Full disclosure: at first blush, I thought the Mixed Match Challenge was going to be stupid. A weak college try for the WWE to experiment with social media live broadcasting, and a blatant attempt at trying to garner web views and social squawking as if they actually could be translated into tangible revenue.
I’ll also be honest that I haven’t been watching the MMC over Facebook, because the last thing I want to see when I’m watching wrestling is to see a million comments flying by in an illegible stream, and a bunch of reaction icons floating across like a fart in the wind. I’ve been watching them as they’ve been made available on the WWE Network instead, like a staunch hipster.
Regardless of the fact that I’m watching it in the manner not intended, I still have to say that I’ve found the MMC to be really enjoyable over the last four weeks. Sure, it’s very evident in the way its executed that they’re definitely making great efforts to try and appeal to casuals and tenuous viewers, but in doing so, they’re unintentionally breaking all the tropes and memes that exist about the wrestling industry that most smarky fans like myself are innately aware of, and therefore making it refreshing and interesting in the process.
For example, despite the fact that WWE programming is televised at least five hours every week, if your name isn’t John Cena, Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey, Shane McMahon or AJ Styles, it’s not very likely that a wrestler is going to get much screen time. The rosters are large, and there’s simply not enough time for everyone to get a piece of the spotlight. The MMC has been running basically a 30 minute format, but featuring just two men and two women at a time, and suddenly there’s a generous slice of spotlight for all participants to be in a main event, even if it’s just for just a singular web broadcast. It’s allowing superstars not necessarily main eventers to get a lot of attention, and in a monopolized industry where we’re spoonfed formulaic wrestling storylines meant to maximize revenue and sell merchandise, it’s a refreshing reprieve form the norm.
Save for Braun Strowman, just about every male participant is a current mid-card guy and Apollo Crews, and the women participants are clearly among the more capable ones on the roster plus Lana, therefore it’s clear that the MMC is trying their best to get very good workers to have some refreshing non-storyline matches going.
And that’s another thing that’s great about the MMC is that it’s completely separated from the storylines of the rest of the shows. By doing such, a lot of narrative and predictability of regularly televised wrestling goes out the door by having mixed matches between teams who have no reason to compete against one another. In some cases, we’re seeing some potential dream matchups happen, like Finn Balor squaring off against Shinsuke Nakamura, and in other cases, we’re seeing successful pairings going at it again, like Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch. And then we get to some bizarre pairings like Goldust and Mandy Rose going up against Jimmy Uso and Naomi, where there was easily more shenanigans than actual wrestling match, but it still worked out to be entertaining.
Which brings us to the third reason why I think the MMC is good, because it actually looks like the wrestlers themselves are having a great time participating in it. It’s also a reprieve for them from standard storylines, and they’re getting to work with men and women they probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to work with for a while, and they’re actually doing good by associating with various charities to create awareness for them to mass audiences. And in the matches themselves, the wrestlers all look like they’re actually having fun in the ring, which translates well with live audiences, which makes it easier for viewers at home to relate. Face/Heel dynamics are kind of out the window, and it’s for the best, because guys like The Miz pairing with Asuka and Becky Lynch teaming with Sami Zayn have resulted in good chemistry. And shit, they actually let Braun Strowman speak like a normal person, which in itself is pretty golden.
So overall, I have to say that I’m digging the MMC, and I look forward to seeing the tournament pan out in coming weeks. I hope it’s successful enough for its intended purpose to reel in viewers over social media to get them to subscribe to the Network, so that experimental things like this can continue to happen in the future. But what I think I’m liking the most is that the MMC is inadvertently reminding existing WWE fans just how stale and formulaic the original product is, and just how good the product could be capable of being when the reigns are loosened a little bit, and how bright underutilized talents can be if given just a little bit of spotlight.
