10 Things We Learned From WWE Champion Jinder Mahal On Talk Is Jericho

5. Jinder Was Super Close To Bad News Brown

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WWE.com

Despite his push being largely based around his Indian ethnicity, Jinder Mahal was actually born in Calgary, Canada. A huge wrestling fan from a young age, he began training in 2001 under the guidance of names like Rick Bognar. That's right - the guy who played the 'fake' Razor Ramon had a hand in training Mahal.

Bognar wasn't the only ex-WWE star to help Mahal out. Bad News Brown was another who helped train fledgling wrestlers at the Martial Arts Fitness Center, and he ended up becoming a mentor to Mahal and his cousin. The friendship blossomed to the extent that Jinder even attended Brown's funeral in 2007.

Most interestingly, Brown taught Mahal and other ethnic trainees how to handle racism in the wrestling industry if they ever came across it. This is an often-overlooked subject in the business, but one Bad News was keen to impress upon someone like Jinder from the off.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.