Fans were absolutely shocked when Jinder Mahal managed to defeat Shinsuke Nakamura at SummerSlam last night. “The Maharaja” successfully defended his WWE Championship against Nakamura in just a little bit over eleven minutes. Why did Jinder Mahal win his match this past Sunday night? Sportskeeda reports that WWE does not feel like it is currently the right time to put the title on Shinsuke. They also claim that the plan is to extend the feud past the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view this October. Until then, the unlikely WWE Championship reign of Jinder Mahal is going to be continuing on for at least a few more months.
During the pre-show that aired before SummerSlam officially started, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels came down to the ring dressed as KFC mascot Colonel Sanders. He mostly danced around ringside for a bit before he headed to the back. This was done because KFC sponsored the entire SummerSlam event, the footage involving Michaels was used for a new KFC commercial that aired later during the pay-per-view. WrestleZone’s Justin LaBar has since reported that the role was originally intended for two-time WWE Hall of fame inductee Ric Flair who, as we all know by now, recently underwent surgery and is currently in the hospital.
It was originally rumored that SummerSlam would see Shane McMahon take on Kevin Owens in a match. Instead, Shane became the special guest referee for Owens’ match against AJ Styles, which was won by the latter. The Dirty Sheets podcast later claimed that the original match between McMahon and Owens was scrapped for the show and pushed back to a later date. They now report that the match is going to be headlining October’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. The company wants to build a long-term feud around Owens and McMahon, and their match in October could actually be the first in a series of matches.