Tony Khan Has Created A Mick Foley Moment For WWE And Jinder Mahal [Theory]
Highlights
- Tony Khan's war of words with USA Network over Jinder Mahal has only fueled WWE fans' support for him.
- Khan's unnecessary poke at Mahal might have inadvertently turned him into the biggest baby face in wrestling.
- Khan's focus on WWE has created a buzz and increased interest in Mahal's upcoming match with Seth Rollins, which WWE is likely to capitalize on.
The wrestling world is buzzing over the beef between Tony Khan and USA Network, who have been going back and forth about Jinder Mahal's involvement in the title scene and an upcoming match between himself and Seth Rollins. While Mahal is a former WWE Champion and deserves the respect of being considered more than an enhancement talent, Khan elected to drag the Modern Day Maharaja into a war of words, which has only fueled the fire of WWE fans.
Ready to offer support for Mahal -- who finds kind of love to hate -- everyone knows that the WWE Superstar didn't deserve to have pot shots taken at him simply because WWE decided to capitalize on his viral moment with The Rock from last week. Capitalizing on his being a part of over 171 million social media views, they built a short-term storyline around it. After USA took a subtle jab at Khan's preference for using the Cagematch Rating to judge his product, Khan responded, "A moral victory for USA is one win more than their World Title challenger Jinder Mahal has in the past 364 days... because it's been literally a full year since he won a match." He added, "You really put AEW in our place getting Jinder Mahal in a big match on your tv show. Do it more often."
WWE Fans Are Now Expecting Jinder Mahal To Win The World Title On Raw
The difference an owner of a wrestling promotion yelling into the void can make.Yes, statistically Mahal hadn't won a match in over a year. That said, there have been plenty of instances where AEW has given title shots to challengers well before they've earned them. It has happened with debuting stars or one-time appearances from familiar faces, even though AEW has a rankings system where challengers get shots based on wins and losses. Not only that, but Mahal didn't do anything wrong here. He took advantage of a moment and made the most of it on television. He did so well, he got another look the following week. He did well there and got a match.
As a result of Khan's unnecessary poke at Mahal, some are arguing Mahal just became the biggest baby face in wrestling. And, that might come back to bite AEW.
This Kind Of Thing Has Backfired Before
The last time someone from another company tried to take a dig at a wrestler like this was when WCW had Tony Schiavone tell fans watching Nitro that Mick Foley was going to win the World Title. Raw being a taped show at the time, Schiavone said, "That'll put a lot of butts in the seats." What it does was make everyone watching Nitro change the channel to see Foley win the title. Now, Khan's insistence on talking about WWE has created a metaphorical army of fans ready to go to war for Mahal, most of whom will tune into watch him face Seth Rollins. The ratings bump could be intriguing.
Essentially, in a matter of two weeks, Mahal went from an afterthough to being the most talked about wrestler in the company. Acknowledging the two shows don't get head to head or that WWE will consider giving the title to Mahal, there's an organic buzz surrounding this match now that wasn't there before. WWE is sure to take advantage of it.
