7 Times WWE Tried To Unbury Someone (& Failed!)

7. Jinder Mahal

On the January 15th 2024 edition of Monday Night Raw, World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defeated Jinder Mahal because any other finish would have been utterly preposterous. The pair were leagues apart by every metric, and Rollins disposed of 'The Modern Day Maharaja' as such, though he didn't escape unscathed. 'The Architect' suffered a torn meniscus and MCL that very nearly kept him out of a WrestleMania XL he ultimately had loads to do with.

What a disastrous bit of business this could have been, particularly when revisiting the pathetic online bubble controversy that surrounded it. Raising a point about what he perceived to be double standards from certain outlets, AEW president Tony Khan fired out a post on X about how Mahal had lost and lost for years and was getting a title shot out of the blue with nobody flagging a problem, despite him facing backlash for giving Hook - at that point one of his most winningest wrestlers - a shot at Samoa Joe's gold around the same time.

Mahal replied questioning who Hook even was, and the narrative around the bout suddenly took on a life of its own, with WWE trying in vain to ratchet up the buzz around former WWE Champion Mahal, even though his very reign reflects just how far standards had fallen in the company when he was given the gold. With Khan and WWE appearing extremely petty, Mahal gaining no momentum and Rollins actively finding his halted, this attempted unburial did more to heap dirt on literally everybody involved.