5 most unlikely WWE champions in history

#2 Jinder Mahal

The Modern Day Maharajah

The story of Jinder Mahal is one of redemption and pride, but his rising to become WWE Heavyweight Champion is not looked at with fondness for a large part of the WWE Universe. Jinder was essentially a mid-card wrestler, who also competed in the early concept of NXT, before forming a comedic stable with Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre, 3MB.

He would lose more than he won and would often be embarrassed by the likes of Hornswoggle and El Torito. Leaving the company in 2014, he set upon a path to reinvent himself and managed to get himself into phenomenal shape before returning to WWE in 2016.

The Modern Day Maharaja looked to be in pretty much the same position as before his departure, but a final two pairing in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 and an altercation with the NFL's Rob Gronkowski helped set him up for a move to SmackDown Live where he quickly entered into the main event picture by winning a series of events, stealing the title and finally beating Randy Orton for the Championship at Backlash 2017.

He would go on to hold the title for 170 days, which was far longer than anyone ever imagined.