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Jinder Mahal cut a backstage promo on RAW this week and the most interesting aspect about the segment was that the Modern Day Maharaja came across looking like a babyface.
Jinder Mahal said that he was elated about seeing his old friend Drew McIntyre become the WWE Champion before declaring that he intends on righting his wrongs of the past and embarking on a hero's journey back to the top of the WWE.
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Dave Melter and Bryan Alvarez discussed Jinder Mahal's babyface tendencies from RAW on the recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer speculated that WWE could be experimenting with Jinder Mahal as a babyface as the company wants to have a babyface Superstar from India. Meltzer noted that Jinder Mahal's heel run as the WWE Champion from a few years ago didn't make a marketable difference in India.
WWE didn't see an increase in the ticket sales for their Live event in India nor did the network subscriptions in the country rise when Mahal held the World Championship.
Alvarez and Meltzer discussed the following on the latest Observer Radio:
Meltzer: He came across like trying to be a babyface, which would be tough. We'll see how it goes. I think the idea is they want a babyface from India and he's the guy.
Alvarez: You know what's funny about that? When they gave him that title run, 2 years ago or whatever, I asked the same question. If you want to create a star for the Indian market, why in god's name is he a heel? Why?
Meltzer: But the thing is that he was a babyface for India. I mean it's like the Bret Hart thing. Every promo was about him babyfacing for India and not caring about the United States. I think the deal is that maybe they thought that...
Alvarez: Well, it didn't work.
Meltzer: We don't know whether it worked or didn't work for India. I guess it didn't in the sense that he didn't make a marketable difference as far as when they went there to sell more tickets than they had before. No, not at all. Was there any increase in the network subscriptions from India? Not in the least. So, maybe this time they are going to do it, well, we can't have him doing heel things while kissing up to India let's have him actually be a babyface this time for India. So it's an attempt. It's something different.
Jinder Mahal to get a big push?
Jinder Mahal returned from a lengthy knee injury layoff on RAW and he looks to set to get a big push going forward.
As reported last week by Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue, WWE recently signed a big TV deal in India and the company wants to push someone who can appeal to the Indian fans. Jinder Mahal is the obvious choice to benefit from WWE's decision and it seems that he could be portrayed as a clean-cut hero rather than villain this time around.
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