As I am sure you are aware, Jinder Mahal won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton this past Sunday at WWE Backlash. The new WWE Champion spoke with FOX Sports today about a number of topics including: How has Jinder’s life been since winning the WWE Championship, Vince McMahon’s message to him after his win, the reception from the Chicago crowd & much more.
Here are the highlights:
How Has His Last 48 Hours Been:
“Very crazy, you know, I’ve just been so busy. I haven’t taken the time to really let it sink in. I’m sure when I go home tomorrow it’ll all sink in. But right after I won I was in the gym the next day training, a live event yesterday, trained again today and I’m on SmackDown.”
“That moment when I won and when I came back through Gorilla, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. 15 years I’ve put in work, hard work to get to this point. Obviously I went through being released from WWE, being signed at a young age to debut when I was 24. So, you know, it’s been quite the roller-coaster but at that moment it was all worth it. I look forward to once I get home and have a minute to reflect and some alone time.”
Reception Backstage To His Win:
“I think the response has been great from the rest of the boys. You know, I’m an example that in the WWE there are opportunities for people who work hard, improve constantly. I think it’s great for morale, too, for guys who are lower on the card. Sometimes you get unhappy with your position, I was there with them. I was in the opening match, losing to El Torito in the opening match in 30 seconds and now I’m WWE Champion just through coming back every week and being relentless and wanting to improve everything. My promos, my look, my physique. I think, all in all, it’s a great change in WWE, it showed they’re willing to reward hard work.”
Vince McMahon’s Reaction To Jinder Mahal Winning The WWE Championship:
“He was very happy, shook my hand. He was standing up when I came back through Gorilla. I get a lot of advice from Vince. I believe he’s a genius, so a lot of promos and everything the last couple weeks after a match or a promo, Vince is the first person that I come to talk to. He was very happy, he could see that I was improving and Vince is one of those guys, if you care, he cares about you. I have a great relationship with Vince now, which is one of those things I never had before, because I would kind of avoid him. But now, I come back and Vince is the first person that I see every week.”
Chicago Crowd:
“That building, just the way the acoustics are, it’s a taller arena, but it gathers a large capacity. It is one of the rowdiest crowds. Leading up to this match, I had no idea what the reaction was going to be. Whether they were going to be silent, whether they were going to boo me or cheer, it’s just so unpredictable. Chicago’s one of those places where you truly don’t know, but once I was out there the reaction was great.”
His Goals While He Was A Part Of 3MB:
“Everybody here aspires to be world champion. It’s like all football players aspire to win the Super Bowl. Yeah, at a certain point, I had kind of maybe given up on the dream. ‘Maybe it won’t happen.’ But I saw when I got back, as soon as I started caring, as soon as I started putting in more effort, things just started happening in a positive way, so it just motivated me to work even harder. Writing down my goals is one of the things I started to do about a year ago. Every day I write down, I have my organizer. I messed up, I didn’t write ‘become WWE Champion,’ I would write ‘become a champion in WWE.’ It’s one of those things that I put it out there and I worked at it and now I’m WWE Champion.”
Jinder On What The Term “Maharaja” Means & What It Means To Him:
Jinder Mahal: “Maharaja means ‘the grand king.’ “Maha” means grand, and “raja,” is king.”
Fox Sports: “What does it mean for you personally to refer to yourself as the Maharaja?”
Jinder Mahal: “It’s just an attitude that I have. I believe in my mind that I’m one of the best in WWE and now I have the WWE Championship, so it kind of cements it. If you believe it, you can achieve it. If I aspire to be the king of WWE, one day if I keep working at it, I will be the king of WWE.”
