Raj Dhesi shocked fans by winning the WWE Championship at Backlash 2017, but he didn’t have much time to prepare for his massive victory.
While speaking to Justin Barrasso, the former Jinder Mahal discussed how he only learned of his title win over Randy Orton hours before the referee counted to three. He said,
“There’s something very similar about both of those days. I found out I was winning it a couple hours before the show. I found out I was losing it a couple hours before the show. Didn’t hear of any plan ahead of time. Didn’t hear any idea.
“Originally, I was told I was just going to have a match with Randy. I didn’t think I was going to win the belt. Rusev was injured, but he was the one who was supposed to wrestle Randy. Randy told me that Rusev would be back and that he was supposed to work a program with Rusev for the championship.
“Something changed – and I won the belt. When I lost the belt to AJ, it was the same – I found out a couple hours beforehand.”
Mahal held the gold for much of 2017 before AJ Styles ended his reign during an episode of SmackDown in London, England.
In 2024, an online beef between Mahal and Tony Khan saw Jinder receive a World Heavyweight Title match, but he would fail to win the gold.
