{"id":42920,"date":"2017-05-27T01:54:47","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T06:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=42920"},"modified":"2017-05-27T01:54:47","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T06:54:47","slug":"five-count-five-lessons-learn-jinder-mahals-sudden-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/05\/27\/five-count-five-lessons-learn-jinder-mahals-sudden-push\/","title":{"rendered":"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons to learn from Jinder Mahal&#8217;s sudden push"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-502792853\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Jinder Mahal is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The same guy who just earlier this year was deemed as a like-for-like trade for Curt Hawkins. That guy just beat Randy Orton &#8211; you know, the guy who won the Royal Rumble this year. He\u2019s now the World Champion. And I get why they\u2019re doing it.<\/p>\n<p>India is a big market and they are 100 percent right to put forth a strong effort to grow their presence there. Once WWE has\u00a0a stronger platform for their coverage in China, the same will happen with all these Chinese wrestlers they\u2019ve signed to the Performance Center.<\/p>\n<p>China and India (a\/k\/a the brilliant term Chindia) represent massive potential for growth for basically any business that can establish a footing in either country. They\u2019re not only super large markets, but they\u2019re developing and growing markets. WWE absolutely should be using an asset like Jinder Mahal as a catalyst for them to expand their presence in India.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the problem, though. They\u2019ve gone way overboard in their attempts to do so. Instead of being subtle and nuanced with it, they literally just woke up one morning and decided to focus everything on one objective. And because they\u2019re being so one-track-minded with their googley eyes over what someone has clearly told them about the potential for growth and revenue in India, they\u2019re being completely blind to any of the damage it\u2019s doing in their home market (a\/k\/a the market where the vast majority of their revenue will always come from and the market that is on the decline at the moment).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m all for Jinder being pushed in order to bridge WWE\u2019s growth in India. It\u2019s a smart strategy; it\u2019s just the execution that I hate. I hate the mentality that WWE can present whatever they please and that we as fans are fickle enough to forget what Jinder Mahal meant to the show only a few months ago. Built it up over time and give him a chance to improve and give us a chance to start taking him a bit more seriously. Do something more creative than the &#8220;evil foreigner hates Americans&#8221; character. Wouldn\u2019t a successful babyface Jinder Mahal be an even stronger platform for WWE to grow in India? Or are WWE just banking on everyone in India hating American as much as Jinder does?<\/p>\n<p>A large part of my reasoning for being so against this Jinder Mahal push is that it sends out so many terrible messages. You don\u2019t have to be any good, it doesn\u2019t matter what the fans want, and hey look what happens when you get a suspiciously ripped figure like Jinder\u2019s that Jinder is being asked about even by India media. So without further ado in this edition of &#8220;Five Count,&#8221; I\u2019m going to look at five lessons for WWE to learn from Jinder\u2019s rise to fame, looking at the various messages that it sends out to not just the viewers but the wrestlers as well.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(1) You Don\u2019t Have To Be Very Good!<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>The fact is Jinder Mahal sucks. I probably shouldn\u2019t present an opinion as a fact, but man he just isn\u2019t good at anything. Name me a good Jinder Mahal match. Name me a good Jinder Mahal promo. Heck, just name me something very specific that Jinder Mahal has done in WWE prior to this push!<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s been given opportunities now in more prominent positions to prove any of his initial doubters wrong. He\u2019s been given a more expanded personality, he\u2019s been given a more defined character, he\u2019s been given promo time in segments of importance, and he\u2019s been given ring time with arguably the best wrestler in the world. Yet he still hasn\u2019t produced anything to even give you something to latch on to in order to argue that given time he could be a good act. Not a great one, but a serviceable one who can add something to the show. Maybe he\u2019s not ever going to be good enough to be a mainstay main event act hanging with the likes of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, but maybe he could be a good hand as a heel in the mid-card. He\u2019s not even that!<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2079883368\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>His character is such a tired worn out clich\u00e9 of a pro wrestling heel. The ethnic minority foreigner who hates America. How original. It\u2019s not even an original act on the exact shows he\u2019s been on because Kevin Owens is doing the same damn thing. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s getting him great reactions either. It\u2019s hard to even argue the reactions to his promos as being lukewarm.<\/p>\n<p>He got a little heat after his initial win (this is where I\u2019d usually put \u201cafter blah blah blah,\u201d but initial win is enough), but since then it\u2019s been a mixture of nothing and &#8220;What!?&#8221; chants. And his delivery isn\u2019t at all good. His voice just isn\u2019t commanding. There\u2019s no oomph to it which makes it so hard for anything he says to really get a strong reaction because it\u2019s like there\u2019s one level for his voice and because he\u2019s so obviously reading lines he\u2019s said over and over all day to memorize; it doesn\u2019t feel natural, so you don\u2019t get any natural reaction from the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>Any heat he has drawn isn\u2019t good heat, either. It\u2019s pointless cheap heat. It\u2019s the type of heat that anyone can get. And if you don\u2019t believe, then go watch James Ellsworth\u2019s promo at Backlash. That got heat, right? There\u2019s a big difference between going out in front of a crowd and being annoying versus getting genuine.\u00a0Anyone can do what Ellsworth does\u00a0and get a similar reaction. But what happens afterwards? Absolutely nothing. People are apathetic towards Jinder. Nobody wants to watch him. They don\u2019t want to see him lose. And it\u2019s not like there\u2019s a great end goal for his run as champion. He\u2019s not credible enough to really get a babyface opponent over and he\u2019s nowhere near credible enough even now with the belt to give a rub to\u00a0any babyface who beats him.<\/p>\n<p>He can\u2019t &#8220;go&#8221; in the ring, either. And that\u2019s becoming more of a requirement than ever before in WWE with the loss of the casual fan and the increasing need to hang on to the remaining fans who\u00a0are drawn in by quality wrestling. Sure, he could get by being a bang average worker if he had other things going for him, but he doesn\u2019t have anything else going for him. If you\u2019re at the point that you\u2019re in a 10+ minute match with A.J. Styles and it\u2019s not good, then you\u2019re REALLY not very good at all.<\/p>\n<p>So if you\u2019re a wrestler and you have any sort of links to a developing country (you don\u2019t even have to actually be from one!), don\u2019t worry about actually being good at anything. Just the perception that you\u2019re from a certain market will be enough to get you by. So to everyone out there in China looking for a good paying job in the entertainment industry with longevity and the promise of international fame, get yourself down to the Performance Centre, ask for Paul, keep yourself in good shape and then just kick back and relax as you rise to the top of your profession. Seriously though, to all those Chinese recruits at the Performance Center, don\u2019t focus on being good, just focus on being better than the other Chinese guys are.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(2) Look What Happens When You Get A Physique Like Jinder\u2019s!<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Okay, first of all, I\u2019m in no way accusing Jinder Mahal of taking anything that he shouldn\u2019t be taking in order to get that physique. Whether he got to looking like that from dieting like crazy or not, he looks a particular way. And the fact that everyone looks at him now and strongly questions how he got to looking like that is exactly my point. He looks like what people think someone on steroids looks like.<\/p>\n<p>What kind of message does that send out to people watching? WWE shouldn\u2019t want people watching their show and refusing to believe that their World Champion isn\u2019t taking illegal supplements to look so disgustingly ripped. And it really is disgusting. It\u2019s not like Jinder has this dubiously acquired physique that is an absolute marvel to look at. It\u2019s not a good look for a company that (a) goes to such great lengths to project the right media friendly brand image and (b) can\u2019t afford to lose any more viewers. How do you think non-WWE fans are going to react when they go on a website and see the picture of Jinder Mahal with the WWE Title looking like he does? It\u2019s just reassertion for anyone to hate on pro wrestling for being all about roided up wannabe fighters.<\/p>\n<p>What about parents who see their kids watching this? It\u2019s not a family-friendly image and it\u2019s not a great message to be sending to both parents and kids that, if you want to be a wrestler shot to the top, this is what you need to get your body looking like. If the aim of this is to give WWE\u2019s presence a massive boost in India, is Jinder\u2019s physique really the physique that you want plastered all over a new market you\u2019re trying to crack? Is that the physique that you want your brand attached to? Is that what you want all these potential new fans in India to recall when they think of WWE? Because that is what they\u2019ll recall.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-4110259129\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The aim is to make a large audience of new fans in India so the coverage of Jinder Mahal becoming WWE Champion will be the first exposure of WWE to a lot of potential new fans. That\u2019s the first impression you\u2019ll be making about what your brand is. You don\u2019t get that first impression back, especially when people take that first impression and react negatively towards it. Will this be an issue that kills their expansion into the Indian market? Likely not, but it\u2019ll definitely hinder it.<\/p>\n<p>It sends out a horrendous message to other wrestlers, too. Yes the idea that you have to look a certain way to make it in WWE has been squashed to a large extent over the course of the last decade, but Jinder Mahal getting skyrocketed from literally the very bottom of the card to the top just so happening to coincide with him developing this new physique will undo so much of that good work. Put yourself in the position of a mid-level talent either already in WWE or with aspirations of making it to WWE. You\u2019re going to be looking at Jinder and thinking, correctly or not, this guy was a nobody, got to looking like that, and now look at him. And none of those\u00a0wrestlers are going to believe, true or not, that they\u2019ll get that ripped through dieting like crazy.<\/p>\n<p>WWE giving someone with a physique like Jinder\u2019s a push out of nowhere to the very top of the card sends out a terrible message that will have negative impacts on people\u2019s lives. It says to wrestlers (rightly or wrongly doesn\u2019t matter) this is how you get to the top and it says to viewers this is the type of body that we endorse. Whether he got it through dieting like crazy or not is irrelevant when the overwhelming perception is that he got it through other means.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(3) Nobody Cares For Randy Orton As Champion Anymore<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Randy definitely has value to WWE, there\u2019s no denying that. He\u2019s presented as a star and he\u2019s received as being a star. No, he\u2019s not the type of star who draws big numbers, but he gets reactions and working with him means something. He\u2019s the type of hand that can be used to put somebody over in a significant way. However. ..<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not like most people reading this actually needed further proof that we\u2019re just done with Randy at that level on the card, but we got it anyway. Randy on top as champion at this point is just a wasted spot. He\u2019s not gaining anything from it himself. He\u2019s made. Another title run isn\u2019t giving him any more credibility or getting him any more over. At best it can be a good plot device to tell a strong story, but this title run wasn\u2019t that. They put the title on Randy because he\u2019s Randy. Which in theory isn\u2019t the stupidest idea in the world, but putting the belt on Orton doesn\u2019t make him a bigger draw than he was before. Randy Orton on a show third from the top working with a guy like Baron Corbin is no less appealing to anyone than Randy Orton main eventing as the champion working with a Bray Wyatt or a Kevin Owens. Maybe Randy vs. A.J. means a little more, but that\u2019s for what Styles brings that nobody else does, not because of Orton.<\/p>\n<p>Randy working third from the top with guys like Corbin can be beneficial, though. It\u2019s far less frustrating for fans who want their guys at the top and not the tired old routine of Vince\u2019s guys being pushed ahead of the guys the live crowds are rooting harder for. Orton vs. Jinder as the first step towards Jinder getting a big push to the title would be a good starting point further down the card. Randy\u2019s a big enough deal that beating him means something to the viewers watching and fans have always been more accepting of him slightly further down the card when he\u2019s not main eventing.<\/p>\n<p>All the evidence that you needed for\u00a0this were the reactions at Backlash. Nobody wants Jinder Mahal as World Champion. I know there are plenty of people amusing themselves with the situation, but the reality is that Jinder isn\u2019t anyone\u2019s choice for that role. Nobody (relatively speaking, not literally\u2026) wants Jinder to be champion ahead of A.J. Styles or ahead of Kevin Owens or even ahead of Sami Zayn. Yet given a choice between Jinder and Randy, so many people chose Jinder. As in JINDER MAHAL. Fans resorted to ironically cheering for Jinder just so they\u2019d have something to root for. Fans were positive about the decision because it was something new. The \u201canyone but Roman\u201d mentality at the Rumble finally came full circle with fans now being accepting of \u201canyone but Randy\u201d as champion.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(4) WWE Doesn\u2019t Care What We Want<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Breaking News alert! Okay, I know this isn\u2019t exactly news to anyone, but it\u2019s worth bringing up yet again in the wake of Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal main eventing a PPV. If you think that you are in any way fighting the good fight to get your favorite wrestler pushed harder than they currently are, then just stop right now. You\u2019re not going to make a difference. You\u2019re not going to stop WWE pushing who they want in favor of who we want to see pushed. Booing their guys won\u2019t make a difference. Getting behind your guy won\u2019t make a difference. Losing 20 percent of your TV audience won\u2019t make a difference either because the reality is that, despite all of WWE\u2019s troubles, they\u2019re really not in a disastrous situation. It\u2019s a bad situation, yes &#8211; a very bad one, in fact, relative to where they could be &#8211; but the reality is that, while they\u2019re quite obviously bothered by declining numbers, they\u2019re nowhere near bothered enough to drop their beliefs and try something new.<\/p>\n<p>So by all means, keep rooting on Sami Zayn, keep buying your Kevin Owens merchandise, and keep talking up A.J. Styles on the internet. It won\u2019t make a difference, though, because until WWE decides that they want to make a push in the Arabic market or the Canadian market or the Christianity market, they\u2019ll continue to do what they\u2019re doing with them and they\u2019ll continue to push their guys over them regardless of how over they are, how good they are or even how credible they are.<\/p>\n<h3><b>(5) Smackdown Is The Land Of Opportunity!<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>That\u2019s one way of looking at it and obviously the way that WWE want us to look at it. But what it really is, is the land where geeks and jobbers rise up the card and end up in title matches.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone who watches WWE will watch regardless of what happens or because they\u2019re watching for good wrestling regardless of who\u2019s involved. A lot of fans watch to see stars, and a big part of being received as a star is being presented as a winner on TV. For the more casual audience swayed by star power and old school kayfabe &#8220;nonsense&#8221; like wins and losses, Smackdown is a show full of losers right now.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, say that WWE isn\u2019t appointment viewing for you but it\u2019s something you loosely follow and watch if something takes your fancy, what\u2019s going to be your reaction when you tune into Smackdown and see that Jinder Mahal and Breezango are challenging for titles and a faction of Natalya, Tamina, Carmella, and James Ellsworth are standing tall as Smackdown goes off the air. None of that is exactly the type of content that grabs viewers back into a show. In fact, it\u2019s the type of content that drives viewers away from a show. The four episodes in May have been the four least watched episodes all year and two of them have even fallen below the viewership from the same week in 2016 which didn\u2019t even have the benefit of being live or having an exclusive roster.<\/p>\n<p>What does it say when guys who are total losers on Raw come over and start beating all of Smackdown\u2019s most featured acts. Since the brand split we\u2019ve seen super awesome wrestler but total loser Sami Zayn come over and beat heavily pushed Smackdown guy Baron Corbin; we\u2019ve seen total geeks Primo &amp; Epico come over and beat former Smackdown Tag Team Champions American Alpha; and worst of all we\u2019ve now seen the guy who would job out in a couple of minutes to all of Raw\u2019s top acts come over to Smackdown and run straight to the very top of their show. The message it\u2019s sending out to viewers is that Raw is the big leagues and that you can be a small fish in a big pond on Raw, but once you get drafted to \u201cthe land of opportunity!\u201d you suddenly become a big fish in a small pond because you\u2019re apparently facing much weaker competition that you can actually now beat!<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve argued for making more of your roster and creating more respectable acts that viewers look at as having some credibility and not as being total losers. But at the same time you don\u2019t get to suddenly flick a switch and decide: Okay now we\u2019re going to push this guy and everything they did before this moment in time now doesn\u2019t matter. You don\u2019t get to just overnight decide that Jinder Mahal is now a credible world champion that will have a positive impact on the show. It\u2019s a process and you don\u2019t get to just skip over stages 1-4 and head straight to the end.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/05\/03\/five-count-five-lessons-wwe-learn-payback-bayley-cameramen-house-horrors\/\">FIVE COUNT: Five lessons WWE should learn from Payback from Bayley to Cameramen to House of Horrors<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2121035884\"><div id=\"pwtor-1554648096\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Jinder Mahal is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The same guy who just earlier this year was deemed as a like-for-like trade for Curt Hawkins. That guy just beat Randy Orton &#8211; you know, the <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/05\/27\/five-count-five-lessons-learn-jinder-mahals-sudden-push\/\" title=\"FIVE COUNT: Five lessons to learn from Jinder Mahal&#8217;s sudden push\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,52,4366,27],"tags":[3810,73,72,1079],"class_list":["post-42920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-opnionandanalysis","category-five-count","category-specialists","tag-jinder-mahal","tag-randy-orton","tag-smackdown","tag-wwe-championship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2017\/05\/MahalJinderTB3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42925,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42920\/revisions\/42925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}