From the WWE rumor mill: Interesting Backstage notes regarding Jinder Mahal vs. Brock Lesnar
What's the story?
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting on some backstage information regarding the potential Survivor Series match involving the WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and the WWE Champion Jinder Mahal.
In case you didn't know...
Brock Lesnar recently surpassed Kevin Owens as the longest reigning WWE Universal Champion in the title's short history. Lesnar recently reached the 200-day mark; while Owens held the belt for 188 days.
Interestingly, Jinder Mahal too passed the 150-day mark as WWE Champion, a mark that has seen him overtake WWE Hall of Famers such as Edge and Eddie Guerrero in the list. Jinder was the 50th person to ever hold the prestigious championship, a pretty historic feat.
The heart of the matter...
According to Meltzer, the WWE discussed idea internally of the first ever Universal Champion vs. WWE Champion match for some time; however, the management's mentality is that it is not considered a major match.
Word is that this match is just something for Lesnar to do on his way to building towards bigger matches, including a rumored match with Finn Balor at the Royal Rumble and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.
There is no word yet on how the finish will play out, but Meltzer says that Lesnar losing to Jinder doesn't make any sense after defeating Goldberg, Samoa Joe, and Braun Strowman.
A loss for Jinder makes SmackDown Live and the WWE Championship look more of a B-show and a title of lesser significance. He expects a no contest or DQ finish with some outside interference.
What's next?
Monday Night Raw takes place from the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin next week. The WWE confirmed that Brock Lensar will appear on the show to respond to Jinder Mahal's challenge laid out on this week's edition of SmackDown Live.
Author's take...
I find it odd that the WWE wouldn't think of a champion vs. champion match as a big deal, especially since it is the first time a Universal Champion would take on the WWE Champion.
I wonder if Meltzer misconstrued the meaning to where the better description is it wasn't considered a priority in contrast to saying it was not a major match.