Sunday night’s WWE Backlash pay-per-view ended with one of the most unexpected developments in recent memory: Jinder Mahal (thanks in part to Singh Brothers chicanery) defeated Randy Orton to capture the WWE Championship.
It was the culmination of Mahal’s rapid ascent from “losing to Mojo Rawley thanks to Rob Gronkowski beer-toss” to “No. 1 contender, I guess?” to “holy crap this guy might become WWE Champion” in a matter of weeks. In the days leading up to Backlash, it seemed like an actual possibility that Jinder Mahal might become a world champion before people like Cesaro or Rusev would, but that doesn’t mean the title win was any less shocking to longtime WWE fans.
And the fan reaction shots from people inside the Allstate Arena in Chicago told the story. We’re proud to share with you these spectacular GIFs of stunned fans who absolutely could not believe what the hell. Please enjoy these, because we sure as hell do.
The first face we saw immediately after the three-count was this stupefied kid, and the cameraman expertly tilted down to reveal a chagrined young adult, but please, whatever you do, do not sleep on absolutely everyone else in this shot.
Next up, we had this completely spectacular couple, who were more amused than stunned speechless, but the sentiment is the same. Just coming at a different end of the “haha what” spectrum.
And then we got White Shirt Guy. Don’t worry; we’ll be seeing more of him.
This guy, though: I think this guy is my favorite.
In case you were wondering if Brock Lesnar Guy was as shocked as everyone else, given his propensity for being shocked by everything, don’t worry: he didn’t let you down.
This guy just couldn’t even.
And this guy thought surely this must be some sort of mistake.
Hey, White Shirt Guy is back! He’s still stunned!
You know who else is stunned? Tiny Paul Dano here:
And this kid is just straight-up questioning the meaning of existence. Me too, kid.
This guy appears to be attempting to stop his head from exploding.
And I’m pretty sure this guy is contemplating calling in sick on Monday.
And because WWE loves us, they gave us a couple of much-needed replays.
All in all, it was a really, really, really good night. Well done, everyone. You were all the best at being shocked. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.
