What's Next for Jinder Mahal, Shinsuke Nakamura After WWE Hell in a Cell 2017?

WWE Hell in a Cell 2017 was witness to a battle of two young rising stars in WWE, both competing for the WWE Championship. In the end, Jinder Mahal once again stood tall over Shinsuke Nakamura, this time without the help of the Singh Brothers. It very well could end the Mahal-Nakamura rivalry, with The Modern Day Maharaja still the top man on SmackDown.

While Mahal was not the headliner of Hell in a Cell—a trend that could continue—his victory did further solidify his position among the biggest attractions on SmackDown. He has held the WWE Championship for 141 days now, with another month likely if not much more.

The third time could always be the charm for Nakamura, but he did lose relatively cleanly to Mahal, which feels like a definitive end to their rivalry. Thus, it is time for a new opponent to begin emerging as a challenger to Mahal. However, the short list of faces is hardly appealing at the moment.

As long as his feud with Baron Corbin ends quickly, AJ Styles is the most obvious candidate now that he has lost the United States Championship. Mahal had one of the best matches of his SmackDown run with Styles on an episode of SmackDown Live, and the pairing would almost certainly make The Maharaja look better than ever as champion.

Unless John Cena wants to return to SmackDown after his hiatus or WWE wants to revisit Mahal vs. Randy Orton again, Sami Zayn would have been the second biggest candidate for the pairing. But he may not even be a face anymore and is certainly busy after his huge moment at the end of Hell in a Cell. Bobby Roode is also likely still busy and may not be ready for a WWE Championship feud yet.

All in all, the pickings for Mahal's next challenger are few and far between. A huge story change will likely be necessary for the WWE champion to find his next opponent with even a face turn not out of the question—Kevin Owens is an ideal match for Mahal after Owens' huge victory. Whatever happens next, though, should be exciting just because no immediate answer fits the bill precisely.

Nakamura will have to be rebuilt after this loss even with statement victories still standing over Cena and Orton. He will need to find someone who can give him a good fight and meanwhile not be too hurt by taking a few straight losses. The Artist cannot afford any more defeats right now if he is still meant to be a top star on SmackDown.

Rusev would work as a high-profile rival; the two make for an intriguing pair. His feud with Corbin also still has potential legs with added stakes now that the US Championship is involved. He could always return to another feud that has only just begun as he and Orton had a great match in their first encounter.

The next WWE pay-per-view for SmackDown will be Survivor Series, and it is likely the headline story will be some combination of Owens' best heels against Shane's best faces. Since neither is clearly out of this rivalry and new opponents are still being set up, the best bet would be that Mahal and Nakamura will take sides in this conflict.

This hardly comes off as a definitive conclusion for Survivor Series, but a smart prediction would be that SmackDown's headline match will be: KO, Zayn, Mahal, Corbin and Dolph Ziggler vs. Shane, Styles, Nakamura, Orton and Roode. This will keep Nakamura and Mahal at the top of the card without fighting once more for the title.

After Survivor Series, they will both find new rivals in time for Clash of Champions. Nakamura's quest for the WWE Championship will likely be over while Mahal is set to carry on with the championship for the rest of the year.