WWE RAW 11/6/17 feat. Spoilers, Lots of Booing, and A Couple of Surprises or Not

[Emperor Smeat]

Jinder would have been way better off getting a US title or solid mid-card push first then a WWE title push afterwards but WWE in recent years has the really bad habit of skipping this area when its arguably the most important part to develop a star.

Supposedly Jinder's market value in India tanked a lot after the initial couple of weeks into his reign. Mix of him being a heel and the market favoring faces more, WWE's terrible booking of him, and Jinder's own limitations.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat Jinder would have been way better off getting a US title or solid mid-card push first then a WWE title push afterwards but WWE in recent years has the really bad habit of skipping this area when its arguably the most important part to develop a star. Supposedly Jinder's market value in India tanked a lot after the initial couple of weeks into his reign. Mix of him being a heel and the market favoring faces more, WWE's terrible booking of him, and Jinder's own limitations.

I'm not expert on India, but I could have told you that from day dot. It's a logical paradox:

Indian fans are marks: Then they'd be preconditioned to knowing that Jinder sucks.

Indian fans are smarks: Then they know Jinder Mahal sucks.

This is without even going into the geopolitics of just how complicated a place India is. Each province is like its own country. Sikhs make up a very small amount of India's population, and there are some Indians who don't even consider them Indian. And the metrics were always there. The Indian diaspora means that there are so many Indians all over the western world, yet Network subscriptions and live attendance did not go up.

I really don't think this was about India. At all. I mean, sure, it would be great if they could get it, and I'm sure it was thrown around as extra justification for the push, because Vince saying "I like him because he looks a man and you all look like geeks," whilst being more honest, probably wouldn't fly.

If it were about India, they would have pushed him as a babyface. As a true babyface I mean -- none of this "the commentators treat him like a babyface in India." He's a rat-shit coward who cheats all the time and used to lose every match. They also would have had an Indian tour lined up, as opposed to booking one in December, where you can't safely bank on Mahal to still be around, because he's not very good and is liable to hurt himself or someone else in that window of time (and Meltzer insists that he is, in fact, hurt). You also don't book the opposite show to the one he is on.

There are plenty of reasons I think Vince could have possibly decided to put the belt on Mahal:

* He likes that he's jacked and he's subconsciously pissed that he's had to rely on tiny flippy guys for the past few years. He wants Lex Luger; they want Bret Hart. You know the deal.

* He wanted to reward Jinder for turning his life around. Vince is not a heartless bastard, believe it or not. He rewarded AJ with the belt for winning him over for his talent. He gave the belt to Bray as a reward for his character work, and he gave it to Orton for agreeing to let Brock rough him up. Vince has been giving that secondary belt to people as a thank you since the brand split. He did one for ring skills, one for promo and one for look. He might give one to Kurt for a nice moment, or to Kane as a thank you for twenty years with the company, or whatever next. He can do what he likes with it and giving the belt to talent he appreciates is what he wants to do right now.

* He lost a bet after a few scotches. "Hey Vince, I bet you can't flip a car on your own." "Yeah?! Wanna bet? I'm Vince McMahon, dammit!" "Okay. Um. Whose the worst guy on your roster? You have to make him champion for 100 days if you can't do it." "Screw you, pal. I'll get him to 200."

* To pop the boys. Mahal seems quite popular. It's also an interesting thing for morale if people think their careers can turn around like that. Keeps them on their toes.

* A writer trying to get their own shit in worked out that Triple H likes Jinder, Vince likes Jinder, Jinder is jacked, he's got a foreign background, and suggested a push to try to pop the room or just get something in so he didn't look completely fucking useless for suggesting Luke Harper for the 1,000th time. It passed through several safety checks where someone would normally nix it, because Jinder is popular with the agents, Triple H likes him, Vince likes him, etc., and it suddenly became about the belt.

All or none of that could be true. I just don't buy this idea that Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, that new Indian executive they hired and everyone in the fucking company sincerely believed that if they put the SmackDown Title on Jinder Mahal, India would open up to them. They did this exact same thing with Khali in 2007 and it didn't work then. It would be insanity to expect different results doing the same thing with someone who is less of a star. If it happened, which it was never going to, then it would have been nice for everybody. But I don't think they were seriously sitting around a table discussing that it would change the direction of the business forever and add 100 million subscribers to the Network.

[Tom Guycott]

Originally Posted by Noid I'm not expert on India, but I could have told you that from day dot. It's a logical paradox: Indian fans are marks: Then they'd be preconditioned to knowing that Jinder sucks. Indian fans are smarks: Then they know Jinder Mahal sucks. [...] All or none of that could be true. I just don't buy this idea that Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, that new Indian executive they hired and everyone in the fucking company sincerely believed that if they put the SmackDown Title on Jinder Mahal, India would open up to them. They did this exact same thing with Khali in 2007 and it didn't work then. It would be insanity to expect different results doing the same thing with someone who is less of a star. If it happened, which it was never going to, then it would have been nice for everybody. But I don't think they were seriously sitting around a table discussing that it would change the direction of the business forever and add 100 million subscribers to the Network.

That whole thing (I didn't recopy it all) makes sense in a real-life logical standpoint, but you have to remember we're talking about WWE. This is the same company that I gave the benefit of the doubt to when trying to force-feed Batista's return as some sort of cross-promotional power play for Guardians of the Galaxy, a bump for mainstream pop culture appeal, and a nostalgia pop all rolled into one... and really, it was just to try to position him almost in a role similar to where Brock Lesnar is now, just with way more availability dates and a seemingly cynical "fuck all those small guys like Daniel Bryan, THIS is what you're supposed to see!" move. It really almost just seemed like it was done out of spite, and they thought Guardians was going to fucking flop and the perfect storm that could have been gained was purely coincidental.

Like you said, they tried it with Khali. In 2007. This is 2017. It is well beyond that "seven year window" with angles and such, and they likely believe this is also how business works as well. Try the same shit again a decade later with a different brown guy to artificially and clumsily create a marketplace god; a figurehead to exploit in some region of the world while trying to churn out carbon copies of the very unique career trajectory of The Rock (jump to megastardom and beyond, only all while under contract, so that the Hollywood dollars come rolling in while they pimp him out instead of doing it on their own as a next step in life). Hell, I'm even reminded of the story about Sid: Vince wanted to "give him [Hogan's] boots", and Sid refused because he insisted he worked better as a monster heel. Truthfully, he did, and though it would be interesting to speculate how very different the business would have been if Sid just rolled with that, the point is, Vince just tried to duplicate what he had previously instead of building elsewhere. Try the same shit with the same result in perpituity. He only eventually did something else out of neccessity.

They tried the same shit with Alberto Del Rio for Mexico. They are purportedly looking for the same thing for some dude from South America. Meanwhile, the thing they are looking for can come and slap them in the face in the form of a very ethnic international superstar, however, if he isn't a 6'10" mountain of mostly cosmetic muscle or a pale imitation of Andre, fuck them.