One Moment WWE Wants You To Forget From Every Year (1985 to 2026)

10. 2017 - A Real Hinderance

Jinder Mahal Shinsuke Nakamura 2017
WWE.com

Just about everything about the "Jinder Mahal + WWE Champion = $$$?" experiment went horribly, horribly wrong.

While some tried through gritted teeth to express just how impressed they were with an objectively terrible idea because it was wacky or different or unexpected, everybody else looked upon a series of truly terrible promos, segments and title defences and saw through the whole thing for the sham it was.

Mahal had gotten himself into excellent physical condition ahead of being shockingly strapped up at Backlash as WWE one again went fumbling around in the dark for something - anything - to keep things interesting when most of the WrestleMania big hitters bailed after the 'Show Of Shows', but the Maharaja was the opposite of it. His title win and subsequent rematch against Randy Orton both stunk. His bigoted AND boring feud with Shinsuke Nakamura was worst-of-the-year stuff every second it was on screen, his elevation felt completely fake, and a promo on Monday Night Raw by Paul Heyman ahead of a binned match against Brock Lesnar was more brutal than any words you'll read on this or any other website.

The supposed positive upshot - a tour of India to tap further into a lucrative market - even wore the scars of the nightmare run. A potential multi-date tour with a stadium event turned into a one-night house show where Mahal did the job to Triple H and broke kayfabe to thank him in the post-match. An exhibition of top-down incompetence, the experiment would still earn more criticism today had it not taken place in a time when just about everything stunk. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.