8 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Sept 12)
1. Since When Is Peace Heelish?
So Jinder Mahal, who has barely said two words since returning to Raw several weeks ago, got a chance to talk about how he believes in letting go of his anger and hatred and embrace inner peace… and he’s a heel.
Uggh.
Jinder getting mic time and a chance to develop a character isn’t a bad thing on its own. Getting a win over Jack Swagger to bolster that character isn’t a bad thing on its own. But this promo about trekking the Himalayas to find inner peace while mixing what you have to assume is Hindi with English just confused the fans.
So when Swagger came out and put his hand over his heart, fans chanted, “We the people!” – making this feel like WWE’s simplistic way of telling fans that Mahal was an evil foreigner, so they should boo him… even though he didn’t really do anything villainous.
Maybe this is asking too much from WWE, but it’s 2016. If you’re going to present a heel character, it can’t just be that he’s a different color or religion or speaks a different language. Give fans a tangible reason to boo, not just a jingoistic counterweight in a Real American.