10 Things We Learned From WWE Champion Jinder Mahal On Talk Is Jericho
From borderline alcoholism to WWE Champ in two years...
It looked for all the world like Jinder Mahal would be used as makeweight to further establish Randy Orton's WWE Title run this summer. After all, just a few months before winning the title at Backlash, Jinder was in a nondescript team with Rusev, and could be found jobbing in sub two-minute matches to everyone and anyone on the Raw roster.
Whether Jinder's reign turns out to be temporary or not, nobody can take away his achievement as the first Indian star to hold that belt.
Right before he shockingly became WWE Champion, the new titleholder sat down for an exclusive interview with Chris Jericho for Y2J's Talk Is Jericho podcast. One of the most open interviews in years, Mahal held nothing back as he discussed personal demons, his time in 3MB, and some key intervention from Vince McMahon.
10. WWE Didn't Give Him Much Notice Before His Main Roster Debut In 2011
The wrestling world groaned when 'Indian royalty' Jinder Mahal debuted on SmackDown in April 2011. Looking like the second coming of Tiger Ali Singh from just over a decade before, Mahal's uninspiring foreign heel schtick was never built to last. Maybe Jinder could have done better with some more prep time?
Working in FCW (the pre-cursor to NXT as WWE's developmental system), Mahal was told by officials to attend Raw. That was the only information he was given, and Triple H followed up on such vague directions by telling Jinder to turn up early for SmackDown so he could film some promos with The Brooklyn Brawler.
After doing that, Mahal was then told that he'd be debuting on SmackDown that evening. The process of jumping from developmental to the main roster wasn't quite as smooth or pre-planned as WWE may want people to think, at least not for Jinder Mahal.