In my wanderings around Steem, I saw this post and gave the writer a few of my thoughts: https://steemit.com/wwe/@didic/wwe-mixed-match-challenge-ranking-the-teams
A Facebook group I'm in is very optimistic about this challenge for several reasons:
One, the matchups are new. With the brand split, this may be the chance to finally see a Finn Balor vs Nakamura (in the first round!) matchup that's given time outside of NXT. We see various newcomers like Roode and Elias show their stuff as well. Plus, the 2nd Chance fan vote on week 11 gives a great opportunity for another surprise.
Two, putting a highlight on both male and female wrestlers hopefully represents the women as being on equal footing with the guys. WWE has never been the best at this, when they're still hanging on to the success of an era that favored Bra and Panties matches and "Puppies!" (I would recommend Lucha Underground for some innovative mixed-gender matches, but I digress...) In this challenge though, we see females boosting their counterparts' profiles and vice versa. Nia Jax, in particular, can be said to be the bigger draw in her partnership. Flair is the WWE veteran in the Team Robes pairing and Roode will definitely benefit. And finally, Bayley can only elevate Elias furrher.
And three, the wrestlers are having fun. Real life couples Rusev/Lana and Uso/Naomi looks like they're having a blast in their promos. Zayn and Becky Lynch had that fun reveal on WWE's Youtube. And all the pretapes are fun... Spilling out into the wrestlers' social media (check out Natalya dressing her cat like Nakamura). When the wrestlers are having fun, the chances of a good show drastically increases.
Overall, I'm optimistic about this. Now to figure out how to actually watch it...