SmackDown LIVE’s first event since WrestleMania 33 is now only one day away with the likes of AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura in action at the Backlash event.
As fans may have noticed from all of the promotional material, the night is revolving around the main roster debut of the King of Strong Style as he prepares to do battle with Dolph Ziggler, while the Phenomenal One aims to wrangle the United States Championship out of Kevin Owens’ hands.
BACKLASH
However, the most intriguing yet surprising match taking place inside of the Allstate Arena is Randy Orton’s WWE Championship defence against Jinder Mahal.
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Fans were genuinely shocked when The Maharaja emerged as the number one contender after overcoming five other men and has since aligned himself with The Singh Brothers – formerly known as the Bollywood Boyz.
It’s been well-documented just why WWE decided to make that decision, as they have big expansion plans in India which includes WWE Shop finally opening there as the market is massive and it’s taken them long enough to exploit it.
Nobody really expects Mahal to dethrone The Viper, as plenty of big plans have been discussed for him in the coming months and they all have him heading into these feuds as the WWE Champion.
However, if a rumour from Cageside Seats is to be believed, then Orton dropping his gold in Chicago might not be too farfetched of an idea.
NEW WWE CHAMPION?
They’re claiming that there’s been talk of WWE considering having Mahal defeat Orton for the WWE Championship, but only on sort of a trial run for around one month to see how it goes.
This links into how the odds have changed heading into Backlash with Mahal now favoured to win the contest, although it isn’t clear whether those odds mean he’ll be leaving as the winner via disqualification, or win the match outright and claim the championship.
You have to admire WWE for even considering such a bold move, even if it is for monetary purposes, but it shows they’re willing to experiment and give the fans something fresh.
Fans have always remained vocal about seeing different superstars in these prime positions, rather than giving the same contenders opportunity after opportunity, so Mahal probably does deserve a chance to show if he can hang with the best.
Plus, it helps SmackDown LIVE a lot too as it’s billed as the land of opportunity. It shows that Mahal was in mid-card obscurity on Monday Night RAW before a switch to the blue brand instantly elevated him into the title picture because they took a chance with him.
It’s a sink or swim moment; if WWE decides to pull the trigger on this shocking move then this trial run desperately needs to work in his favour.
Should Jinder Mahal dethrone Randy Orton to become WWE Champion? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here! Check it out via this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-all-the-fallout-from-wwe-payback
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