Jinder Mahal's next foe for WWE Championship announced after Randy Orton rematch date

Jinder Mahal shocked the WWE Universe by defeating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Backlash 2017. After the Maharaja was crowned the new king of SmackDown Live, the blue brand's commissioner Shane McMahon announced a rematch between the two superstars for Money In The Bank that takes place on 18 June.

The rematch against the Viper will be Mahal's first title defense. Now, the company has announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will also be challenging Mahal for the WWE Championship.

According to reports, Nakamura is scheduled to fight for the title at a few of SmackDown live events in July as he has been roped in as Orton's replacement as the latter will not be working on the said shows.

Meanwhile, Cageside Seat has reported that the company is satisfied with its decision to crown Mahal as the new WWE champion, mainly because of what it's done for their YouTube, and social media pages.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter previously reported that the purpose for Mahal's push was to appeal to the Indian market and hopefully convince them to buy some of Mahal's merchandise and to subscribe to their network.

However, it will be difficult for the company to make fans in India buy WWE's pay-per-views as they are free on television. The big four PPVs - WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series – are free and air live on television, while the rest of the PPVs can be watched on a 12-hour delay. Also, as the PPVs usually air at 5am in the country, fans will think twice before they subscribe to the network and watch the matches at such early hours.