10 Coldest Performers In WWE Right Now

5. Jinder Mahal

Enzo Amore
WWE.com

It might not be fair to judge Jinder Mahal by the standards of a WWE headliner - but we're being asked to, so there you go. He is less incongruous as WWE Champion than he has any real right to be, but not at all credible at that level.

On some level, putting the belt on Jinder Mahal works. He's not a workhorse, he didn't earn his stripes the hard way, he is a McMahon wet dream, transmogrified - a perfect heel for 2017, basically. It just doesn't yield entertaining wrestling matches because the standard set is impossible for Jinder, with his still-basic mechanics and lack of big (even long) match experience, to meet. Mahal requires a certain legitimacy to lend something to his inelegant, basic style. He doesn't have any. His facial expressions have improved, but they're still of the gurning foreign menace garden variety. The novelty was worn off. Mahal as WWE Champion is no longer controversial, interesting, or fresh, if it ever was. It is tedious.

Luckily, he wasn't replaced as WWE Champion by the equally unconvincing...

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!