WWE Champion Jinder Mahal recently spoke to thewhig.com about a number of topics. Here are some highlights:
Getting released by WWE in 2014:
“Looking back at it, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because I got to go away and reinvent myself and rediscover myself, get my confidence back, get my focus back most importantly. You need those lows to enjoy the highs and the wrestling business is like that. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, but you’ve just got to stay persistent and better days always come.”
Paying dues in wrestling:
“Wrestling, you just have to pay your dues. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Canada or you’re in New York, paying dues is very, very important because it gives you respect for the business. You see that it’s not really an easy business. Right now in my career in WWE, our schedule is so grueling, wrestling night after night, plus traveling. …[Paying my dues] prepared me for that and in a way, paying your dues does give you respect for the business because that’s important. I think some people come into this business from other avenues of life and think that it’s going to be easy. ‘Oh, I’ll just become rich and famous and it’ll be a cakewalk.’ It’s far from it.”
The Three Man Band gimmick:
“At first, especially me, I was not really resisting it, but I was kind of hesitant, I didn’t quite understand why I was put in this role and I hadn’t quite embraced it. As soon as I started embracing and all of us started embracing it and just giving it our all, good things started to happen. When we hesitated, we didn’t quite fully get over with fans, but as soon as we embraced it one-hundred percent.”
The full interview can be read here: http://www.thewhig.com/2017/06/14/wwe-champ-mahal-vows-the-best-is-yet-to-come