Rillaboom, Charizard vs. Chesnaught, Charizard
Haxorus, ??? vs. Milotic, Garchomp
Dragonite, Hydreigon vs. Gardevoir, Aurorus
Pikachu, Gengar vs. Cradily, Metagross
Those are some cool matches! Did not expect 2v2 battles but I guess if you want to show everyone off this is the quickest way to do so (maybe it goes 2v2 quarter-finals, 3v3 semi-finals and 6v6 finals?)
Nice to see Aurorus and Cradily being used in proper battles (have we ever seen either under the command of a trainer before?) plus it keeps some sort of Gen VI connection between Steven / Diantha with them having a Mega Evolution and a fossil. Ash using Gengar is great, will we see GMax Gengar or Z-Move Pikachu vs. Mega Metagross? Lance having Hydreigon is neat and showing off his own Dragonite is awesome, hope he can differentiate his from Ash's or Iris's.
GMax Rillaboom indicates we're seeing Leon's Charizard beat Alain's Mega Charizard X without a gimmick which is... interesting? I have no strong feelings towards it. Chesnaught is also finally getting some presence and it represents some attachment from Alain to Mairin which is a funky callback! Plus it's just nice to see someone using Chesnaught honestly.
Curious to see who Iris's second Pokemon will be, I don't think it'll be Dragonite so Excadrill / Emolga / new Pokemon would be my guess. Wonder what gimmick she'll use, if any? Maybe she's recreating the affection mechanic from the games and we can watch Haxorus shrug off everything with the power of love. Cynthia having Milotic finally rounds out her team which is cool and iconic, guess her final team is established now?