WWE Hell in a Cell 2017: Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura full match preview

WWE Championship Match

Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

At SummerSlam 2017, Jinder Mahal once again used a simple distraction from the Singh brothers to retain his WWE Championship, this time against the challenger Shinsuke Nakamura.

Nakamura had to fight his way back into the championship mix; he earned a championship rematch by defeating Randy Orton on SmackDown two weeks later.

Jinder Mahal reacted to this news in the worst way possible, and over the next few weeks he decided to ridicule Nakamura’s facial expressions, claiming he looked like Pikachu having a seizure.

But it was on the September 19 episode of SmackDown that Mahal crossed the line with this approach. He directed several racist remarks towards Nakamura, saying that Nakamura’s facial expressions always “rook the same.” When Mahal then called him Mr. Miyagi, the live audience chanted “that’s too far!”

This is the part where I would normally link you to a YouTube video of this key segment, however I can’t do that because WWE decided against uploading any such video. WWE saw the backlash and quickly realized they didn’t handle this segment well, and they decided to step away from it.

So, did Jinder Mahal really go too far with these remarks? I am a firm believer in heels having full leeway to get as much heat as possible. I believe that for over a decade now WWE plays things way too safe, they don’t take enough risks, and that’s one reason why we’ve had John Cena and Roman Reigns on top of the card in perpetuity with no end in sight.

I want WWE do dive into edgier material, I want them to take more chances and push the boundaries. What I don’t want though, is terrible television segments. WWE has a poor history of dealing with racial issues on their television product, and it leads fans to groan extra hard when they run segments like the Mr. Miyagi promo.

Furthermore there wasn’t anything compelling or gripping about this controversial segment. It wasn’t edgy, it was just really bad television. WWE probably should have known that there was very little upside in going down this route. Most of the heat that was produced as a result of Mahal’s despicable words seems to be directed at WWE itself rather than Mahal. That’s how the wrestling landscape is right now, and it’s something WWE is still trying to figure out how to correctly manipulate.

After stepping away from this racist segment, WWE decided to run a more standard angle where Jinder Mahal and his lackeys used the numbers game to overwhelm Nakamura and take him out on the go-home episode of SmackDown:

So that’s where things stand as we head into Hell in a Cell. This match actually has the best excuse for using a cage (keeping the Singh brothers from interfering for the umpteenth time) yet isn’t actually using a cage, and so it feels like maybe the third most important match of the night. It doesn’t really feel like a special match in any way, shape, or form.

Can Jinder Mahal and Shinsuke Nakamura overcome this underwhelming booking to tell an entertaining story in the ring?

Tune into Hell in a Cell 2017 and keep it here on Cageside Seats to find out.