Jinder Mahal – WWE Champion (WWE Twitter)

Well, we have been told that SmackDown Live is the land of opportunity. WWE proved that tonight at Backlash as Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship. Yes, that is correct, Jinder Mahal is a champion. In 2017. Wrestling is pretty weird. 

The crowd in Chicago was electric for the ending of this match, but the beginning of it is worth mentioning.

Orton attacked Jinder before the bell rang, and ended up controlling the majority of the match. The only time Jinder really got any momentum was when the The Singh Brothers interfered on his behalf. In the end, Orton hit the RKO, only for the former Bollywood Boyz to roll Jinder out of the ring. Orton attacked them, but it didn’t end well for him. Jinder blindsided Orton, hit his finisher and got the 1,2,3. 

I’ll give you a minute to process that, I’m still trying to. 

It’s definitely shocking when you consider what Jinder Mahal’s place on the card was for the longest time. He literally came out of nowhere to win a huge match. Before tonight, Mahal’s win-loss record in WWE was 79-368, according to profightdb.com. He was and still is considered midcard at best. From enhancement, to 3MB, to getting fired, to rehired,  Jinder has done it all in the worst possible way. 

There have been rumors that WWE officials were thinking about pulling the trigger on a Mahal WWE Title win to test it out. Basically one big troll job, like the Mayweather v. McGregor rumors. The company also wants to expand its Indian fanbase, so having a champion from the area (or at least someone with relation to it) helps. WWE tried doing that with The Great Khali, but that clearly did not go well. Luckily for Jinder, he is actually somewhat competent in the ring. His muscles (whether gained in the legit way or not) is also something Vince McMahon looks for in a superstar. 

I’m not that disappointed in Jinder winning, only because he ended Orton’s unnecessary title win. The New Era needs to move past the stars of yesteryear, even if that means making questionable decisions. To build new talent, you must actually push them, and that is what WWE did tonight.

The next few weeks will be a big test for the Era of Mahal. It won’t be the best, but it will surely make SmackDown Live a very interesting product to watch. Let’s see where this takes us. After all, unpredictability is what makes pro wrestling great.