WWE SmackDown 5 Takeaways: US Championship Becomes Glorious

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3. Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods Fails To Deliver

With the WWE Championship now a thing of the past, Jinder Mahal’s mindset has moved on to another championship.  And last night saw Mahal battle The New Day’s Xavier Woods in a semifinal match to determine the new United States Champion.

Fans were delighted when Mahal joined the ranks of the U.S. Championship picture and many believe that is where he needed to be before going on a near six-month WWE Championship reign.  And facing off with a member of The New Day gave The Modern Day Maharaja a different challenge last night.

Mahal and Woods battled it out to determine who would go on to the final round of the U.S. Championship tournament, but the match never quite got going.  The typical slow-paced, ground-based action that Mahal’s matches give didn’t allow Woods to truly get going and the two just didn’t seem to have the best in-ring chemistry.

It got going to a minuscule level towards the end, but ultimately Mahal got the win and advanced to the final round.  The match wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was less than stellar and never truly got going.  And as a heavily-criticized superstar, this didn’t do anything to help the perception of Mahal moving forward.

The Modern Day Maharaja didn’t put on the best performance of his career against Woods last night, but he would have another shot sooner rather than later.