WWE SmackDown Must Return the WWE Championship to Prominence

The WWE Championship has been around since 1963 and has been regarded as the most heralded championship in sports entertainment history.  But as of late, the main championship residing on WWE SmackDown has not felt as important as it has in the past.

The WWE Championship has bolstered the careers of many of the industry’s biggest names over the years.  From the likes of Buddy Rogers, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock, the WWE’s top prize has been the primary focus of the company.  But WWE SmackDown has not kept that same prestige with the championship over the past few months.

Jinder Mahal had been an afterthought in the WWE throughout the bulk of his career until earlier this year when after being rushed into a main event match at Backlash for the WWE Championship, he defeated Randy Orton to win the gold.  Many feel the main reason the company went with Mahal as WWE Champion was to tap into the WWE’s Indian market, but that is not a good enough reason for some to put the title on a virtual unknown at the blink of an eye.

The WWE has always been about opportunity and SmackDown is considered the land of opportunity, but many feel Mahal as WWE Champion has devalued the championship and makes it look weak.  Mahal is a solid character as a heel and definitely has heel heat in most arenas around the world, but there’s no question the better way to have gone about making Mahal champion would have been to build him up properly before rushing into something that could ultimately fail.

It depends on your own personal preference whether or not you determine Mahal’s title reign to be a failure or not, but there’s enough doubt to suggest it has been a failure.  As far as character development goes, there’s been very little find.

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He began in an anti-American role saying how American fans disrespect him and how he represents India.  But as of late, he has been a horrendous joke-teller that can’t win a match without the help of his lackeys.

That doesn’t exactly scream character development and if anything, his character has gotten worse over the past few months.  Not to mention when your most memorable title reign moment is The Great Khali making a brief, one-night return, your reign probably hasn’t been the greatest.

It is truly great to see someone who hasn’t gotten a real chance to shine get his moment in the sun, but the way the WWE has done it has been subpar at best.  And Mahal as WWE Champion just hasn’t felt like the WWE Championship we have been used to seeing in the past.

The championship has seemed like an afterthought for months and one could argue the United States Championship has been the most significant championship on SmackDown over the past few months.  Maybe Mahal is just a victim of bad booking, but regardless if he is or isn’t, the WWE Championship’s prestige could be at an all-time low.

SmackDown needs to make the WWE Championship feel important again and have its top stars competing for the gold.  A good start would be having Mahal drop the title to Shinsuke Nakamura at Hell in a Cell on Sunday.  The King of Strong Style is one of the most popular superstars in the WWE today and the WWE universe is craving a change of pace in the main event scene on the blue brand.

But with the reports that Mahal could lose the title to Nakamura at Hell in a Cell only to win it back at some point before the WWE’s tour of India, the same problems going on now could present themselves again.  Nobody knows what the WWE has in store for the WWE Championship, but maybe a second reign as champion for Mahal would make him feel more legitimate given how he has already been the champion once.

The WWE seemingly has a stranglehold on the blue brand’s top championship and to bring it back into well-deserved prominence, a lot has to change in the coming weeks and months.  Whether it’s Mahal, Nakamura, or anybody else, the WWE Championship needs its prestige back.

Next: 3 Biggest Storylines Heading Into Hell in a Cell

The days of poorly-developed feuds regarding the title and an all-around lack of importance on pay-per-views and episodes of SmackDown need to end.