During an interview with Inside The Ropes, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal cleared up one of the biggest misconceptions about his title reign – that he only became champion to help WWE’s expansion into India.
Mahal said that narrative couldn’t be further from the truth. According to him, Vince McMahon rewarded him with the WWE Championship because of the tremendous physical and mental transformation he underwent after returning to the company in 2016.
Jinder emphasized that if he still looked like he did during his 3MB days, he never would’ve held the title. He credited Vince for recognizing his dedication, discipline, and consistent effort to reinvent himself at a time when few believed in him.
The “Modern Day Maharaja” also pointed out that WWE doesn’t crown champions just to promote a tour. He reminded fans that WWE runs shows all over the world, without necessarily basing title decisions on market strategy.
Jinder’s WWE Title victory in 2017 shocked fans worldwide, and while many thought it was done to capitalize on WWE’s growing presence in India, Mahal insists it was earned through hard work.
Here’s what he said:
“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.”
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