5 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 26)
3. Damaged Goods
Jinder Mahal moved an inch closer to yet another title belt this week after defeating Tye Dillinger in a United States Championship Tournament match, but he unsurprisingly failed to take even a baby step forward as a performer in the process.
'The Modern Day Maharaja' has impossibly boring bouts for a man given more opportunities than most to sparkle. Reminding fans and officials alike why he was such a rotten choice for the bone-headed task assigned to him in 2017, Jinder's progress has been glacial at best and more often inverse to the spot he commands.
'The Perfect 10's main roster year peaked in January of course, when WWE showed rare contrition in giving him the eponymous spot in the Royal Rumble ahead of a post-WrestleMania full time arrival. Perhaps one of the biggest victims of putting the WWE Title on Jinder Mahal back in May, Dillinger's newcomer heat was dwarfed by his foe's rapid ascent, especially when he was used as one of the few to convincingly fall to the undeserving king.
Their final battle of 2017 was subsequently a microcosm of their respective years. Jinder won, Tye lost, and hardly anybody cared.