Ranking All 50 WWE World Heavyweight Champions - From Worst To Best

45. Jinder Mahal

WWE Champions
WWE.com

It took some deep-diving by Kevin Dunn to find fans suitably shocked by Jinder Mahal's Backlash 2017 WWE Championship victory, but not because the ridiculous rise of the jobber wasn't patently absurd.

The win was the highlight of the entire reign. Mahal never got better in the ring, more serviceable on the microphone, or valuable at the box office. His muscles sizzled under the spotlights but his act burned. A late-2017 tour of India didn't come close to selling out, but the company had already cut their losses by then.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, 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. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett