There is always wrestlers in any company that fans ask, why are they still signed? Jinder Mahal is one of these talents. Even though he is a former WWE Champion, many fans never brought into his reign. He is still around today even though he isn’t being used very much. He pops up every now and then but its usually in a losing effort. So, why is he still there and even better should he be kept or released.
Keep Them or Release Them: Jinder Mahal
Fans are sour on Jinder because when he became WWE Champion, there really was no build up or reason for him to become champion. To make matters worse, I think that he beat AJ Styles at the height of his popularity, which left an even worse taste in fan’s mouth.
I think that people would have been more receptive towards him if he had a background where he came up through the ranks and won a few feuds in his past… but he didn’t.
Maybe if he had a reputation for being a great talker and was super charismatic on the microphone and had fans hanging on to his every word as soon as he opened his mouth to speak… but he didn’t.
At least, fans wouldn’t have minded as much if he was know for being a great wrestler in the ring where despite him being lower on the card, we could see that he had the capability to put on epic main event quality matches at the drop of a hat… but he didn’t.
What was it that got him from goofy lackey in a fake boy band to the highest point in the wrestling industry that even some of the greatest WWE hall of famers never got a chance to reach?
Out to nowhere, he had a very great look. He went from looking like you regular wrestler to a championship winning bodybuilder, seemly overnight. This is part of the reason why fans rejected him so hard.
This was around the time that fans were getting to know more and more behind the scenes workings of wrestling companies and they knew that there were two reasons why Jinder got his push.
For one, at the time, WWE was expanding further into Indian and south Asian markets and wanted a star to be able to market to that audience. Of course, they weren’t going to put their “main” world title at the time on him, so AJ Styles had to be the scapegoat for Jinder’s reign to kick off.
The other reason is because by this time, everyone knew that Vince had a strange attraction to wrestlers with more muscles than he could count on his fingers and toes.
Even though historically, wrestlers like this have been some of the biggest attractions in the business but we all know that there are usually trade offs. As time went on, wrestling fans started to perfer in ring wrestling skill
over the muscular build of the wrestler.
The key words there is WRESTLING FANS. With a company like WWE, Vince cared more about the
casual fan that could be converted into WWE fans over the wrestling fan that while they hated on WWE, still watched the product week in and out.
Today, Jinder is a shell of what he was at that time. Sure, he is still in great shape, but not the same shape he was in when he won the championship.
I think that he might’ve won two matches on television this year, if that. His character is going nowhere, and usually he shows up just to lose, and the only thing that is worse than a wrestler losing, a wrestler who is perceived as a loser… losing.
Jinder Mahal: RELEASE HIM
What Would Be Next For Jinder Mahal
Despite what some fans may think, Jinder Mahal is not bad in the ring, he just isn’t good enough to keep up with fan’s demands today. He is a product of his time where a wrestler could get over in a big way with average in ring skills and a good gimmick.
Unfortunately, he don’t have a good gimmick and he can’t talk on the mic. If he stays with WWE, I suspect that they would keep him in the same role as he is currently in.
He does have some upside but I think that like his 3MB brother, Drew McIntyre, he would have to leave the company in order to regain his shine.
Something tells me that Jinder is perfectly fine in WWE, losing and collecting a paycheck versus going out into the wrestling world, reinventing himself and coming back a new man.
There is nothing wrong with that at all. When Drew did it, he was younger and had more wiggle room to do something like that.
With Jinder, I am sure that he probably have responsibilities and a lifestyle that revolves around how much money he is making in WWE and to be realistic, no other company will probably pay him anywhere close to what WWE is paying him, even if it isn’t much.
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