5 reasons Jinder Mahal might lose the WWE title

Jinder Mahal's WWE Championship reign came as a surprise to us all, but what has become even more surprising is the longevity with which his reign has been awarded.

However, now that a title defence has seemingly sprung from nowhere, is it WWE's intention to take the belt from the longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era?

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#1 Injury

Could Jinder Mahal be injured?

If the plan really is to relieve Jinder of the title so suddenly, a plausible reason could be that the champion has sustained some kind of injury that would prevent him from performing to his best.

If it really is an injury, the fact that he's been given the go-ahead to lose the title legitimately to AJ Styles suggests it's far from a career-threatening issue, but one that could still require a healing period.

#2 Ratings

Are poor ratings the problem?

Viewership for WWE television as a whole hasn't been stellar for quite some time now, but when they began to fall even further, alarm bells might have sounded in WWE's creative department.

Ratings for this week's episode of Smackdown Live were disappointingly low, which might lead some in WWE to believe Jinder simply isn't pulling in the numbers they would have liked.

However, a perfectly logical explanation for this drop in viewership is the fact that Smackdown clashed with Halloween this week, meaning Jinder might not be to blame. It's still a scary thought that he might lose the belt over such a trivial issue, though.

#3 A Lack of faith

Has WWE Lost Faith in Jinder?

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Jinder Mahal is not the best wrestler in the world. In fact, he's far from it. From a technical standpoint, there are numerous Superstars who rank above him in terms of technical skill, including his latest opponent AJ Styles.

That is, however, not to say that Jinder hasn't improved over these past few months. The belt certainly seems to have elevated his game, which was probably the intention all along.

But, considering he is yet to have a truly excellent match as champion, on top of the fact he almost put Finn Balor into early retirement before winning the belt, it wouldn't be a surprise if WWE favoured putting the belt on someone with a more exciting repertoire.

#4 Backstage heat

Has Jinder mouthed-off to the wrong guy?

The drama that is created behind the scenes in WWE can often eclipse the scripted drama we see on screen. In this age of social media and news reports, it takes very little time for stories of such incidents to reach our ears and eyes. A prime example would be the recent heat surrounding Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore.

While we haven't heard any reports of Jinder ticking-off any of WWE's headline staff, it's not impossible, and what better way to serve punishment than to remove the WWE title from around his waist?

I would treat this as an unlikely scenario, though, as Jinder is thought to be well-liked amongst his fellow wrestlers and handlers.

#5 Styles vs Lesnar

Is Styles vs Lesnar the better match?

AJ Styles v Brock Lesnar would be a dream match in every sense of the word. WWE's most dominant "Big Guy" vs it's most beloved and respected "Small Guy."

A match like this recalls images of the late Eddie Guerrero taking on "The Beast" and that turned out to be a fantastic match up. Also, it could be an explosive clash of styles (no pun intended), pitting the speed and agility of Styles against Lesnar's raw power.

There's simply more opportunity for great in-ring storytelling between these two than could be offered by Jinder Mahal. Maybe WWE realised this before it was too late and changed their plans.