstars took to social media to react to the WWE's groundbreaking foray into the world of live streaming with their new show, as well as hinting at potential exciting partnerships.

Finn Balor has begged to team with Bayley, Carmella has hinted at a money partnership with Bobby Roode and Curt Hawkins has teased a monumental coming together of the two big streaks in the WWE.

Um, @WWEAsuka I think we were snubbed on this one! #TheStreakers https://t.co/aJDrV7q2Jq

— Brian Myers (@TheCurtHawkins) December 13, 2017

Here are the rosters for the show:

RAW: Alexa Bliss, Alicia Fox, Asuka, Bayley, Braun Strowman, Enzo Amore, Finn Balor, Goldust, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, The Miz

SmackDown Live: Becky Lynch, Bobby Roode, Carmella, Charlotte, Jimmy Uso, Lana, Naomi, Natalya, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura

The heart of the matter

ProWrestlingSheet has provided an update on the announcement of this new WWE show, and has revealed that some very interesting partnerships are being considered for the show, with one very obvious pairing, given recent episodes of Monday Night RAW, practically being a 'lock' to compete together.

One obvious note, our sources say Nia Jax and Enzo Amore are almost a lock to team together and there’s been talk of pairing up real-life married couples Jimmy Uso/Naomi and Lana/Rusev.

The Nia Jax and Enzo Amore announcement do make a whole lot of sense given the interactions between the two that have taken place recently.

Also interesting to note would be the potential pairing of Lana and Rusev, as the WWE seems to have gone to great lengths to seperate the two performers on their SmackDown brand, but may be considering putting them back together.

What's next?

ProWrestlingSheet also details that this Mixed Match Challenge seems to be the WWE testing the water for potential new revenue streams that will be available to them once their television deal with NBC runs out in 2019.

As a result, Vince McMahon is putting a lot of weight behind this tournament so you can expect to see a lot of crowd-pleasing pairings in efforts to impress the top brass at Facebook as well as other streaming sites.

Author's take

If this Mixed Match Classic reunites Lana and Rusev then, not only will it be Rusev Day, but it will have been worth it just for that alone. Obviously, I hope that this experiment is a success for WWE as I'm a big fan of alternative content and distribution methods.