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The worst part about it was that it was a blatant, naked bid for "an Indian star" for a push into India market share penetration. Nevermind that the company just spent about five years making him look like a clown either as an ineffectual heel or comedic fake band member. Now, suddenly (in the span of a couple of weeks with a rocket-up-ass push), he's supposed to be this bad-ass, world beating monster when the company just so happens to be about to be poised to do a tour in India AND when the corporate side is picking up more TV there?
He wasn't ready for it. The audience didn't want it. The company only did it because they figured him being about the only brown guy they had with WWE worthy height and physique was good enough. They all loved the immobile shitshow that was The Great Khali, so they HAVE to love Jinder!!!
And before anyone thinks I'm making too much about the race thing; I'm not. They did. They were gearing up for something similar a few years before that with some speculative push into South America. It was why they had a sudden mysterious influx of hispanic folks (like Ceasar Bononi... who you might rememeber as... well, you might remember. He resurfaced in AEW, but I'm not even sure that lasted.). They also sorta did the same thing with NXT UK, but the differences were that they didn't exactly try to focus on anyone of a specific persuasion AND they were just picking all of "the biggest" talent from the then-booming European Indie scene. They didn't have to try to create a metaphorical "regional Hulk Hogan" from whole cloth with that one.
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