5 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 17)

1. Jinder's Terrible Challenge

Jinder Mahal
WWE.com

As had been rumoured throughout the week, last night's SmackDown saw WWE Champion Jinder Mahal challenge his Universal counterpart, Brock Lesnar, to a match at Survivor Series. This is a terrible idea, and the reasons are legion.

For one, it prevents both from defending their belt on the show. Lesnar vs. Mahal has to be non-title, or one man will leave the show with two pieces of gold, completely undermining the brand split. Furthermore, Brock's paucity of appearances makes forgoing potential title matches unforgivable. His part-time schedule and lack of defences are two of the biggest complaints levied against him as champion, and these will be exacerbated if he faces Mahal.

Neither man should be losing at the moment. Lesnar is supposed to be this big, unstoppable force, and after flattening Braun Strowman at No Mercy, maintaining his momentum is paramount. Even a Singh Brothers-induced loss would harm him greatly. As for Jinder, he's holding the most storied belt in the company. Convoluted finishes are fine, but clean defeats are not.

To wrap it all up, the match would probably suck. Lesnar is fantastic when motivated, as demonstrated in his title matches with Samoa Joe and Goldberg, but lazy and sloppy when he's not (see: the Strowman bout). He'd be going in there against a glorified enhancement talent, and one of the most derided WWE Champions of all time. What reason do we have to believe Brock would be up for it?

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.