Jinder Mahal Talks About When He Found Out He Was Winning The WWE Title, Fans Reaction To Him, More
WWE Champion Jinder Mahal recently joined Roz & Mocha on Kiss 92.5 to promote this past Tuesday's SmackDown Live event from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Mahal spoke on a variety of professional wrestling topics and the highlights can be found below:
If you get a new belt each time you win it:
"No, actually that's the real one. Yeah they do, yeah (give you a commemorative one to keep once you lose it). So the name plates, they change the nameplates. Obviously I took that one from Randy Orton, they took his nameplates off and slapped on the Jinder Mahal ones."
His heritage:
"So I'm from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and my family is Punjabi. I'm very proud to represent the great nation of India. There's a huge Indian population here in Toronto. Also, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton – Canada really is a great multi cultural country. I'm really proud to represent both cultures, Canadian and Indian, and hopefully I'm making both countries proud as WWE champion."
If he sleeps with the belt around his waist:
"Not with it on, but the night I won it it did. It did stay in bed with me. Words cant describe that feeling. It was 15 years of hard work, ups and downs, from being released to coming back, to being signed at a young age originally and kind of squandering my opportunity originally. Redemption is sweet man, redemption is sweet."
His journey back to WWE after being released in 2014:
"I came back motivated, it was my second time coming back I was fortunate enough – WWE gave me an opportunity to return about a little over a year ago and I was going to take full advantage of that. I'm the hardest working WWE Superstar, I'm constantly working on my physique, my promos, my in ring abilities. I knocked off one of the all time greats, Randy Orton, a 13 time World Champion. But John Cena and Ric Flair have the record right now at 16 times, it's my goal to beat them. I want to be the most winningest WWE champion of all time."
If he knew he was going to be made champion ahead of time or if it was a last minute decision:
"This one was king of sprung on my last minute. A lot of times it's planned. I knew I was going to be a champion in WWE but not this soon. I thought I was working towards Intercontinental Champion or U.S. Champion and then work my way up, but they I was given the opportunity and I was ready. They gave me the opportunity and I had time, I was like "Oh I need a month or two to get ready." So I was ready, I was ready to rock, I was ready to be the WWE Champion, I was ready to be the face of the WWE. It is a lot of pressure but I enjoy everything. I enjoy the media, doing what I'm doing right now, I enjoy the appearances, I enjoy main eventing the show, there's pressure in that – and I perform better under pressure, that pressure is what motivates me."
Fans reaction to him on Twitter:
"Yeah it's very cool because either you love me or hate me. It's nice to have some fresh faces in the title picture scene cause a lot of times it is the same guys, the franchise guys like Cena and Orton, and now like AJ Styles, he's a big time player. So it's great that my name is in the mix too cause just to be in the same level as guys like AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Shinsuke Nakamura who's my opponent at SummerSlam August 20th, it's truly an honor. It's not something I take lightly so that motivates me every day so I'm going to continue to work hard and make Canada proud, make India proud, make everybody proud, make myself proud, my family proud. It's awesome, I look forward to what the future brings, I still haven't even hit my prime. I have a long long career ahead of me."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Roz & Mocha with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Roz & Mocha