A greater number of committed wrestling fans may have already slashed Yuvraj Singh Deshi who performs under the ring name, Jinder Mahal, as an accidental champion. Moreover, WWE executive vice president of talent Paul “Triple H” Levesque backed him up, “we always thought he had the potential to (win the WWE Championship). He was one of the last two guys in the tournament to decide the first ever NXT champion. We know that he has that hunger and ability to do big things”.
Jinder Mahal is the current WWE Champion and the first WWE Champion of Indian origin as well. For him, Wrestling began at the age of 5, when he used to go watch the wrestling events. Although he is from Calgary in Canada, he loves Punjabi culture. On 15th of August, when we were celebrating Independence Day, Jinder Mahal seized the opportunity at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Rhode Island in USA. He roared into the microphone, “you people have nothing to celebrate. But for my people, today marks Independence Day of the greatest nation on earth: the great nation of India!”
The journey kicked off in Calgary, Alberta. Jinder Mahal’s parents immigrated to the United States from Punjab, and then put down roots in Canada. Jinder, now 31, wasn’t the first in his family to embrace wrestling. His uncle, Gama Singh, performed in the 1980s in Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling. Jinder grew up revering Hulk Hogan and Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). After attending the University of Calgary to study business, he started training, with his parents’ grace.
Jinder appeared in the WWE in 2011 and spent three years as a professional loser. In wrestling expression, he was a jobber: a performer who exists almost entirely to make other performers look better. Jinder recollects, “I just had lost focus, I had kind of become complacent, which is the kiss of death in the WWE.” He was let out in 2014 and started immersing in real estate. He even considered buying a Subway franchise but determined to rededicate himself to wrestling.
There are people that were entering the WWE from football or other sports that are my age so I realized that if I regained my focus, regained my drive, there’s no reason I can’t come back to the WWE
Jinder commented. The first step was his physique, discipline it. He gave up drinking alcohol, which he blamed for limiting his drive, condemned junk food and kicked off an extreme training schedule. In the summer of 2016, he got an unexpected call from the WWE to come back.
When he made his comeback, Jinder was still a jobber. However, in April, he became a winner. At the time, his stunt was ‘man who comes in peace’. But Mr. McMahon suggested him to talk about his Indian roots and an America in decline. At the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines he addressed then-champion Randy Orton,“Randy, you’re just like all of these people! You disrespect me because I look different! You disrespect me because of your arrogance and your lack of tolerance!”
Weeks later at Backlash on May 21, Mahal defeated Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship. Mahal successfully defended the title against Shinsuke Nakamura in the SummerSlam on August 20, 2017. He calls himself “the modern-day Maharaja. Jinder Mahal really is an inspiration to all the bussing Indian wrestlers to take pride in our country and believe in our strengths. Because when he speaks about how Americans are reacting to the world, it’s the ultimate gospel.
