It’s been 5 months since Jinder Mahal shocked the world by becoming the WWE Champion. It’s been a long ride, and it hasn’t always been pleasant. Solid matches with Randy Orton have not been enough to save his reign. It’s been bogged down by tired promos that he repeated ad nauseam. Bad writing and an old-school but pedestrian wrestling style have undeniably stank up his reign. This Sunday, at Hell in a Cell, there will be some big changes, whether he retains or not. But we still have to ask: what is next for Jinder Mahal?
Dropping the WWE Championship
I hope that Jinder Mahal loses the title this Sunday. 140 days of Jinder is quite long, and I don’t think it should go on any longer. Besides, if (God forbid) he retains, who does he defend it against next? Sami Zayn is a non-entity, AJ Styles is locked in a feud with Baron Corbin, and Bobby Roode probably isn’t staying face for long.
It would be damaging for Shinsuke Nakamura to lose twice to Mahal. No one will take him seriously after that. Besides, you can’t have your heel be a racist and then win. You can only keep “building heat” for so long before people stop caring. And people have stopped caring. It would be a massive waste of the past three months to have Jinder defeat Shinsuke Nakamura.
I believe Mahal drops the title this Sunday. He gets his rematch at Survivor Series or Clash of Champions, and then poof, he’s gone from the title picture. But after that, what’s next for him? He can’t just drop down back to where he once was on the card. He’s not going back to being a jobber. He’ll be hanging around the upper reaches of the card for a while.