Problem is that they just built Mahal up over the past month or two...since then, he's been a career jobber or an "enhancement talent" as they like to politically-coin the term. Once again, a sign of Vince and his cronies demonstrating how out-of-touch they are with their fan-base... No one will ever take Mahal seriously as a talent and his title reign is going to be a bust before they drop the title back onto Orton or someone else.
As for Orton, Vince loves the guy cause he's a "legacy" athlete, and Vince has been known to demonstrate favoritism towards the kin that helped make him rich back in the day. The problem, in my eyes, is that Orton has never really "connected" with the fans in the manner that his contemporaries like John Cena, Batista and Brock Lesnar have. He's always been a "natural heel" but there's always been some sort of "disconnect" between him and the fans...I just never really "got into" Orton or understood why people liked him as he's obviously the odd duck out. I'm sure he'll get the title again, but once again will fail to draw.