8 Title Reigns WWE Booked In The WORST Way Possible
2. Jinder Mahal - WWE Champion (2017)
Jinder Mahal had one of the most unexpected WWE Championship reigns of all time.
Usually, the ascent to a WWE Title win has a slow build or at least some signs that bigger things are on the horizon for a superstar, but Jinder hadn't even won a midcard title before being slingshotted to the top of WWE at Backlash 2017.
On the WrestleMania 33 kick-off show, Jinder was a faceless entrant in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal that was won by Mojo Rawley. He followed this up with losses to Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and Rawley in consecutive TV appearances, before inexplicably winning a Six-Pack Challenge to become #1 contender for Randy Orton's WWE Championship at Backlash.
Mahal would unbelievably beat 'The Viper' before holding that title for nearly six months. Formulaic interferences from The Singh Brothers would see Jinder get the better of Shinsuke Nakamura and Orton in maddening fashion. This whole farce was cynically put in place as WWE moved into the lucrative Indian market, with Jinder Mahal being on the receiving end of merciless fan discontent. His run as WWE Champion was eventually ended by AJ Styles during a November 2017 edition of SmackDown, but Jinder's entire run made a mockery of the biggest prize in the company.