Former WWE star Jinder Mahal, who now goes by Raj Dhesi on the independent scene, had a whirlwind of a time in WWE over two different runs, including a reign with the WWE Championship in 2017. Mahal’s title reign almost didn’t come to be, however, as he explained to TMZ’s “Inside the Ring,” as one wrong, but much-practiced, move on an episode of “WWE Raw,” right before his move to the blue brand and championship win, almost cost him his job.
“It was myself and Finn Balor in a singles match on ‘Raw,’ and I accidentally gave him a concussion,” he explained. “He was coming off the ropes. I gave him a forearm. We would do this spot every night on the live events as a hope spot… When I came into gorilla, Vince [McMahon] told me himself, he said like, ‘I should fire you.’ That [could have] changed the trajectory of my life, because a week later, I went to ‘SmackDown,’ and a week after that, I was number one contender, and a month after, I was WWE Champion. Everything could have ended had I came back to gorilla and Vince said, ‘You’re fired.'”
Mahal talked about coping with the pressure of constantly having to deal with the moods and whims of then-chairman and head of creative McMahon. He recalled that incident, and said he had anxiety for the entire week.
“I had told Road Dogg, ‘Hey, if I’m in the doghouse, and I gotta learn to eat you-know-what, I’m going to learn to love it, it’s all good,'” Mahal said. “I was just willing to do whatever the punishment was.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Inside the Ring” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Read the full article here
