Raj Dheshi, formerly known as Jinder Mahal, surprised wrestling fans back in 2017 when he captured the WWE Championship. Raj was recent guest on Talk Is Jericho, and he talked about his title run, putting on stadium shows in India and his recent viral promo segment with The Rock.
Raj was released from WWE earlier this year, and he told Chris Jericho that the company had effectively retired his character years prior. His release, he said, didn’t come as much of a surprise.
“I had become very stale,” Raj said. “Creative-wise, I wasn’t doing much, which is OK. I get it. I get it, things change; that’s how my career has always been. It’s a rollercoaster. It wasn’t a surprise and I’m okay, ’cause I got released 10 years prior and at that time, it was totally different.”
His first release from the company came in 2014 when he was a member of the Three Man Band. “All three of us weren’t really taking it as seriously as we should have,” he admitted. “We were partying too much and we had become rock stars.”
Triple H had previously praised Raj back in 2017 for straightening himself out following his 2014 exit and finding his way back to the company. “Jinder is a guy who has always worked extremely hard,” Triple H said. “He trains hard; he’s very intense about what he wants with his career; he’s very thoughtful… to Jinder’s credit and to Drew McIntyre’s credit, they left, they went and figured it for themselves, they improved. They’re both men now as opposed to kids trying to make it in the business… now hopefully they are in a better position to succeed.”
Listen to the full Talk Is Jericho episode here.
