What’s the story?
Shinsuke Nakamura will challenge Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at Smackdown live events in July. The WWE has been advertising that Jinder Mahal would defend his WWE Championship against Nakamura at a few of the blue brand’s live events in July.
In case you didn’t know...
Jinder Mahal shocked the world by defeating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship on May 21st at Backlash. The Modern Day Maharajah had a ‘Punjabi’ celebration on the following episode of SmackDown Live this past Tuesday night.
The heart of the matter:
Although SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon announced Mahal’s first WWE Championship defense to take place against Orton at Money In The Bank this June 18th, the WWE is nevertheless, advertising Mahal to defend the title against Nakamura at the blue brand’s live events in July.
Apparently, Randy Orton won’t be working the aforementioned SmackDown events and Nakamura has been roped in as a replacement for the Viper at the aforementioned shows.
What’s next?
Jinder Mahal will defend his WWE Championship against Randy Orton at the upcoming SmackDown brand-exclusive Money In The Bank PPV on June 18th. Should Mahal successfully retain his title at the event, he would then defend his belt against Shinsuke Nakamura at SmackDown’s live events in July.
Author’s take:
Jinder Mahal has taken the WWE by storm with his sudden rise to the top, and I know it’s all kayfabe but the man deserves to be appreciated as he’s obviously taking to the spotlight very well.
It’ll be interesting to watch how the WWE chooses to book him from the point moving forward, and regardless of how long he retains the belt, for now, we are in the era of the Modern Day Maharajah!
