Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (Raj Desi) recently spoke exclusively with Inside The Ropes, providing insight into his memorable 2017 title reign and addressing long-standing rumors surrounding a planned champion vs. champion match against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series that year.
Mahal recounted the whirlwind nature of his ascent, including how he found out he was winning the WWE Championship from Randy Orton just hours before their match at Backlash in Chicago. He credited Road Dogg for delivering the news, though he suspected something might be happening due to shifting online betting odds making him the favorite overnight. Winning the title, he described, “felt great… Changed the course of my life forever. Like that’s something that nobody can ever take away from me… It’s literally life changing”.
During his reign, Mahal noted the importance of gaining promo experience. After receiving praise from Vince McMahon for a specific promo, Mahal requested mic time at non-televised events. “I tell Vince, ‘Hey, Vince, please, every live event, let me do a promo,’ and he goes ‘Road Dogg from from now on, every live event Jinder does a promo,'” Mahal recalled. “Every live event after that open mic night, I grabbed the mic. I could say whatever I want, but I got so many reps just doing that… I just became really more comfortable on the mic”. This allowed him to move from stressful word-for-word memorization to working off bullet points.
As Survivor Series 2017 approached, the plan was for WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar in a non-title, brand vs. brand encounter. Mahal acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the match dynamics: “Brock’s the heel. I’m a heel. I don’t know how we’re going to do this match… Is he going to turn babyface for the night? Are people going to cheer him? I don’t know who’s going to go over. We’re both champions. I don’t know”.
However, the plans changed abruptly during a WWE European tour just weeks before the pay-per-view. Mahal was scheduled to fly back early from the tour to appear on Raw for a promotional segment with Lesnar, but the title change occurred before that could happen. “I lost a title on a Europe tour,” Mahal confirmed. “Before we went to Europe, me and AJ did a promo or something… and then they announced a title match for Manchester”.
Mahal detailed finding out about the title loss on the day of the show in Manchester. “I found out the day of that I’m going to be dropping the title to AJ,” he stated. “Basically, I get to TV and I see Michael Hayes, and he tells me, ‘hey, go to Vince’s office.’ AJ gets summoned into Vince’s office… Me and Vince are shooting about bodybuilding… AJ comes in”.
Mahal recounted Vince McMahon explaining the situation, citing a marketing error where the Manchester match was advertised as a title match when it was intended to be non-title. McMahon then laid out the new direction: “Okay, Jinder, you’re dropping the title. You’re now gonna chase it… AJ, you and Brock at Survivor Series. Okay, thank you, boss. That was it”. Mahal dropped the championship to Styles that night.
Regarding his reaction to losing the title after approximately six months, Mahal expressed no bitterness. “It was great. I was a title champion for I had the title for like, six months, or something like that. It’s got to come to an end. Anyway. I wasn’t sad about it. I was actually happy,” he said. Mahal also mentioned telling McMahon directly, “I’m going to become champion again,” noting he learned that speaking to McMahon “like a man” with confidence was key to earning his respect.
Mahal watched the resulting AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar match at Survivor Series and offered high praise. “AJ has a really, really good match with with Brock. I loved it… It was an amazing match. It was way better of a match than me and Brock would have had, given the circumstances that were both heels, they had an incredible match, the story of the size difference and everything. It was a fantastic, fantastic match, way better than anything I could have done”.
Years after the title change, reports surfaced suggesting the reason for the switch was that Brock Lesnar had refused to work with Jinder Mahal. Mahal directly addressed this persistent rumor, attributing its origin to Dave Meltzer years after the event occurred. “Fast forward a couple years, that’s when it came out on Twitter… Did I think it was Dave Meltzer, he said it, Brock refused to work with Jinder,” Mahal stated.
Mahal firmly refuted this narrative based on his own experiences and interactions with Lesnar. “Nobody told me Brock doesn’t want to work you, etc. In fact, Brock showed me nothing but respect, even to the very end of the time that I was in WWE,” Mahal asserted. “If Brock sees me in the locker room, he shows me the utmost respect always, handshake, hug and I don’t see him treat that like I don’t see him that way with everybody… Me and Brock have a certain respect for each other”.
Mahal offered his own explanation for the change in plans. “What I think happened, and I agree with it. It wasn’t like a refusal to work. It was like, ‘hey, this will be a better match. Me and AJ.’ …I’m a heel, he’s a baby face, which I completely agree it was the right call. It was a way better match. But somehow it got spun into Brock refused to work Jinder, which, in my opinion, is not the case”.
He challenged the timeline of the rumor, adding, “Go back and look at any wrestling news, if at that time when I dropped the title, somebody find me something at that time that came out, ‘this is Brock refused to wrestle Jinder.’ It came out like years later… and then that’s been the common commentary amongst the IWC. Brock refused to work Jinder”.
Mahal concluded with a humorous take on the situation, suggesting an alternative, self-serving narrative. “But I kind of wanted to spin it and be like, No, he refused to job to me because Jinder was going to go over”.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Inside The Ropes with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
