WWE Mixed Match Challenge Results: Grades, Reaction and Highlights from Sept. 25

WWE continued its new round-robin format on this week's Mixed Match Challenge with two more matches it has been building on Raw and SmackDown for the past few weeks.

Bobby Lashley and Jinder Mahal have been interacting on Raw to hype their bout, while The Miz and R-Truth have engaged in their own feud on SmackDown.

This new format will allow teams to compete more than once even if they lose, allowing WWE to book some fun combinations along the way.

Let's take a look at what happened on Tuesday's episode of WWE Mixed Match Challenge.

Mickie James and Bobby Lashley vs. Alicia Fox and Jinder Mahal

Lio Rush and Sunil Singh argued at ringside as Lashley and Mahal began the match. It took them less than a minute before they started trying to incorporate comedy into their performance.

Mahal challenged Lashley to a push-up contest with their partners on their backs, but Singh ended up tripping over The Maharaja to break it up.

This bout was nothing special, but WWE having Lashley and Mahal build up a feud over the past few weeks gave it more backstory than most of the other contests we will see in the first round of the tournament.

Despite having a friendship on Raw, Alicia Fox and Mickie James seemed more than happy to beat up each other. After Rush got Mahal to chase him into the ring, Lashley scored the win for his team with a vertical suplex.

Grade: C

Notes and Highlights

• James and Lashley chose the name Country Dominance. "The Ballad of Mickie Bobby" was right in front of them, and they didn't use it.
• So Fox and James go from being Alexa Bliss' cronies to opponents in the matter of a day? Typical WWE logic.
• Mahal is a former WWE champion, and he was defeated with a standard vertical suplex. Sad.
• Fox is such an underrated comedic performer. She throws everything she has into her unhinged gimmick.

The Miz and Asuka vs. R-Truth and Carmella

The Miz and R-Truth have each scored a win over each other in recent weeks, so this bout acted as something of a rubber match for them.

Carmella and Asuka were going to start, but The Miz got jealous of all the attention The Empress of Tomorrow was getting from the crowd, so he tagged himself in.

The first few minutes of the bout were all comedy, and while that would normally be a bad thing, the crowd was into every second of it because all four performers were so entertaining.

There was a lot of mayhem, but it all worked to make this a memorable contest. After Mella super-kicked The Miz off the apron, The Empress put her in the Asuka Lock for the win.

There wasn't much in the way of technical wrestling here, but it succeeded in being something the fans will remember when they leave the arena.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• Carmella had a funny moment backstage with Kayla Braxton before her entrance.
• Asuka would benefit from a heel turn. She is so good when she is with The Miz, and her character would be able to be more dominant if she was a villain.
• There was too much conversation from the announcers about Mella's new hair color.
• The Miz's moonwalking joke was so much funnier than it had any right to be.