India Has Giant ‘Jinder Mahal Next WWE Champion’ Banner on Building (Photo)

A gigantic banner of Jinder Mahal as the next WWE Champion is up on a building in India.

Jinder Mahal is gaining steam in WWE after his victory on the previous episode of SmackDown Live. This saw him become the No. 1 Contender to the WWE Championship, and will face Randy Orton for it at the Backlash pay-per-view on Sunday, May 21.

Earlier Monday, we noted a report on the reason behind Mahal’s big push. WWE wants to make money off their popularity in India, which is being done by putting a focus on talents like Mahal and the potential stable he’ll have. The Singh Brothers helped him win the No. 1 Contender’s match, which was the first building block toward this group.

There’s still three weeks before Mahal’s WWE Championship match, but excitement is already increasing for it in India. A banner that reads “Jinder Mahal Next WWE Champion” is hanging from a building in the country, which Sportskeeda noted earlier Monday.

The support is there for Mahal in India, who could have a fanbase of millions behind him. The WWE India Twitter account notably has 260,000 followers.

Now, we’re seeing not only this, but WWE getting behind a Mahal push. It’s into unchartered territory for his character, who has mostly been an undercard act during his two stints with the company. This second one has seen him work in an alliance with Rusev and lose to Mojo Rawley (this happened earlier this month). So, it came off as a surprise with how quickly things developed.

Next: Mahal is the New American Dream

There’s still four episodes of SmackDown Live to build Mahal as a main event talent, so we’ll see what WWE does next with him. This could be in headlining spots on the show, or even playing a role at Payback, which will see Orton face Bray Wyatt in a House of Horrors match. Would they include the Maharaja in this?