10 WWE Gimmicks That Overstayed Their Welcome
4. Mahal of Shame
Jinder Mahal (April 18, 2017-November 7, 2017)
Where to start?
Between his initial WWE debut in 2011 and the spring of 2017, Jinder Mahal's loss percentage wandered between 61 and 93 percent, including a staggering 7 wins to 112 losses in 2013. He was nowhere NEAR the top of the heap, fortunate if he even appeared on television. It wouldn't even be until March of 2017 before he had his first singles contest on pay-per-view. His second singles match on PPV that May would prove far more profitable.
In a move that defies logic until you notice Vince McMahon's eyes dilate at the prospect of a burgeoning market in India, WWE took the "Land of Opportunity" branding on SmackDown a little too seriously and gave Jinder Mahal the rocket push to the WWE Championship in a qualifying match that also featured Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper (now All Elite Wrestling's Mr. Brodie Lee) AND Sami Zayn.
A WWE Championship reign that should have lasted five days at the most then dragged for almost six months, splattering prospects for heels and babyfaces alike. To suggest that either Baron Corbin or Shinsuke Nakamura wouldn't have had a better reign as champion would be to labor under a delusion. Mercifully, AJ Styles was ushered in to upend Mahal's reign of tedium and managed to somewhat salvage Survivor Series 2017 by putting on a classic against Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal was almost a PPV main event. Perish the thought.