Mixed Match Challenge Discussion Thread

[Anybody Thrilla]

Please use this thread to discuss all things Mixed Match Challenge, as to not have to spoil things in the Smackdown thread for those who don't watch live. Please and thank you.

***

I've enjoyed the shows thus far. They've been fun and different. What I maybe don't like is heels acting like faces and such. Braun smiling. Sami being all nice to Becky. That sort of stuff. Oh well. I'll keep checking it out.

[slik]

Braun isn't a heel.

As for Sami, heels are allowed to have fun too. It fits the tone of the show. It's sort of an 'out-of-continuity' series.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I said I enjoy it. And Braun may not be a heel, but he shouldn't be a guy that 'just likes to have fun' in any capacity. Out of continuity, sure, but when I open the Network, the replays are sitting right there next to continuity stuff, so it's murky.

[Splaya]

It was interesting to see that they did the interview after the match and Braun and Alexa laughing and "flirting" with one another. Interested to see if they just let it fall by the way side or if there is a bigger storyline planned here.

[Evil Vito]

I think Braun would crush Alexa to death if they hooked up

[Evil Vito]

Also, I imagined a single tear rolling down Buddy Murphy's face when he watched that segment

[Ruien]

Love this show on Facebook. I also love Braun so that helped this week.

[slik]

It's the most enjoyable wwe series today, imo

[Emperor Smeat]

Its been pretty good so far.

Best thing about it is the genuine fun and personality shown by those involved. Also helps expose how terrible Vince's and Kevin Dunn's rigid process for shows have been since neither are involved with this show.

[Tom Guycott]

I think Braun would crush Alexa to death if they hooked up

Nah. I'm sure she would be revealed to be part Holly, thus making her a Super Heavyweight and *well* over 500lbs. Strowman is obviously the one in more danger here.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

These odd couple teams are so bizarre, I call it the MisMatch Challenge!

[Anybody Thrilla]

You don't have to call it that if you don't want to.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If they go with Braun Strowman vs. The Miz (can't really believe that is the plan right now), Buddy Murphy should offer his services to The Miztourage. He and Blake attack Braun one week and target his leg. Braun wants Murphy & Blake and also The Miz. He faces Axel & Dallas in a Handicap Match, beats them easily. Faces Blake & Murphy and Murphy gets DQ'd when he chairs the leg. Braun still powerslams them. Miz looks to take advantage of the leg. Braun powers out, Powerslams Miz, then Murphy hits the ring again. Referee goes to DQ Miz, but Strowman grabs his arm. "No." Chokeslam to Murphy. Chokeslam to Miz. Strowman wins the IC Title, then scoops up Alexa and walks to the back like a caveman.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Silly booking aside, if they booked for their talent, as opposed to just jamming people in matches against each other, Braun being targeted by Blake & Murphy would make a lot of sense and actually give someone for Braun to get revenge on. Have it be a renegade attack in the back with weapons. I'd have them be chairs, because giving them the chair gimmick means you have a team with it for TLC. They legitimately hurt Braun and Murphy is the jerk fiancee and Alexa seems upset with his attitude. Kurt plays both sides of the fence, because he's impressed there are guys that have taken out Braun, but he's also concerned about one of his top stars. Play Braun and Bliss off each other in the aftermath. Alexa is concerned as he's getting tended to and begs him not to hurt Buddy. Braun says he didn't have any designs on Alexa and Alexa seems disappointed. This sort of stuff sells, folks. Braun would normally kill Buddy, but she respects her and won't disappoint her by hurting her fiancee. Bliss starts accompanying them for tag matches and Murphy keeps calling Braun names and poking the bear. Shit intensifies. Match at Mania. Big cathartic release when Braun Powerslams Murphy into oblivion. "One more time! One more time!" Bliss is freaking out, and a big story point is revealed that she was in cahoots with it all along. He brushes her off and calls her a bitch, looks like a stud, bumps into Nia in the back, who is Bliss' challenges and wishes her luck and says "What a woman" when she walks off.

Money, I tells ya.

[Simple Fan]

Murphy & Blake are awful though, I'd rather see Braun vs The Miz. Actually that's a great match for Mania in my opinion. Miz/Strowman could be a great feud.

[Maluco]

Contributes heavily towards watering down Braun in my opinion. And before people complain and talk about continuity or the fact that kayfabe is dead...it should still be believable. I still want to believe that Strowman is an angry monster when a watch.

You wouldn't catch the likes of Undertaker or Lesnar on something like this. They care about how they are presented and it contributed a lot to their drawing power over the years.

[Simple Fan]

Best hwel the company has in the Miz vs their best face in Strowman would be great for WM. I don't see how that would water down Strowman any.

[Ruien]

Contributes heavily towards watering down Braun in my opinion. And before people complain and talk about continuity or the fact that kayfabe is dead...it should still be believable. I still want to believe that Strowman is an angry monster when a watch.

You wouldn't catch the likes of Undertaker or Lesnar on something like this. They care about how they are presented and it contributed a lot to their drawing power over the years.

Any person can become love struck. If Bliss uses it as a new way/reason for Braun to destroy people then it helps prolong his monster career.

[Destor]

No it makes him a patsy but Im good with that. he doesn thave much shelf life

[Maluco]

Any person can become love struck. If Bliss uses it as a new way/reason for Braun to destroy people then it helps prolong his monster career.

It's the start of the comedy road imo. Remember Kane and Lita? All downhill very soon. Starts off with angry guy is jilted, but ends with taking gloss away from the monster and making him more human and prone to stupid storylines.

Once that happens, there is no way back.

Already made a similar mistake to what they made with Kane by not giving him a proper title run. Was almost understandable in Kane's day, but Wrestlermania should have def been Strowman Vs Lesnar for the first time. Think they have missed their moment and this is now mistake number two.

[Ruien]

It can make him whatever. It still prolongs him being a monster. You run the Bliss angle for a couple of months before he turns on her. It can be a way to change him back to a heel too or keep him as a face. He then gets another legit solo run before needing to go on a break to keep him fresh.

[Maluco]

I guess we will see where he is at in 6 months to a year. I get what you are saying, there needs to be some variation in what he does, but giggling and laughing is really off-putting for me.

Give him a proper intense feud with someone, have him injured by a stable and return on a rampage. That's the sort of thing fans loved seeing Goldberg doing. Noone wanted to see Goldberg in a gold wig and I don't think anyone really wants to see this. It's not money.

[Ruien]

Ya. Like, he does not need to be changed this instance. He SHOULD be given a short title run first and everyone is still into him. But it will be a few months before the Mixed Challenege is done so I guess there is time to squeeze it in before bringing the next step of Braun to Raw.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Contributes heavily towards watering down Braun in my opinion. And before people complain and talk about continuity or the fact that kayfabe is dead...it should still be believable. I still want to believe that Strowman is an angry monster when a watch.

You wouldn't catch the likes of Undertaker or Lesnar on something like this. They care about how they are presented and it contributed a lot to their drawing power over the years.

How can you buy Braun Strowman as an angry monster when his name is "Braun Strowman" and he debuted looking like this:

http://www.pwpix.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/braun-strowman-27861589-620x400.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

Apparently WWE are not happy with Mixed Match Challenge and how its getting less and less interest by the week.

[Destor]

Well its a shit concept so i dont know what they were going after

[Emperor Smeat]

Limiting it to just the US was a big mistake but all depends if Facebook is happy at the show getting at least a million views with replays included each week. The live airings going down each week is a big concern though.

[Tom Guycott]

Contributes heavily towards watering down Braun in my opinion. And before people complain and talk about continuity or the fact that kayfabe is dead...it should still be believable. I still want to believe that Strowman is an angry monster when a watch.

You wouldn't catch the likes of Undertaker or Lesnar on something like this. They care about how they are presented and it contributed a lot to their drawing power over the years.

This is a guy who has assaulted random people (including Michael Cole, who, if you recall, "threatened legal action" because Brock Lesnar did so before... but Brawn does it, and he's all like 'meh' and comes back the next week like nothing happened), been flipping large vehicles with the help of superfast camera jump cuts and was crushed in a garbage truck, presumably driven around in it to the next RAW city, where it got a paint job, then he emerged from it unscathed. I don't think sticking him in a love angle to give him a bit more character is anywhere near outside the bounds of the believable here.

Besides, I get what you were trying to go for... but 'Taker has contributed to his share of shitty soap opera/sci fi nonsense over the years.

[Tom Guycott]

It's the start of the comedy road imo. Remember Kane and Lita? All downhill very soon. Starts off with angry guy is jilted, but ends with taking gloss away from the monster and making him more human and prone to stupid storylines.

Once that happens, there is no way back.

Already made a similar mistake to what they made with Kane by not giving him a proper title run. Was almost understandable in Kane's day, but Wrestlermania should have def been Strowman Vs Lesnar for the first time. Think they have missed their moment and this is now mistake number two.

That just depends on booking.

I still recall the road not traveled with AJ Lee and Kane/CM Punk/Daniel Bryan. The smartest thing to do would have had her play master manipulator and essentially have all three of those guys run roughshod over the WWE and beat the piss out of eachother for her just because she could and loved the attention until they got fed up with it and/or some other eventuality - presumably having some guy they're looking to step up to main event become "her man" (let's just say Big E for shits and giggles, or insert whoever you like at the time into this role), and the other three softened themselves up for him to pick them off and win the title.

Or something.

Instead, they just kinda stopped, had Kane tell her she was too crazy even for him, and abruptly promoted her to GM of RAW because reasons.

This doesn't have to be a bad thing for Braun. Problem is more WWE's track record of followthrough and less of it actually being a bad idea.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well its a shit concept so i dont know what they were going after

They put a bunch of mixed tags together in a sexless WWE where they have specifically told people that wins and losses don't matter...in a tournament format? I can't imagine how they expected this to go wrong.

[Mr. Nerfect]

This is a guy who has assaulted random people (including Michael Cole, who, if you recall, "threatened legal action" because Brock Lesnar did so before... but Brawn does it, and he's all like 'meh' and comes back the next week like nothing happened), been flipping large vehicles with the help of superfast camera jump cuts and was crushed in a garbage truck, presumably driven around in it to the next RAW city, where it got a paint job, then he emerged from it unscathed. I don't think sticking him in a love angle to give him a bit more character is anywhere near outside the bounds of the believable here.

Besides, I get what you were trying to go for... but 'Taker has contributed to his share of shitty soap opera/sci fi nonsense over the years.

But it's just so...goofy. Like, there's nothing scary about the dude at all. I'm sorry, but I'm just not impressed by him beating up Michael Cole and jobbers. And whenever he has to go long with someone that matters...it sucks.

I look at him and think "heavy breather." And not in the Michael Myers sort of way.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Sami Zayn is awesome.

[rez]

bump

[rez]

RoseGold Penitentiary

[rez]

It's cool that they can throw some comedy into these matches

[Droford]

this is awful

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: crowd chanting for Goldust to kiss Mandy

[rez]

mmm mandy rose

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

72.9k watching live right now. How does that compare to other weeks?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

CrossRhodes !

[Tom Guycott]

:lol: crowd chanting for Goldust to kiss Mandy

Looks like Mandy is going to have a feud with Alicia Fox when she gets back... and if she doesn't, that is one massive dropped boat.

[rez]

RUSEV DAYYYY

[Emperor Smeat]

Rusev is great

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Rusev playing the crowd. Rusev and Lana will lose but win the final vote to bring them into round 2.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Daniel Bryan not DQing for that illegal Rear View. Smackdown favortism!

[rez]

uhhh are they trying to get us to root on elias to emotionally battery bayley?

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

uhhh are they trying to get us to root on elias to emotionally battery bayley?

WWE already stands for Walk With Elias.

[Cool King]

• I swear that every week Beth Phoenix gets more and more attractive.

• Oh dear. Those "Yes" graphics.

• Shouldn't Jimmy & Naomi be disqualified as Naomi hit Goldust?

[slik]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zY8lTzjHkjU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Emperor Smeat]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rnZjdhyFXjo" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

"The only time Raw and SmackDown Superstars compete against each other! Except for the Royal Rumble...and WrestleMania...and the Mixed Match Challenge..."

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems the Mixed Match Challenge series is sort of a bust when looking at overall numbers. Current average is around 2 minutes per viewer since the tournament started.

WWE's happy with the amount of viewers it generated so far though.

On Thursday's earnings call, WWE CFO George Barrios said that Facebook was "very happy" with Mixed Match Challenge so far. However, it was also stated on the call that in the 4 weeks since the debut of the series, the show had produced over 6 million views and 12 million minutes watched. The 6 million views would have probably been as of the end of the day on Wednesday. Regardless, that means that the average person only watches two minutes of the 20 minute broadcast

[Mr. Nerfect]

Hahaha, wow.

[mike adamle]

Heh wow

[Moose Knuckle]

Well when the last episode was Goldust/Mandy Rose against Jey (or Jimmy I have no idea) Uso/Naomi how do you expect to retain viewers? The first few episodes at least had interesting pair ups with main eventers or at least bigger names than that.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I thought that was a general number. So it's the same for Nakamura and Strowman and whoever they were teamed with too. I think it might be because the work just isn't...great. It lacks that authentic drama.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Sucks about the numbers, but the show is highly entertaining.

[Destor]

If it were people other than you would be watching it for more than 120 seconds

[Anybody Thrilla]

I'm fairly certain that entertainment is subjective, but thanks for your input.

[Destor]

Im fairly certain you have shit taste and will eat anything they feed you

[Anybody Thrilla]

That's cool. I'm not trying to convince anyone to watch it. I was just saying that I enjoy it. Not sure why you're being a dick about it.

[mike adamle]

He's not being a dick he's just being real

[Anybody Thrilla]

Post 60 is definitely him being a dick, but it really doesn't matter. I enjoy the show, and I'm clearly not the only one if the rest of this thread is any indication. I may not be in the majority on it, but that's OK. I'm not going to make personal attacks. That's being a dick.

[Ruien]

The show is awesome. Love the videos that are done to promote the show. He'll, Golddust and Mandy Rose were entertaining together. Don't think 1 team has been dull so far.

[Cool King]

I enjoy Mixed Match Challenge.

It's different, it's fun, it's a tournament (tournaments are always good) and it's nice to see random pairings/matches and how they all interact with each other.

[Cool King]

It also has Beth Phoenix.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Goldust was pretty hilarious.

[Evil Vito]

Goldust and Mandy Rose would've been fucking great together last year during that brief heel run they had Goldust do. Goldust goes back to being an evil movie director with Mandy Rose as his leading lady.

[Anybody Thrilla]

Ohhhh yeah, almost forgot about that.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Goldust was pretty hilarious.

Yeah, I actually enjoyed his wacky antics and I actually felt bad for him when Jimmy stopped him from being able to receive a kiss from a Rose.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mixed Match Challenge is now said to have as many views as it does because of autoplay. :lol:

[Anybody Thrilla]

That would explain people watching it for such a short amount of time. I don't even watch it until it's on the Network. Any numbers there?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm not sure. They don't usually release specific numbers for things, but they often do a rankings.

[Emperor Smeat]

That would explain people watching it for such a short amount of time. I don't even watch it until it's on the Network. Any numbers there?

Probably a few hundred thousands at best as a guess. Network itself only has around 1.6 million subscribers so its reach is going to be way smaller than Facebook and its couple hundred million in the US alone.

Only PPVs really generate 1+ million for viewers in any given week.

[Nicky Fives]

Goldust and Mandy Rose would've been fucking great together last year during that brief heel run they had Goldust do. Goldust goes back to being an evil movie director with Mandy Rose as his leading lady.

Her as Marlena 2.0 would be great, give her some screen time to help with her promos on tv and a mentor for matches on house shows, then if she turns out, they could swap roles and Goldust could accompany her as her "leading man"

If they had any planning at all, they could have had this lined up months ago and have Mandy confront Marlena at Raw 25 as they "reminisced" about old times in a brief backstage segment..... Would have been better use of Terri instead of just "waving" at the crowd on the stage.

[Ruien]

RUSEV DAY!!!!

Next week is going to be lame but Lana and Rusev are amazing together. Well, Rusev is amazing with anyone.

[erickman]

bailey takes lanas 1st win wow

[Ruien]

Who the fuck cares?

[Ruien]

Wah wah this person shouldn't be pinned. Wah wah this person should only lose to this person.

It's the Mixed Match Challenge. No one in the world cares.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm just surprised that Rusev got a win.

[Ruien]

Braun and Bliss were both entertaining again. Fun little match with some awesome Braun spots.