10 Reasons Why You’re Watching WWE Wrong

10. Complaining About Jinder Mahal

Jinder Mahal as number one contender to the WWE Championship is an insane development. There's no skirting the issue.

He was an enhancement talent one week and manufactured headliner the next. His push was sudden, incongruous and transparent. He has been promoted as something he isn't because of his vascularity and his ethnic heritage - but that Vince McMahon favours physique over actual talent and is a capitalistic oligarch should come as no surprise. Mahal is orbiting the main event scene because WWE is solidifying its presence in India to ward off the threat of Impact Wrestling.

WWE is an international endeavour. That first W has never been taken more seriously or literally, and the Jinder trend is only going to continue apace. WWE in late 2016 signed several developmental prospects from China, in which there is no industry of note, because there is no industry of note. They identified a gap in the market place. WWE this week is holding a four day tryout in Dubai for that exact reason.

WWE, to their credit, is attempting to delineate their international fandom. The introduction of a show and a Championship geared towards the United Kingdom is the first tentative step of an experimental strategy. The dissonance felt by western viewers is understandable. Mahal has (sort of) come out of nowhere - but though WWE portrays itself onscreen as jingoistic, its concerns are global.

It's a smart strategy, really; experiment with Mahal as top heel on a throwaway B-level pay-per-view and enjoy lucrative gains from an emerging market. Mahal makes no sense on the USA Network - but the world is bigger than that.