— The upcoming WWE Mixed Match Challenge is reportedly a Ryan Ward project instead of one in which Vince McMahon or Kevin Dunn have a lot to do with, according to a recent edition of wrestling Observer Live.

— Ward is a former NXT writer who has since been promoted to the main brand and he was familiar with UFC running fights on Facebook for a long time, so he pitched the idea to have WWE matches on Facebook as well.

— The takeaway here is that it is expected that the booking and structuring of the Mixed Match Challenge should in theory resemble NXT more than it does either Raw or Smackdown, which of course McMahon and Dunn completely oversee.