WWE Mixed Match Challenge Results: Grades, Reaction and Highlights from Oct. 16

The Mixed Match Challenged continued this week after SmackDown's historic 1,000th episode with two new contests featuring teams from Raw and SmackDown.

Natalya's original partner, Kevin Owens, went down with an injury, so he was replaced by Bobby Roode in their match against Bobby Lashley and Mickie James.

The second match featured Lana and Rusev going up against last year's winners, The Miz and Asuka. Let's go through what we saw on this week's Mixed Match Challenge.

Team Paws vs. Country Dominance

Roode and Lashley got into an argument over which Bobby the crowd was chanting for, but their partners were able to calm them down.

The men exchanged some offense, but it was the women who impressed with some of their offense to get the crowd into the match.

After they did the heavy lifting, the Bobbys were tagged in. They picked up the pace and delivered a few big power moves to each other, but neither competitor could keep the upper hand for long.

Natalya and Roode eventually locked James and Lashley in Sharpshooters, but Lio Rush distracted Roode so he would release the hold. This allowed Lashley to hit a Spear for the pin and the win.

This was a decent match. Natalya and James were the standout stars here, but Roode and Lashley had a few highlights.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• Lashley couldn't help but smile when Nattie put the cat ears on his head.
• Thankfully, Lio Rush did not have a mic during this match.
• Was James' attire supposed to be a reference to something?
• Natalya tried to keep a positive attitude in the post-match interview, but Roode didn't seem as hopeful despite saying he had faith. Asuka interrupting them was kind of funny.

Team Awe-Suka vs. Rusev Day

After The Miz defeated Rusev on SmackDown to qualify for the WWE World Cup, The Bulgarian Brute was looking for a small measure of redemption with a win in this bout.

Asuka suckered Lana into a dance-off just so she could deliver a kick to the ribs. The Ravishing Russian was able to rebound, but Rusev and The Miz had a confrontation to bring the match to a halt.

Lana may not be on the level of Charlotte or Natalya, but she has shown a lot of improvement during her recent performances, including this match.

They relied on more comedy than the previous bout, especially during the early moments after the bell. While Rusev was distracted by The Miz at ringside, The Empress of Tomorrow picked up the win for her team with the Asuka Lock.

Grade: B-

Notes and Highlights

• Renee Young clearly expected Lana to dance during her entrance.
• The crowd seems to like Lana's chant more than it actually likes Lana. When they were competing for crowd reactions, Asuka was getting the biggest pops.
• Rusev preparing to do a suicide dive was funny, especially when The Miz hid behind Asuka to stop him in his tracks.
• The Miz did a good impression of Aiden English clearing his throat to sing.