10 WWE Nightmares Vince McMahon MUST Regret Booking

9. Jinder Mahal As WWE Champ

Vince McMahon CM Punk
WWE.com

Jaws hit the deck when Jinder Mahal pinned Randy Orton at Backlash 2017 to become the new WWE Champion. That was a booking call not even Puerto Rico's rowdy live crowds could've saved. Unfortunately for those in Chicago, this happened in Illinois rather than elsewhere.

Mahal as champ was surely a bid to crack into the Indian market and further WWE's global reach. Fair enough, but at least build Jinder up for a while first. He was elevated from career midcarder (and a bit-part one at that) to World Title status too suddenly, and nobody was prepared for it.

His reign was abysmally booked too. Mahal feuded with Shinsuke Nakamura after Orton, and WWE reached into lazy xenophobia to explain it. Then, Jinder dropped the belt to AJ Styles because Brock Lesnar didn't want to work with him at Survivor Series in November.

It was a mess. McMahon wasted much of 2017 on an unconvincing title reign nobody asked for.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.