Hot Take: WWE Must Ride the Momentum and Push Jinder Mahal

WWE's newfound golden age with Triple H leading the charge has done many great things, from CM Punk and the Rock walking back through the door to so much more.

Somehow, this includes suddenly creating a tidal wave of momentum for...Jinder Mahal?

Right now, WWE would be wise to hop on a board and ride said wave, too.

Don't scoff at the idea. Some fans probably don't look back fondly on Mahal's heel champion run from recent years. But one could say WWE, well, hindered him during a not-so-great era for programming. They threw the title on him seemingly at random with little build-up in what felt unauthentic while prepping for certain events before not really letting him blossom as a character or in the way he picked up wins.

But if there's one thing Mahal has always had since that run, it's fantastic presentation. The aura around his entrances, theme and approach always gave him a boss-type feel that made him seem like a serious threat.

If WWE can keep that going, Mahal's proven more than capable of main-event scene-caliber stuff over the past two weeks. He came out as a mini-joke recently as a way to make The Rock's return an even bigger surprise, sure.

But the fact the company even put him in that position speaks volumes to the trust they have in him. And he absolutely crushed the role, putting on a good promo and even tricking the live audience, generating huge heat.

There's certainly reason to believe that this new era of WWE creative would let Mahal develop his character in interesting ways like this. And it certainly helps that one of the big things this era has done well is let the babyfaces be diverse and interesting, not all stuffed into an aw shucks, sufferin' succotash box. Meaning, Mahal could be a violent, intriguing guy for fan favorites to clash with.

It's hard not to think about the creative revival around Shinsuke Nakamura. He emerged from the doldrums of the WWE midcard and blossomed into a must-see character and believable threat to Seth Rollins that, by the end of it, had fans wanting to see him win while also souring a bit on Rollins' title run.

And yes, some of this also has to do with AEW. Tony Khan's now infamous string of social media messages about Mahal's sudden rise in WWE is something Mahal himself even brought up on a recent episode of WWE's "The Bump" on YouTube.

"This past week, [I] was in the ring with Seth Rollins," Mahal said. "Told him exactly how I feel, and now I'm number one contender to the world heavyweight champion. I was trending on Twitter all day yesterday...somehow again the Modern Day Maharaja is the talk of the town."

A nice nod to real-life drama without saying any names, handled impressively well, once again showcasing WWE can put him in the media cycle and things will go great.

More to the point, WWE could prove its point about Mahal and the current state of the pro wrestling hierarchy by giving him a nice push. Granted, not every Superstar who manages to drum up drama with AEW should get a push, but this feels like an outlier case—The Modern Day Maharaja certainly didn't look like a typical jobber while in the ring with The Rock.

This isn't to say that Mahal should beat Rollins and steal a top title right now. But maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing, either, as babyfaces would suddenly have someone threatening to chase heading into WrestleMania season. Plus, one only has to do a brief search online to see the groundswell of support for Mahal from fans, so perhaps we really are heading to a Nakamura situation again.

Even if Mahal merely fills that weird gap between now and the Royal Rumble with interesting things for Rollins to do, there's no harm in WWE adding another monster heel to the roster for Raw.

Clearly, based on the quick surge back to relevancy and even sparking comments from competitors, Mahal has something of an it factor that WWE should want to amplify.

As we endlessly stress here, so much of the good of pro wrestling is about timing. If Mahal had flopped in his segment with The Rock, this isn't a conversation. But he excelled. Fans saw it, competitors saw it and WWE riding the wave only makes things more entertaining for everyone.

And that's what it's all about, right?