10 Things We Learned From WWE SmackDown (April 18)
3. Jinder?!
Given hindsight and time to process the outcome, it really wasn't that much of a shock to see Jinder Mahal score his mammoth victory in the Number One Contender's six-pack challenge.
He was the ultimate loser in last week's 'Superstar Shake-up', falling to Finn Balor on Raw then stumbling again on his first SmackDown Live! appearance in order to facilitate a WrestleMania redo of his conflict with New England Patriots tight end and Mojo Rawley apologist Rob Gronkowski.
Like Heath Slater after last year's draft, WWE muddled star-making machine has shown that good things are often right around the corner when things appear at their very lowest.
But far from just being a make-good for his humbling week on television, Mahal had looked a candidate for a surprise elevation for weeks.
Despite assuming jobber duties almost immediately following his return to television, his ripped physique was markedly different from the average wrestler frame that departed in 2014. Vince McMahon loves a body like his, especially on today's roster where the chiselled frame stands out from the crowd.
Furthermore, his arrival on SmackDown Live! went largely unheralded, which Jinder addressed the same night on last week's Talking Smack post-show. His impassioned defence of himself was convincing, and real, and in all likelihood made the decision to give him a shot (a shot, nothing more...for now) an easy one.