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#9 Randy Orton vs Jinder Mahal, Backlash
Make no mistake about it. While the Universal Championship may get more attention nowadays, and there are other titles of significant merit outside WWE, the WWE Championship remains the most prestigious prize in wrestling. For longevity, visibility, and the roster of all time greats attached to the title’s lineage, there’s not belt quite like it.
In 2017, Jinder Mahal won it.
I don’t want to knock Mahal more than necessary. He’s a competent wrestler and, by most accounts, a hard worker and nice guy. The guy didn’t have any business winning the WWE Championship in 2017, though, particularly after jobbing out in the lower ranks of Raw mere weeks before picking up the win of a lifetime over Randy Orton.
Mahal’s ascent to the title might have been redeemed for winning the strap in a great match. WWE would like for us to believe his Battleground encounter with Randy Orton was a classic with a frenzied finish. In reality, it was a paint by numbers match of the most blah variety. Worse yet was the lackadaisical finish in which the Singh Brothers distracted Orton long enough for Mahal to hit his not-over-at-all finisher for the disappointing win.
