WWE Battleground 2017 Results: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton Highlights

At Battleground, Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton met inside of the monstrous Punjabi Prison. With the WWE Championship on the line, which superstar left Philadelphia in possession of the title?

A short time ago, the thought of Jinder Mahal becoming a main event star, let alone a WWE Champion, was unfathomable. However, as fans have learned over the years; never say never in the world of sports entertainment. In almost no time at all, Mahal has gone from a proverbial jobber to the pinnacle of his career. His path to stardom came to a head at Backlash, where the Maharajah defeated Randy Orton to win his first world championship.

Taking advantage of the opportunity given to him, Mahal has transformed into one of the top heels on SmackDown Live. By doing so, the current WWE Champion has managed to make believers out of those who used to doubt him. Still, he has quite a bit of work ahead of him to undo his previous image. A win here tonight inside the menacing Punjabi Prison would certainly go a long way in accomplishing that goal.

On the other side of things, Randy Orton has experienced quite a bit of failure as of late. Although he had a strong start earlier this year thanks to winning the 2017 Royal Rumble and later the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, his momentum appears to have stagnated. Back to back losses to Mahal have created doubt over the Viper’s ability to defeat his recent rival. Similar to the Maharajah, a win here tonight is crucial if a road to success is to be maintained.

This time around, Mahal and Orton are competing in an entirely new environment. Since this contest has only occurred on two previous occasions, here is a basic summary of the Punjabi Prison for those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept.

The structure itself consists of two parts; the inner and outer walls. In order to secure victory, one has to escape both and have their feet planted firmly on the ground. Within the inner structure are four doors, which will only remain open for a limited time. The timer for said doors begins when a superstar requests to escape the inner structure. As for the outer structure, the only way to escape is to climb over.

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Now that we’ve examined both the rivalry and the Punjabi Prison, let’s dive right into tonight’s main event.

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Following a rather impressive video package, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal is the first to make his entrance to the ring. As he entered the Punjabi Prison, the commentary team brought up how the 1.3 billion people in India were likely behind the Maharajah. Moments later Randy Orton made his entrance, slowly and methodically walking to the ring. Surveying the structure in front of him, the Viper clearly understood the battle he was about to take part in.

Once the introductions came to a close, the bell rang and both competitors wasted little time beginning the fight. Knocking the challenger down, Mahal tried to exit through one of the doors but was held back by Orton. The Viper tried as well, however, the door eventually closed, leaving only three remaining.

From here, Mahal and Orton exchanged strikes until the Maharajah began to work the left arm of his opponent. Without a doubt, the strategy was to ensure Orton would be unable to climb the outer structure later in the contest. Choosing to call for another door to open, Mahal was caught off-guard by Orton, who in turn dropped the champion with a fallaway slam. Opting to continue his attack, the Viper allowed the second door to close.

Before long, Mahal recovered enough to try and climb out of the inner structure. He was unsuccessful, which led to Orton using the Punjabi Prison as a weapon. After throwing him into the structure, the Viper delivered two separate suplexes that send Mahal’s spine crashing into the wall. This led to yet another door being open, and once again both men were unable. Realizing that only one door remained, the two superstars had a brief staredown before continuing the fight.

Signaling for the door to open, Orton decided to try and hit the RKO. Mahal countered with an attempt at the Khallas, but this was also countered, allowing the Viper to hit the RKO. With both men down and out, the Singh Brothers came out from under the ring and assisted Mahal is escaping through the door before it closed.

Despite having the momentary advantage, Mahal was unable to climb the outer structure due to the damage he received. This bought Orton time to escape the inner structure, however, he was attacked by all three men as he climbed the outer wall. The Singh Brothers tried to keep the Viper down, desperate to buy time for the Maharajah to escape.

Moments later, Orton successfully managed to take the Singh Brothers out of the equation for a time. In doing so, he was blindsided by the Maharajah, who had somehow acquired a kendo stick. Hitting the challenger with everything he had, Mahal hoped to finally end the contest. All this did though as anger the Viper, and in retaliation he took the kendo stick and unleashed it upon the heel group.

Climbing the outer structure, Orton went on to send one of the Singh Brothers flying off the outer structure and through the announce table. Once again though, this gave Mahal enough time to fight back. For the sake of awesomeness, let’s watch Samir Singh take the plunge.

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Towards the closing moments of the match, the Great Khali came out from the stage to cost Orton the victory. Choking the life out of the Viper, Khali allowed Mahal to leave the belt, ending what was a very strong contest