WWE Backlash: WWE Championship - Randy Orton (c) VS Jinder Mahal

[Jack-Hammer]

According to WWE.com, the match is official for Backlash considering that the Orton vs Wyatt House of Horror match is no longer listed at being for the title.

Jinder Mahal becoming #1 contender for the title after winning a six pack challenge on last week's show has generated a lot of debate as to whether or not it's a good thing. Some have already decided they didn't like it from the second he won the #1 contendership, some are willing to give it a chance by seeing how the build goes, some seem to be a little torn in between by being sort of interested but not trusting Vince to pull this off. At any rate, it's generated a lot of buzz and attention, so that in and of itself is something.

Last night, we saw Jinder confront Orton in the ring, running him down for a bit before the two got into a scuffle. As Orton was going for the hanging DDT, the Singh Brothers came in, grabbed Orton by the legs and allowed Jinder to get the upper hand before they all commenced to beating him down. After Jinder hit Orton with the Cobra Clutch Slam, he picked up the title and left with it. All in all, I thought they took a solid step forward with Jinder last night; it wasn't some epitome of greatness but the fans are responding to Jinder and walking off with the belt last night was a nice touch, something we haven't seen heels do for a while.

I'm feeling more comfortable with this match in that while the quality of the match is still sort of up in the air at this point, it's not shaping up to be some 5 minute squash for Orton. There's still almost a month until Backlash and this whole thing could still go off the rails; I think the whole situation would be best served by portraying Jinder as someone that's capable of at least holding his own with Orton and not necessarily having to rely on the Singh Brothers rather than being a faction of three weak wrestlers who banded together.

There's still almost no chance of Jinder winning this match, nor should he in my opinion, but it's still an opportunity for Jinder to move up in the world. I don't think we've seen all that there is from Jinder; I mean, how could we since the guy has spent almost the entirety of his WWE career as a jobber who loses in like 3 minutes?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I want Jinder to win. Do I really want to see the continuation of another Orton reign or something new that would be genuinely interesting? And it's also only been a few weeks but what's the point in building up Jinder to have him fall immediately.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

This is the first face Randy Orton title reign since 2010. And it really feels like yesterday. A mediocre feud with Sheamus, a forgettable HiaC match and a somewhat good feud with Barrett, thanks to the Cena stuff.. Then drops the belt to The Miz and has another forgettable feud.. Let's see how this one goes.

The good thing is that it looks like WWE has a plan. Mahal, then Rusev.. Corbin and Styles would also end up getting in the mix. Plus there's Kevin Owens and Zayn. It sure is interesting.

However they have to address the Orton-Wyatt not being for the title situation...

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Im fine with it. I wish they would do this more often. Save bigger matches for the big shows and throw some of the lower guys into a title match at the nothing shows to see what they can do. It's one of the only positives about the brand split I can think of. Having guys that we would have NEVER seen before even sniff a world title being in a main event title match on pay per view. There is a lot of complaints amongst fans about this which doesn't surprise me. You want something new and different? Here you go. Oh that wasn't it? Well what more could you want?

Besides he won a damn six pack challenge. Basically an exhibition where anyone could win. Same with money in the bank. Kayfabe wise, people get lucky in those situations with a right time right moment scenario. Mahal just happened to have backup. It's not like he beat AJ Styles clean for this after a year of jobbing to everyone in 2 minutes. No he got lucky, has a title match now and lets see what happens. If it fails oh well, its fucking Backlash not the WrestleMania main event.

 

[The Perfect Max]

First of all, what is going on with this House of Horror malarkey? The superstar shakeup has really derailed this entire thing for me because I'm stuck between not caring about what ever kind of match it's going to be and trying to get invested in this Jinder Mahal push. The sad thing is that I think I care more about Jinder Mahal and the Singh brothers than I do about Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt. But why is this not a title match? Does Bray not get his rematch like Jericho does? Does this mean Bray is going to win, but they don't want to give him the title? Because if so, how can Randy lose a pay per view match as the WWE Champion and walk out looking like a legitimate champion? Just a rant about that.

But anyway, to Backlash. My thinking is this. If WWE supposedly want Baron Corbin to win the Money in the Bank, but they want him to feud with Randy Orton (all this according to the main page), this must mean one of two things. Either, it's over the title because Corbin cashes in. That is plausible. OR, it's not for the title because Jinder Mahal is winning the WWE Championship at Backlash. Surely not, right?

There's definitely a problem with pulling the trigger too soon on potentially promising talent. Jinder definitely has the ability to move upwards into the mid card and whatnot, but is he a WWE Champion? Even in the future, will he ever be that guy to become champion? I genuinely don't think so, but I really don't mind him being in this spot. Even if he loses, he can continue building his faction. He can definitely be a solid mid-card star after this is done with, and that's the benefit to him being in this spot now. It's only Backlash. If he loses, it won't derail anything he does over the next few weeks to build his character. Plus, from an entirely kayfabe point of view, I do kinda believe he has a chance. If he can manipulate the numbers game. But realistically, he can't win, surely not. There's too soon and then there's far too soon. That's especially considering we've known Jinder Mahal as a regular jobber, and this push hasn't come organically or because of some major backing from the fans.

Overall, I'm looking forward to this a lot more than Orton's match with Bray simply because I'm so intrigued as to what WWE will do. Surely they won't pull the trigger on Jinder, but I think stranger things have happened.

 

[MillionDollarMan]

Jinder has had a fantastic two weeks and is doing a great job making people give him heat and forget his previous persona.

Coming out in a suit this week, but still keeping his identity was an excellent idea. He needs new ring gear though. Emphasize his physique while tweaking his native gear.


It must be tempting to Vince to give him the title and see what he can do.

Makeovers can work and this one is working.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

However they have to address the Orton-Wyatt not being for the title situation...

They're probably not going to. There are always logic holes in pro wrestling storylines, whether it's in WWE, Impact, ROH or wherever, but this is one of those holes big enough to drive a truck through that Vince often just ignores whenever they pop up. It's like he seems to think "well, this doesn't really make much sense but we're not gonna talk about it, we'll quickly just move through it and the fans will forget all about it." While it's stupid, it works because it officially was changed less than a week before the actual match itself and I think people just want to move on.

If an explanation had to be given, it'd be because it automatically gives away the end result of the match. Because of the brand split, Raw cannot have both the WWE and Universal Championships. Well, I guess I shouldn't say "cannot" since Vince can do damn well whatever he pleases whether it makes sense or not. As a result, much of this entire situation seems like something Vince pieced together from one day to another. To him, it makes sense for one brand to not have both World Championships but it doesn't make sense for him to have commentators explain why the match is no longer for the title.

It's frustrating as a fan when he does shit like this, but there's nothing to be done about it. All we could do is get pissed off and impotently rant about it like I'm doing right now, so it's easier to just move on and just chalk the whole thing up to Vince's schizophrenic booking.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

They're probably not going to. There are always logic holes in pro wrestling storylines, whether it's in WWE, Impact, ROH or wherever, but this is one of those holes big enough to drive a truck through that Vince often just ignores whenever they pop up. It's like he seems to think "well, this doesn't really make much sense but we're not gonna talk about it, we'll quickly just move through it and the fans will forget all about it." While it's stupid, it works because it officially was changed less than a week before the actual match itself and I think people just want to move on.

If an explanation had to be given, it'd be because it automatically gives away the end result of the match. Because of the brand split, Raw cannot have both the WWE and Universal Championships. Well, I guess I shouldn't say "cannot" since Vince can do damn well whatever he pleases whether it makes sense or not. As a result, much of this entire situation seems like something Vince pieced together from one day to another. To him, it makes sense for one brand to not have both World Championships but it doesn't make sense for him to have commentators explain why the match is no longer for the title.

It's frustrating as a fan when he does shit like this, but there's nothing to be done about it. All we could do is get pissed off and impotently rant about it like I'm doing right now, so it's easier to just move on and just chalk the whole thing up to Vince's schizophrenic booking.

This whole thing would have made perfect sense, had they no had a US title match take place on the same PPV, when a SD star holds it.

I guess the whole deal is, the WWE Championship belonged to Smackdown before the shake-up, so no WWE titles matches on RAW. The US title belonged to RAW before the shake-up, so the match can take place. But hey, Orton will come to RAW to fight Bray for no reason at all. Screw this. Bray wins with help from Jinder.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The heel foreigner thing and saying "stupid Americans" is boring.

Do a double turn. Have Jinder survive a brutal beating, so bad that Orton had to resort to cheating.

If they want to sell shirts in India, better to have a babyface. Have him be the 2017 American dream of the hard working immigrant who makes this country better.

 

[JoeMallard]

Everybody asking why the WWE title match isn't on the line must have forgotten that Jinder stole the title and won't give it back until he loses at Backlash.

 

[mont3818]

It'll be a good clean win for Orton. Jinder is propped up, gets rewarded for his hard work, then loses relatively straight-forward to Orton here. Jinder gets the accolade of fighting for the belt once and gets to go back being a solid heel for the lower-mid card. This is a filler in-between PPV, so why not let Orton look strong for the time being until the Summerslam build-up starts? That'll be the ultimate point of this thing, once the real main-eventers like Owens, AJ, and Nakamura are back on the scene. Why not create another solid mid-card heel in Jinder since they seem to be lacking on that front? This is meant to give him that legitimacy and move one notch higher than jobber/comedy act in the long run. So, good for him. 3MB legitimacy here they come!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Jinder winning makes a LOT of sense... it actually helps erase the stigma of ALL jobbers rather than just him... think Drew who just got back to NXT... It shows that for the first time in years - ANYONE can be two matches away from winning the title - they can win a contenders match or a Rumble or such and upset the established order.

For years the title pictures have been SO formulaic it's become parody... win IC or US early, hold that for a period, win World within 2 years or jettisoned from the company or moved to jobber status... You could literally predict a career path as it's been done pretty much since Bret won the IC.

People don't like the idea of it being Jinder or rather the reasons behind it and I can get that... but they are clearly moving Smackdown away from being a US focused show and more for the international markets.

They could easily have moved Drew into this situation, winning one match and being in contention to help build the burgeoning UK market for them... but the TV isn't quite as far along as India is. But the diversity nationally on the SD roster lends itself to Jinder taking the belt for a while.

Jinder wins the title, it opens up the possibility for a Drew V Jinder v Shinsuke v Rusev or Cesaro match later in the year that would do big business in overseas markets for example... It also has the scope to be the JBL reign of this era and it seems to be heading that way -whether Drew, Rusev, Shinsuke or Cesaro end up dethroning him - someone gets a big push from beating the guy people hate as champ... more so than defeating Randy, who's been beaten for the belt a lot. It makes it more a WORLD title...

All this 15th anniversary stuff is stoking the fire for me... Jinder wins big, I can even see him appearing immediately after House Of Horrors ends and scoring a quick pin.

 

[ShinChan]

Jinder Mahal winning doesn't make sense for me at least. Also, Jinder Mahal isn't actually cared about here in India. Almost every one I know here are just "meh" to this sudden push of his.

I'm more shocked at this though. I will try to give Jinder some more chances to impress me. But you can't just throw a jobber in the main event scene in two weeks itself. Atleast build him prior to winning.

Randy Orton might be boring as the champion but it looks worse for me if Jinder becomes one. Smackdown has plenty of time to build him before Backlash. Let's see how it's done.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

It would be incorrect to say that there is zero chance of Jinder winning the title. They could be taking this India push so seriously to the point that they're ready to rush Mahal as champion.

This sudden move from long time jobber to main event contender reminds me of JBL in 2004. I remember a lot of people were sure that Bradshaw would never win the title, especially after he won the first attempt against Eddie at Judgement Day 04 via dq.

It's a tough call. WWE hot shotted Sheamus into a WWE title win at the end of 09 when his only feud on Raw had been with Jamie Noble and Jerry Lawler. They're not above suddenly putting that strap on someone who isn't ready if they believe they'll draw.

Bilions of potential paying customers in India sure seems like a draw to me.

From the perspective of quality professional wrestling, it seems like there's no way. The ends of Jinder Mahal being in the main event does not justify the zero work to get him there. They could have been building the guy since he returned last summer, instead they resigned him to job.

Mahal as top guy isn't a bad thing, the lack of quality pro wrestling storytelling to get him over and justify his spot is atrocious.

Personally, I'd have Mahal fail his title attempt then move onto the MITB ladder match. I'm not at all sure he should go over there, but he should definitely move into the US title scene as soon as a face is the champion. KO's face of America gimmick has a lot of legs left.

They can move Jinder Mahal up the card, he can be WWE champion, but hold off. Have him hold the US title, let's see his match quality improve, let's string together some wins and then think about Jinder as champion later this year or 2018.

Randy wins via dq and moves into a feud with Rusev while Mahal chases MITB and the US title come SummerSlam.

 

[thebarber]

Orton beats Mahal then goes on to Rusev. Mahal needs a solid US Title run to show what he can do as a title holder and heat generator

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I'm still on board with Mahatma winning. It's just way more interesting to me than Orton's reign continuing. On the off chance he wins I'm also predicting Rusev dethroning him on Smackdown this Tuesday.

 

[ISkye]

Been seeing the consistent improvement in Jinder over the last 6-8 months. Was great to me 4 months ago seeing him get a bit more time, and I'm not really feeling any different now. Orton is boring. Just take the belt off of him so I can go back to watching Smackdown. Nakamura, Owens, and Styles will keep me sure, but I enjoyed Smackdown when the only thing I had to skip over was Alexa Bliss. Jinder is like a guy who needs a charismatic opponent to really fuel him with a guy who sucks oxygen out of the room 80-90%+ of his match. Don't care what happens either way, it's still cool to see Jinder get something he busted his ass for.