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#4. Jinder Mahal - Part of WWE's Indian experiment in 2017
When 2017 started, Jinder Mahal would never have imagined that it would turn into the best year of his WWE career. He returned to the company after two-and-a-half years in 2016 and seemed to slot back into his enhancement talent role.
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Behind the scenes, WWE was planning a big expansion into the Indian market that year. Mahal was the runner-up of the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and would get drafted to SmackDown.
Female superstar says she inspired John Cena turning heel HERE
There, Jinder Mahal was told that he was penciled in for a feud against WWE Champion Randy Orton. He admitted that he didn't believe it at first, but within a week, he went from enhancement talent to a WWE title contender.
In his first opportunity at Backlash 2017, Mahal defeated Orton in one of the biggest shocks of the decade to become the WWE Champion. The Indian-Canadian superstar would hold the title for nearly half a year as WWE tried to expand into the Indian market.
Jinder Mahal did exactly as he was told - something that made former WWE writer Vince Russo praise him. On Sportskeeda Wrestling's Writing with Russo, he had nothing but praise for The Modern Day Maharaja:
"When they put the belt on him. Bro I dont care what anybody says. He did everything they told him to do. I watched that title run...from a writing perspective...this guy did nothing wrong. Now if they feel he's injury prone...they can't depend on him...whatever...that's a seperate issue! While he was champion he did nothing wrong! I thought he did a good job, I thought he was a believable champion, I thought he cut a fine promo, I thought he had heat! So what was going on behind the scenes I don't know," said Vince Russo.
Unfortunately for Jinder Mahal, he suffered from the high expectations that WWE had of him. Some fans began to understand that his run wasn't underwhelming because he lacked talent - WWE simply expected too much from him too soon.
Rather than building him up over the course of a year or two, the company decided to fast-track Mahal to the top. It backfired and Jinder Mahal hasn't gotten a push that big since.
