How does Nattie feel?
Next Tuesday immediately following SmackDown Live, season two of the Mixed Match Challenge tournament will kick-start on Facebook Watch. This season there will be an additional ten minutes added to each episode and there will also be two matches on each episode as to top last season's one match per episode. Instead of the season one single elimination format, season two will be contested under round-robin rules. The teams in season two of the M.M.C. are:
Alexa Bliss & Braun Strowman
* Asuka & The Miz
* Sasha Banks & Bobby Lashley
* Naomi & Jimmy Uso
* Bayley & Finn Bálor
* Lana & Rusev
* Alicia Fox & Jinder Mahal
* Charlotte Flair & AJ Styles
* Natalya & Kevin Owens
* Carmella & R-Truth
A few of the teams are make-shift pairs much like the Canadian tandem of Kevin Owens and Natalya. The former SmackDown Live Women's Champion recently published her weekly blog for the Calgary Sun and wrote about what she expects from her experience in season two of the Mixed Match Challenge and teaming with Kevin Owens.
(Here's an excerpt from the piece):
"Facebook Watch's Mixed Match Challenge is back for Round 2! This week on Twitter, @fadithitman asked me how I feel being paired up with WWE Superstar and Montreal's own Kevin Owens. It's certainly an interesting pairing, to say the least.
When I found out I'd be teaming up with Kevin, I asked myself, "What do we have in common?" I realized a few things: we both are from Canada, are very family oriented, have competed around the world before ever coming to WWE, are inspired by Owen Hart, have a spoiled Persian cat who we shamelessly Facetime on the weekends, both like to powerbomb our opponents and we both enjoy poutine. That was a mouthful!
Well, maybe we aren't as different as we thought! I'm excited to see what we bring out of one another as we team up for the new season of Mixed Match Challenge. I know one thing for sure, both of our cats will be watching live on Facebook Watch.
Last season on the inaugural Mixed Match Challenge, I was paired with a teammate who was very unique and unlikely as well, SmackDown Live Superstar and Japanese sensation Shinsuke Nakamura. Teaming up with him was so much fun because he brought something different out of me. Nakamura made me want to dance like I didn't have a care in the world, wear wild clothing to the ring and even meow at my opponents just to be extra ridiculous. Let me clarify, I only meowed once! At the end of the day, it was fun and that's what a great partner can do, make life even more fun."
Natalya continues to bring brightness to other people's lives although it has been a rough 2018 for her. A few days after her father Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart passed away, Natalya accompanied her friend Ronda Rousey to the ring for Ronda's RAW Women's Championship match at SummerSlam. Coming out of the "Biggest Party Of The Summer", Nattie reflected on her father's passing and how she was able to hold it together when she made her way to the ring at SummerSlam during an interview with WWE.