Jinder Mahal, Great Khali and divorce in the land of snake charmers!

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

First of all I'd like to say that I mean no offense with the title of this thread. After all I am Indian myself. It's more of a joke at the WWE and their tendency to indulge in stereotypes. After all, divorce isn't as shameful a thing in India as WWE would like to think it is. Some of the more orthodox families might be offended by it but it has become pretty much acceptable and understandable in the urban society. But then maybe Vince doesn't believe that an urban society exists in India.

Either way, it doesn't really matter. Let's get back to the thread.

For the past few weeks we have been seeing Jinder Mahal squash a few jobbers with the help of The Great Khali. It was apparent that Mahal exuded some sort of control over Khali and that Khali held Mahal in high esteem but we did not know why this was the case until this week's Smackdown.

It seems that Mahal has married Khali's sister and is threatening Khali that he would divorce her unless Khali followed his commands. This is what Ranjin Singh, the little bloke who is supposedly Khali's brother and also his manager. This seems like a decent storyline on paper but that is until you discover that Great Khali is involved in this.

This is a type of storyline that would demand a lot of promo work. Mahal is decent but Khali is horrible. He doesn't know much English and even his Indian or Hindi is nothing to write home about. Trust me, he is incomprehendible. On the flipside, this could be an opportunity for someone like Ranjin Singh to shine and show that he can be a capable manager.

The story can unfold in quite a few ways. I'd like to see Khali help out Mahal for a few weeks and then suddenly turn on him in the middle of a tag title match or something. Ranjin can play an important part here by maybe convincing Khali that Khali's sister divorcing Mahal would be a blessing in disguise. Maybe Ranjin can take the lead and coax his sister into filing a divorce case against Mahal before Mahal does so or maybe he could even try to expose Mahal in front of Khali's parents who might be unaware of the type of person that Mahal is.

The other thing in which this could play out is by Mahal turning face. It might appear too soon but WWE is apparently keen on grasping on the increasing popularity of the WWE in India and it has been reported on quite a few wrestling sites that Vince is interested in turning Mahal face in the future. Maybe this could lead to Mahal turning back on his old ways and deciding to be a loving husband henceforth. That would be a pretty sloppy way to end this angle though.

What I would like to see is Khali's sister getting divorced from Mahal and Mahal being the one that gets shit on for the divorce. Mahal could then lose it and blame Khali for everything which leads to a match between them which I would like to see Mahal win as he stands to gain more from the victory.

That's just my opinion, though. I'd like to hear yours.

What are your thoughts on this story and where do you feel this will go?

 

[gurvinder372]

I agree. Any promo or storyline which is banking on Khali to look emotional about something or show required facial expressions and being natural in looking so, is RISKY!

But if he pulled it off, it would create a drama that suck any living soul into it, since this theme of "showing constraint over action else your loved ones will be affected" has an universal appeal, and it can't be underestimated for its potential. It would further establish Khali's character into something which people can relate to. Something like a helpless, conflicted, and angry giant, who simply can't lay his hands on a person just because he love his sister and can't see her suffering, but at the same time he just cannot take humiliation after humiliation. It can make Khali into an angry and yet adorable monster who has known limitations, a real person, yet intimidating. It will also establish Mahal into a extremely hated heel.

This is how i want it span out. Khali and Mahal as team mates going into matches, with Khali dominating the matches most of the times and winning them, Mahal would be sporting initially not looking to take much credit, since he knows that winning consistently would give him more fame and will establish him in the WWE. Then, in one match, he just tag Khali without his consent to which Khali obliges without a word, and Mahal pinning the opponent. This would happen repeatedly, until Khali gives in to the humiliation. First being tagged without consent, then taking orders from Mahal, then being used by Mahal to promote him by making fun of him and his family in public and then finally taking occasional beatings from Mahal just because he wanted to vent out his anger upon loosing in a solo match, life will look like spinning out of control for Khali.

It can result in intensely dramatic promos and matches, but in all honesty I would very surprised if Khali is up to it.

 

[mrhexum]

I'll say the storyline they've come up with for Mahal/Khali is more than I thought they'd put into it. There are a lot of predictable elements in it, but, it's something somewhat fresh and could help launch a new mega heel in Mahal.

While it's not the most intriguing thing going on at the moment, it's good to see some of the lower/mid card talent getting an actual story line. Mahal is gonna have to carry this, and if he can carry Khali to something even somewhat decent I think the guy will do pretty well for himself.

 

[TheCrusher]

I loved the comment about whether or not Vince knows there is an urban culture in India. Not because I believe that he doesn't, but because he probably knows that his fan base doesn't know much about India.
To most Americans, India is all jungles or slums. Which to their credit, are both present in India. We just don't hear a lot about the country unless it's a remark about someone's job being "outsourced to India." The actual culture of India is slowly creeping into the American consciousness. It has to, a HUGE portion of the world's population lives there.
Not really beating up on my fellow Americans. I know precious little about the country of India myself. For all I know, the lack of cultural insight cuts both ways, and most people in India probably think Americans are either cowboys, sexed-up movie stars or belong to a street gang.
I don't think WWE is going to be the avenue for valuable lessons about contemporary India, but anything that humanizes their Indian characters is probably a good thing. And from another perspective, the PG product might be able to capitalize on India as a market. Go with this angle; it can't be less interesting than what they've done with the characters so far.