The Future of Jinder Mahal Is on the Line vs. AJ Styles at Clash of Champions

Credibility is key to a Superstar's success in WWE and Sunday night at Clash of Champions, live from Boston, Jinder Mahal's is on the line as he challenges AJ Styles for the WWE Championship in the main event of the final pay-per-view event of 2017.

The Maharaja was a career-long enhancement star, a midcard attraction who was synonymous with putting others over so the idea of him being put over for the top prize in the industry was unfathomable. But at Backlash this past May, he defeated Randy Orton to win the WWE title and ignite the main event push that would see him become one of the top heels for the blue brand.

His meteoric rise took a stumble on the November 7 episode of SmackDown Live when he dropped the WWE Championship to Styles.

Sunday night, one of the biggest breakout stars of the year will see his career at a crossroads as he faces, arguably, the best wrestler on the planet.

Extinguished Momentum

Mahal has suffered from the very real, very concerning extinguishing of his momentum.

Despite being WWE champion, he was never really the most prevalent star on the roster. He was often overshadowed in terms of significance by Kevin Owens, Shane McMahon, Randy Orton and Styles, putting him at a disadvantage right out of the gate.

Through it all, he continued to improve and remained one of the more over performers thanks to his ability to incite passionate jeers from audiences across the country.

Since dropping the title, though, Mahal has seen his position with the brand diminish in importance.

His feud with Styles is, at best, second- or third-most important on the show. His lackeys, The Singh Brothers, have been more heavily featured than he has while his two or three beatdowns of The Phenomenal One have done nothing to rebuild his heat.

He has been eclipsed by Owens and Sami Zayn, both of whom have dominated airtime and become the heels around whom the show has been built.

Allowing Mahal to lose momentum the way he has over the last month, which included yanking him out of a promoted pay-per-view showdown with Brock Lesnar and jobbing him out to Triple H in India, has done him an enormous disservice.

Despite his improved work and the effort he put into reinventing himself, he still very much needs the support and backing of WWE Creative. At the moment, it appears as though Creative has lost faith in him (or worse, interest). Sooner or later, fans will stop caring and suddenly remember he is the guy who management used to feed to Zack Ryder on episodes of Superstars.

Preventing a Downfall

Perhaps the easiest way to keep Mahal from experiencing a downfall that ruins the company's latest attempt to create a new internationally appealing main event attraction is to present him as an equal to Styles.

Contrary to the belief that every aspiring headliner must go over the established star to be truly believable, this can happen even in defeat.

A valiant effort that sees him nearly put Styles away on several occasions before succumbing to a Styles Clash or Phenomenal Forearm is suitable. Overcoming injury or shrugging off attempts by his own associates Sunil and Samir Singh, fighting his own battle for once, would earn him respect he's never had before.

The biggest issue facing Mahal and his future as a headliner is the continued use of The Singh Brothers to help fight his battles.

Yes, all great heels find their way around the rules and some even rely heavily on outside interference. That said, Mahal has been so hampered by Creative's utilization of The Singh Brothers as his cronies that it never bothered to explore Mahal's character beyond giving him a fancy nickname. It never presented him in a way that suggested he could win anything by himself.

While that works for some, Mahal really needed to establish his own character and build some credibility with fans before management asked the audience to believe him in that role.

Letting him build said credibility and legitimacy going forward will be a big boost for a performer whose hard work and dedication to his craft are apparent but who has never been truly allowed to connect with the audience.

Breaking free of the Singhs will be the best way to rebuild Mahal's stature on SmackDown Live and maybe, deliver the respect from the WWE Universe he so desperately needs in order to maintain his push.