10 Things You Didn't Know About Jinder Mahal

5. His Punjabi Language Skills Got Him Signed

Jinder Mahal Backlash 2017
WWE.com

Professional wrestling is an extremely strange profession. It seems to be one where if you are of a particular ethnicity, there is only so far the industry will allow you to go. For a long time, stereotypes and anti-stereotypes were the two gimmick options available.

This is once you are signed however, as ethnicity can also be a positive when looking to get to that point. Jinder Mahal has made no secret of this in the past, but he feels that a large part of his getting signed was because of his Punjab family background and his ability to speak Punjabi.

Mahal tells the story that The Great Khali's contract was running down, and at that point WWE were considering a tour to India. An Indian superstar was a must if it was to happen, so when Mahal attended an open tryout in Florida he was signed on the spot.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.