WWE’s Problems Can Be Traced Back To This EXACT Moment

A jobber had no business orbiting contendership, even under SmackDown’s thin premise as the ‘Land of Opportunity’. WWE isn’t a benevolent enterprise. It is the blackly hilarious opposite of that. WWE, in the fiction, is a pro wrestling promotion that exists to sell tickets. WWE, as if any of this mattered, risked not selling tickets by including a gravestone-cold jobber in the main event picture. Popular babyfaces and despised heels sell the tickets. Jobbers, like Jinder Mahal, existed to build or reinforce their position.

The integrity of the storytelling world died that night, and WWE pissed on the ashes.

On April 18, 2017, Jinder became the number one contender—to the WWE Heavyweight Championship—by pinning Sami Zayn with the help of two unknown accomplices, later revealed as the Singh Brothers. This at least poured some soil into the gaping plot hole. The rest of it was reserved for the grave WWE dug itself.

The next week, Mahal cut a promo on Randy Orton. This was a different Mahal. The hard-working man behind the character, to be clear, is not the target of this editorial. He got himself into sculpted, vein-popping, Vince McMahon shape. Mahal came to cut promos with composure. JBL hollered his “Maharaja!” nickname with enough bluster. He boasted a good look. Mahal, at best, was an aspirational midcard experiment.

But, in a moment of poetry, he wasn’t ready that night. He missed his cue, by speaking before his music died down, and raged against Orton for overlooking him.

But why wouldn’t he?

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