What we learned from the WWE this week: April 17, 2017

#4 Jinder Mahal is a gamble the WWE can probably afford to take

Give Jinder a chance?

Undoubtedly, the biggest talking point of the week was the decision to make former 3-man band member Jinder Mahal the number one contender for the WWE Championship. When the six participants for the number one contender match were initially announced, more than a few eyebrows were raised. It was genuinely difficult to pick a likely winner, apart from maybe Sami Zayn who the fans were almost unanimously backing throughout.

Instead, Mahal was the one to come out with the victory, and the fans were not willing to shy away from showing their disapproval. There is a fine line between giving somebody an opportunity they deserve, and simply throwing somebody unexpected into a title picture to see how they do. However, SmackDown is living up to its name as the land of opportunity – after all, it is hard to imagine Jinder being involved in any title scene on RAW – but is this an opportunity fans can get behind?

Well, if his promo after the match was anything to go by, maybe Mahal has enough about him to get through. He did show genuine emotion as he berated the fans for not believing in him. He probably does harbour some real animosity towards the company for making his character a joke during the vast majority of his career.

Also, now that Wrestlemania is behind us, and Summerslam is still a few months away, SmackDown does have the time and space to experiment with somebody new. Worst case scenario, Jinder fails to get himself over as a heel, and we put it all down to a misguided mistake. At best, we have a new main event talent on the scene.

Most of SmackDown’s attention at the moment seems to be on the US title with guys like Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and Baron Corbin all involved, so it makes sense to try something new with the WWE Championship. It’s not as if Jinder does not have the experience to carry himself through to a respectable feud with Orton, and Backlash is going to be in Chicago, a city that typically supports the heels over the babyfaces. It’s only fair we give the guy a chance before we judge him or the WWE, too harshly.