One of the most surprising PPV main events in years looks to be the 5/21 Backlash show in Chicago where Randy Orton will defend the WWE title against Jinder “Traps Don’t Lie” Mahal.
Mahal and his freakazoid traps, which look like they need their own zip code, won a six-way on Smackdown over Mojo Rawley, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan and the title match was announced for the winner of the Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. Since Wyatt is being programmed on Raw for Finn Balor and Orton confronted Mahal after winning, that result seems obvious.
So the question becomes why someone who was brought back as enhancement talent on Raw, basically with the same role Curt Hawkins had on Smackdown at first, until being put in a brief tag team with Rusev which enabled them to figure Enzo Amore into the Rusev vs. Big Cass program, is now positioned as lead heel on Smackdown.
Part of it is clear. Vince McMahon clearly feels the company was missing the traditional Anti-American foreigner. Perhaps he’s put in the position because Rusev, who had played that role for the past few years, is injured. Smackdown is weak on the heel side to begin with, with Baron Corbin and Kevin Owens as the only major pushed heels on the brand. Corbin’s title program is being saved for later in the year when the bigger shows take place, so they needed somebody.
In looking at the six guys, Mahal would have probably been the least likely, but none were strong since Smackdown really only had Orton, A.J. Styles, Owens, Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura as top singles stars. Any questions regarding who they saw as the key star on the brand is has been answered since Nakamura has been the key babyface in the dark match every week at the tapings, the old position of John Cena. The guy in that spot is the one who the company believes would be the best at keeping the crowd from leaving during 205 Live. They haven’t yet mastered the part about keeping the crowd that is staying to still react during that show.
With Owens as U.S. champion, likely a decently long reign with his “Face of America” gimmick being pushed, he’s out of the WWE title picture. Mahal has dropped 20 pounds to 218 pounds, and is the most ripped wrestler on the roster, and he’s probably about 6-foot-3, which is important when the owner is a guy who traditionally always chose talent based on size and physique. While times and tastes have changed, as half the people on the current roster wouldn’t have even gotten a smidgen of a look in another era, he still frequently reverts back to what he knows and likes. It appears they are introducing an Indian heel group with Mahal as the singles star and The Bollywood Boys, Harv & Girv Sihra, as a focal point of the Smackdown side. This coming out of nowhere could also be as simple as the timing of the Jim Ross return and looking at the international landscape. Impact and Sony Six are working on a partnership for a regular television show and live event promotion using local talent. WWE is still the biggest promotion in India, a country with a gigantic population, but have no current native stars. They don’t want to let anyone in the backdoor as the main brand in a country where their television revenue is third only behind the U.S. and U.K.
Because they are WWE, particularly for India, anyone who they push with any significance will probably become a major star because it’s a native in the big leagues who made it to a starring role. Even if they are actually Canadian, they have the heritage and are billed from India.
Of course the minute you judge talent based on physique, in the sense you push someone who didn’t get over first and doesn’t stand out in the ring with a great physique above people who have gotten over stronger with the audience and are better in the ring but don’t have a great physique, then you are encouraging what you are also banning. This is hardly the only time in wrestling, the only place in wrestling, or elsewhere in the world, that the same contradiction is in place.
The other key is with the network and the current business model with the lack of true superstars and the brand being the draw, with John Cena as the only proven exception and he’s not around, then it really doesn’t matter about things like booking and talent selection. The entire Roman Reigns controversy, since the fans who boo Reigns the most are believed to be the first people who buy tickets to see WWE, pretty much exemplifies the change. It means the company has little to no economic incentive to play to its audience, or listen to its audience. If its audience makes it clear they like or dislike someone, the company can look at its business numbers, see no declines, or rationalize the declines that do occur (like in TV ratings) as metrics that don’t mean anything anymore, then exactly what is the incentive of listening to the fans who buy tickets first if they keep buying tickets no matter what?
They can then come to the conclusion that the noise of the crowd and who they want or don’t want on TV doesn’t reflect the feelings of the majority of the fans. If they do internal polls and they indicate fans wanting something different than they are pushing, they can rationalize that on them being “Internet fans,” with the idea that’s a small percentage of the audience that isn’t indicative of the masses and thus not worth listening to. And in fairness, when people reacting a certain way are still buying tickets and network subscriptions, there is a strong argument that viewpoint isn’t wrong. Indeed, the entire concept of booking, manipulating the audience into wanting to see something and increase business, and bad booking then hurts business, is antiquated in WWE. Both have almost no effect on business other than occasional hot-shotting of bringing back a name from the past or changing around talent can lead to short-term minor changes in ratings. Ironically, that’s only the case with WWE, as those things do make a difference with other wrestling companies, and when it comes to Bellator and UFC, they seem too make as much if not more of a difference now than ever before.
With the roster transition period ongoing, WWE’s next PPV show is 4/30 in San Jose, headlined by Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and Orton vs. Wyatt for the WWE title in a House of Horrors match. Other official matches on the show are Owens vs. Chris Jericho for the U.S. title, Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss for the women’s title, Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe, Matt & Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus & Cesaro for the tag titles and Neville vs. Austin Aries for the cruiserweight title. The only other match strongly teased would be Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz for the IC title.
Payback is on track to be sold out by the weekend, which would be a week in advance, which is impressive considering how high the tickets were scaled
He deleted it later, I think it was meant for Chael's eyes only 
to me thanks to thecoli 