Jinder Will Not Be Hindered

I have made fun of Jinder Mahal many times over the years. What else was there to do with him? He then eventually got released when the WWE was cutting costs a couple years ago. Recently, when they were busy rehiring people to add depth due to the new brand split, Jinder Mahal was one of the people they brought back. And this decision was a head-scratcher for a lot of people. Of all the people to bring back, this lower-midcarder that never really stood out at all? And for a long while, it looked like Jinder had picked up right where he left off. He was still a lower-midcarder. He was a jobber.

And then he got sent to Smackdown. And next thing you know, he is now the #1 contender for the WWE Championship. Huh? Where did this come from? Out of nowhere, just like Randy Orton's finisher move.

Let me go back a step. It was Jinder Mahal vs. Sami Zayn vs. Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Mojo Rawley for the chance to eventually go after the top title on Smackdown. Looking at the names, this was a pretty pathetic field. The biggest name is Dolph Ziggler, but he has been pushed so terribly in the last few months, he fits right in with the rest of these guys. This is a match you would expect for a midcard title. This is not something you would expect to find a challenger for a main-event title. Yes, most of the brand's top guys are doing something else. Obviously, you can see I was not wrong when I said Raw won the trades last week just in terms of the names it gained from Smackdown and what Smackdown got from Raw.

Even then, just about all five of the other guys in this match were more deserving than Jinder Mahal. Mojo Rawley won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal a few weeks ago. Dolph Ziggler still has the credibility of being a former World Champion, as well as a ton of other titles. Both Luke Harper and Erick Rowan have been involved in the feud between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. There might have been storyline value in letting one of them win. And then there is Sami Zayn. There is freshness to him. Many fans have been hoping he would go to Smackdown for months now. They felt that was the better brand for him. They felt he would get what he deserved there. What happens? In his first opportunity to get a big push rolling, it goes to Jinder Mahal, not him. I think it would have been great if they let him get this push.

Back to Jinder Mahal. The only thing he has going for him is his physique. Some might argue Vince McMahon fell in love with it and wanted him to get pushed. Regardless of the WWE's reason to want to push Jinder Mahal, it should have been in the midcard. Obviously, he would not be chasing a midcard title at the moment, but develop a solid midcard feud for him away from the a title. If he did well with that, then promote him to a title push.

I would say the WWE doing this kind of thing is one of the reasons a lot of good to great performers are not as over as they could be. Instead of the WWE consistently and properly developing them, they kill their pushes for the sake of other things. That is why I am not a fan of James Ellsworth being hired and the push he got for a couple months. I would also say the development of American Alpha got ruined by the WWE getting distracted by other things. Simply tossing them the tag titles was not enough to undo the mediocrity that has hurt them. Instead of putting consistent work into certain things, the WWE just flips around with too many things.

And where are the WWE's standards? I have raised this issue before. I talked about it when it comes to the Hall of Fame. I talked about it when it comes to title reigns. With Jinder Mahal, what has this guy done to deserve this push? He's not over. He has not done anything impressive recently. A lot of fans criticized him for his recent match with Finn Balor. Instead of discussing whether he should be punished, we are discussing him getting a big push. If Jinder is not happy with being pushed as a lower-midcarder, he should step up and do more to get over. It is not enough to get Vince McMahon to drool for you. Get the fans to want you to get that better push. It was obvious that the WWE would have to push guys they would normally not want to push with the brand split back, but Jinder Mahal was just not someone I had in mind, especially when there were other guys available that might have been better options.

How far will this push go? I am not even talking about winning the title title or not right now. I am just talking about whether the WWE is serious about this. I can see it being a joke, like when Ellsworth got a title shot. Randy Orton will just knock Mahal and move on in an instant. Or it could just be a one-PPV thing at the most. I do not see this being something that lasts long. It shouldn't be. It would be unfair to other guys.