10 Things WWE Suddenly Wanted You To Care About (After Programming You To Hate Them)

8. Jinder Mahal

Baron Corbin
WWE.com

Jinder Mahal was A) a basic and limited worker, B) known to WWE fans as an undercard also-ran, C) an actual undercard also-ran, a role reinforced just weeks before his bizarre main event push, but D) of Indian heritage, which was the pretext for said, bizarre main event push.

The problem with that push was A) Mahal was not cut out for a role WWE fans were given no reason to take seriously, B) WWE pay-per-views were at that point included within the Sony TEN deal at no additional cost, C) broadband speeds were then so poor in India that streaming hadn't arrived in the culture, meaning WWE was unable to monetise the push, and D) Mahal proved so unpopular in his ancestral homeland that WWE had to cancel a date on his big "homecoming" tour.

Mahal captured the WWE Heavyweight Championship under the thinnest of storytelling logic: SmackDown was the 'Land of Opportunity', and his lackeys enabled him to grasp his - but the storyline alienated domestic fans and didn't much excite the targeted demographic, the targeting of which wasn't thought through at all.

???????

Profit.

Contributor
Contributor

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!