WWE SmackDown must end the Jinder Mahal experiment, and Shinsuke Nakamura could be the one who does it.
Mahal has held the WWE Championship since winning it at Backlash on May 29th, meaning that "The Modern Day Maharaja" has spent more days as champion than Sasha Banks has for all four of her Women's Championship reigns. Combined. The result? At best, it's been a mixed bag. At worst, it's been an epic fail.
It's widely believed that Mahal was crowned WWE Champion as part of its effort to expand business in India, and WWE officials were reportedly quite pleased with initial reaction to his surprise victory, including the social media buzz it created and the amount of views it generated on YouTube. But as Mahal's title reign progressed, it quickly became quite noticeable that he isn't on the same level as other top stars on SmackDown, including Nakamura, AJ Styles and Randy Orton.
Mahal's pay-per-view main event matches all bombed, his promos continued to make Roman Reigns look a master of the microphone, and according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the WWE Network subscriber count has actually decreased since Mahal became champion. Likewise, the Observer's Bryan Alvarez (h/t WrestlingNews.co) recently noted that Mahal "is not getting over in India." One could argue that's been the case everywhere, too.
While Mahal has gotten heat from the fans, it appears to be that "go away" or "X-Pac" heat rather than the money-making heat that Vince McMahon generated as the best villain ever in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As a result, SmackDown has seen the quality of its programming plummet as the push of Mahal has worn on, and the entire show has suffered from the seemingly never-ending title reign of a man who fans just aren't willing to accept in a headlining role.
Now, Nakamura has a chance to be the savior of a show that's gotten so desperate for ratings, it was forced to bring back McMahon.
Nakamura will battle Mahal for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell next month, and early betting odds indicate that Nakamura will walk out of that match as WWE Champion less than two months after he failed to beat Mahal at SummerSlam. Although Nakamura has only been on the main roster for a cup of coffee, there are clear signs that he'd be a much better choice as the face of SmackDown than Mahal has been.
"The Artist," after all, seems to be developing into a solid draw at the top of the card.
WWE has thrust Nakamura into marquee matches over the past couple of months, including landmark wins over Orton and John Cena, and both of those matches resulted in viewership increases for SmackDown, with his match against "The Viper" boosting viewership by 125,000 viewers. That continued the trend of Nakamura seemingly being a big hit among fans, particularly among male viewers, who have clearly taken to the former NXT Champion.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Nakamura's first-ever SmackDown match resulted in an impressive 31.3% viewership increase among male viewers. Likewise, viewership for his match against Orton was 61.3% for males aged 18-49 and 66.3% for males aged 12-17 , up significantly from 59.5% (males aged 18-49) and 55.5% (males aged 12-17) for the previous episode. What's more, viewership for Nakamura's match against Cena was 64.1% males (18-49), which the Observer calls "well above" the typical male percentage in that demographic, and 61.3% males (12-17), which is more impressive when you realize those numbers dipped to 59.1% (males 18-49) and 53.7% (males 12-17) the following week for Orton vs. Mahal.
In other words, Nakamura is an attraction among male viewers.
Should that really surprise anyone? Nakamura has everything you could ever want out of a top star. He has confidence, charisma and "swagger," but perhaps just as importantly, he can back it up in the ring, where he is one of the best and most unique in-ring performers in the company. That's what makes him someone WWE can build an entire program around, a truly marketable star who is capable of carrying a SmackDown brand that lacks the star power that Raw has.
Mahal clearly isn't someone who is meant to carry an entire brand while Nakamura is catching on with a male demographic that isn't easy to win over. Just ask Reigns. Thus, when the creative team sits down to decide which star should leave Hell in a Cell as champion and the new face of SmackDown, the answer is obvious: It's time to pass the torch to Nakamura.
Blake Oestriecher is an elementary school teacher by day and a sports writer by night. He’s a contributor to the Forbes @SportsMoneyBlog, where he primarily covers WWE. You can follow him on Twitter @BOestriecher.
