Jinder Mahal addressed long-standing rumors about his WWE Championship reign during an interview with Inside The Ropes, setting the record straight once and for all.
For years, some fans and analysts claimed that WWE made him champion in 2017 to boost WWE Network subscriptions in India – and that the plan “failed” because subscriber numbers didn’t rise. Jinder called that story completely false and explained the business reality behind WWE’s India deal at the time.
“In India, WWE had a fixed TV deal with Sony Sports,” he revealed. “It included all pay-per-views – even WrestleMania – as part of the broadcast package.” Because of that agreement, fans didn’t need to subscribe to the WWE Network to watch events, and WWE itself didn’t profit directly from Indian tours.
He also dropped an eye-opening detail: he was instructed not to promote the WWE Network in India.
“Anytime I did media, I was told, ‘Don’t tell people to subscribe to the Network. You’re not allowed because of our TV deal.’”
This clarification dismantles years of speculation that his reign was a “failure.” Jinder insists his title run was never about driving sales – it was about representation and hard work paying off:
“I became WWE Champion because of the transformation that I had. Vince saw the hard work that I put in, and he wanted to reward me. If I didn’t do that transformation, if I had looked the same way I did in 3MB, I would never have been WWE Champion. I promise you that.
Again, WWE does tours all over the world. You don’t become WWE Champion because WWE is going on a tour. I went on a tour of Japan with Shinsuke (Nakamura). I went in as the champ and came out as the champ. WWE actually makes more money running shows in the United States than they do going to India.
And another thing, I’ve never said this before – in WWE’s TV deal at that time with Sony Sports, WWE made a deal for a fixed amount of money. They agreed to provide content plus two live shows every year for that set price. WWE made zero money from any wrestling tour they did of India during that period when I was WWE Champion.
Another misconception was that Jinder Mahal became WWE Champion to gain network subscribers in India. Then when the news broke that network subscribers didn’t go up, people called it a failure. But in WWE’s TV deal with Sony at that time, every pay-per-view was already included – television plus pay-per-views – there was no pay-per-view purchase required. Everything, even WrestleMania, was on free TV.
Anytime I did media, I was specifically told not to promote the WWE Network or tell people to subscribe to it in India, because we weren’t allowed to under that TV deal. True story.”
