Jinder Mahal's WWE Year in Review: Full Breakdown and Grade for 2017

Jinder Mahal exploded into the wrestling consciousness in 2017, becoming the most improbable main event star in years and the most unlikely WWE champion since John Bradshaw Layfield in 2004.

But as the year comes to an end and he is no longer the top dog on SmackDown Live, there is a debate about his year and whether it was as great as it should have been.

He competed in marquee matches and headlined pay-per-views, but WWE Creative's serious lack of faith in him ultimately doomed him to mediocrity.

Find out exactly what kind of year Mahal had creatively, historically and from an in-ring perspective with this recap of his past 12 months.

In-Ring Work

Jinder Mahal is a perfectly serviceable professional wrestler.

He understands the value of wearing an opponent down, working a limb or joint and cutting off the inevitable attempt at a babyface comeback. In many ways, he has graduated from the Triple H School of Work Rate in that he wrestles a cerebral, slower-paced bout with eyes on it becoming a scientific mat classic.

Unfortunately in 2017, that oftentimes clashed with the styles utilized by his most prominent opponents.

Shinsuke Nakamura had his Japanese Strong Style offset by Mahal's slower, more methodical pace. Randy Orton, a like-minded worker, was forced to amp up the intensity to almost laughable levels during the Punjabi Prison match at Battleground.

Only AJ Styles was able to have the quality of match with Mahal that the WWE Championship warrants, and a great deal of that can be attributed to his ability to work superb contests with Superstars of all approaches.

Despite holding the WWE title from May through November, it is difficult to pick one of Mahal's matches and label it great. That he was elevated directly from the undercard, where he was primarily a jobber who bumped around for the opposition, to the main event, where he was expected to carry 20-minute-plus bouts, did not help matters.

As 2018 approaches, one can only hope Mahal continues to learn on the job and one day delivers that outstanding main event match his hard work and dedication outside the ring have hopefully prepared him for.

Grade: C

Creative

The Maharaja would still be the WWE champion if he had not been let down so enormously by a creative process that oftentimes shoved him to the background and, when it did not, pushed him into the spotlight with little more than race-baiting jokes and grade-school humor to lean on.

He was never fleshed out as a character, and the result was a one-dimensional heel persona that failed to capture the audience the way it should have.

Instead of becoming the lead villain on Tuesday nights, he was a bad guy in the same vein as every generic foreign villain who has come through WWE with one exception: He was not anti-America; he was just really pro-India.

That proved to be both a blessing and a curse in that it broke the mold but never allowed Mahal to develop the heat a villain in his position needs to succeed. His rivalries were underdeveloped and lethargically scripted, and the result was general apathy in comparison to other programs elsewhere on the show.

At a time when he needed the full support of the writing machine, his title reign crashed and burned.

Grade: D

Historical Significance

Mahal won his first WWE Championship in 2017 and, furthermore, became the first titleholder of Indian descent to capture the most prestigious prize in Vince McMahon's company.

Say what you will about him, the quality of his reign or the significance of his role on SmackDown Live, but that is an enormous achievement.

He made history at a time WWE was attempting to spread its influence to India. Whether it worked remains to be seen, but it was an enormous leap of faith made by a company not always known for going all-in on a young star with zero experience at the top of the card.

Grade: A

Greatest Moment

At Backlash in May, Mahal defeated Randy Orton to capture the WWE Championship in the most unpredictable moment of 2017.

The Maharaja's meteoric rise culminated with a title victory that shocked the wrestling world and left fans stunned by WWE Creative's ballsy move to suddenly elevate a Superstar long considered a jobber by the audience at large.

The moment injected a somewhat stale SmackDown Live brand with the jolt of energy it desperately needed, and more importantly, it was something for fans to invest in.

Unfortunately, The Singh Brothers' interference in the bout was the first hint of the tired, repetitive trope that would adversely affect Mahal's run as champion.

Best Match of 2017

The Maharaja may have shocked the wrestling world with his victory over Orton at Backlash, but it was his greatest loss that served as his most impressive match.

On the November 7 episode of SmackDown from the United Kingdom, Mahal dropped the title he had held for four months. A faster-paced contest that told a better story than any of his more one-dimensional bouts, it proved to his harshest critics that he could work a main event-quality match against the best wrestler in the world and hold up his end of the bargain.

The match was hardly on par with other bouts that made "best of" lists, but for Mahal, it was a flash of what he could do against wrestling's elite workers.

Overall Grade

The year 2017 was unforgettable for Mahal.

The Maharaja broke free of the strangle grip the midcard had on him and became a legitimate main event star for WWE's SmackDown Live brand. He faced fair criticisms but put in the work necessary to improve himself with every week.

His push to the top of SmackDown was rarely pretty. Nor did it turn out as well as most likely hoped. But he made the best of the opportunity on his end and enjoyed the most improbable main event run of the year.

However, poor booking and mediocre in-ring skills—that admittedly improved steadily over time—hurt his ability to succeed and created concern about his status with the brand going into 2018.

Grade: C