I wrote a bit about this earlier, but I want to hit on it again. The current WWE Champion is an Indian who was born in Canada, Yuvraj Singh Dhesi, known in the ring as Jinder Mahal.
Currently the Internet Wrestling Community (the IWC) expresses a great deal of displeasure with Mahal’s championship reign. It’s lasted over 100 days to this point, sadly most of which spent in a go-nowhere feud with Randy “Walking Boredom” Orton. People claim that Mahal is one note, that he’s not a good champion, that he doesn’t present well.
Here’s why that’s strange to me: Mahal openly claims that people are against him because he’s not white. He is the evolution of the classic wrestling archetype of the foreign invader, the evil outsider who takes the championship. Here are the things people aren’t noticing that Jinder does exceedingly well:
- His character has great lackeys. The Singh Brothers aren’t Jinder’s own activity, of course, but most of the great heel champions of the recent past have had lackeys (the Corporation, the other 3 Horsemen, the nWo). The Singhs make Jinder look amazing.
- He has the look. And I don’t just mean that he’s cut, though he absolutely is. He wears well tailored suits. He wears just enough traditional Indian garb to remind people that he’s Indian. His facial hair and scowl sell his anger, make him imposing, and reflect what a heel champion should be.
- He is methodical in the ring. People claim he has a limited move set, and he does, but so did Orton. So did Hogan. Technically so did Ric Flair. Being a workhorse isn’t a “need” for a champion in WWE (it isn’t in wrestling at all, but certainly not in the promotion that works hardest to keep their workers safe over working hard in the ring).
- His finisher is sold like it is literally the end of every match. It looks amazing, even when he botched it. It looks like it takes the air out of the opposition.
- He has grown to be good to legitimate great on the microphone.
- His in-ring presentation, with the rug and the swapping to Punjabi for part of his promos, is classic heel but is also unique in the promotion’s current crop of performers.
Then there’s what makes him amazing. Take a look at this promo from this past week:
The crowd isn’t as into this promo as I think they could have been in a different, more wrestling-friendly city, but this promo is amazing because it turns “heel” on its head. Jinder does what a “cool heel” would do, making fun of the face, the crowd’s hero. The Singh brothers sell this in classic cool nWo style, literally rolling in laughter.
But then it turns. And Jinder points out that this is what the people want… because they’ve chosen to see him and his opponent, Shinsuke Nakamura, as stereotypes. As the foreign heel, Jinder takes the moral high ground, and while the crowd (and the IWC) doesn’t actually yield it to him, he is ABSOLUTELY right. He’s the foreign evil character stereotype, but he literally deconstructs that stereotype at the same time.
Then, to make sure we don’t lose track, he hammers home a solid heel promo ending, being not the funny, cool-guy heel but being the sort of scary 80s heel that people claim wrestling lacks.
Jinder Mahal is a mix of heel Randy Savage and Ric Flair as a foreign superstar.
People in the fanbase might not like him, but he’s doing a fantastic job. He might be the best heel character the WWE has constructed since Cena Destroyer Brock Lesnar.
And the fact that so many fans take a dump on Jinder is, sadly enough, the evidence of the truth behind his claim that people are racist toward his character… at least a little. People eat up the same heel (only white) in Bobby Roode (who I love, don’t get me wrong). They love the same aggression from heel Kevin Owens.
I personally am a huge Jinder fan. I even bought his t-shirt.
I only wish I could write the end of this post in his language… of Punjabi.
Also his entrance theme is amazing. You can read the translation here.