Awesome / Jinder Mahal

• Jinder Mahal had always featured an okay wrestling body◊ when he first debuted in WWE in 2011. His physique then started to bulk up from his shape◊ during his 3MB days of 2012-14 all the way to his championship form◊ in 2017 as WWE Champion.^note His body transformation might even be part of the reason why Vince McMahon saw him as the next Iron Sheik.
• During the hilariously awesome WeeLC match between Hornswoggle (with 3MB backing him up) and El Torito (backed by Los Matadores) on the preshow of Extreme Rules 2014, a ridiculous comedy lulfest that also turned into one of the most intense extreme spotfests of the event, Jinder took the most hellacious spot of the match (if not the entire PPV) when Los Matadores were standing on the ring apron with Jinder on their shoulders and El Torito dived off a ladder to give him a Doomsday Device off the apron through two tables and a ladder at ringside!
• During Jinder's match against a returning Finn Bálor back in April 2017, Jinder accidentally elbows Finn, which made Jinder look like a million bucks. This and his muscular physique might have also impressed WWE owner Vince McMahon enough to push him from jobber to WWE champion, if rumors were to be believed.
• On Backlash 2017 (May 2017), Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship after the distraction from the Singh Brothers (the former Bollywood Boyz). Don't hinder Jinder indeed.
• With nearly 3 million views, Jinder Mahal's Punjabi Celebration ended up being the most viewed video on WWE's YouTube channel for the week it was released. This helped establish him better as a Main Event Player on SmackDown than a simple "fluke" win of the title alone would.
• When you think about it, it's also kind of masterful how WWE is pulling a heel champion Bret Hart angle with Jinder in that he's presented both as a heel in America and a face in India. The subtle angle is quite well put together in that sense. To wit:
  • The Indian commentary presents Jinder as a face. He is a hometown hero, after all.^note Kind of, he's of Indian descent but he's from Calgary.
    Indian Commentary: INDIA NUMBER ONE! INDIA NUMBER ONE! INDIA NUMBER ONE!
  • His promos on Talking Smack speak about how he's a Rocky type of character who's living the new American dream, taking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and running with it as an actual underdog (or rather, former jobber turned main eventer).
    Jinder: He's (Randy) at the top of the mountain, and there's only one place to go for him. They say a crocodile is most vulnerable after he eats. I'm like a shark that's hungry and just got the taste of blood for the first time.
  • Little touches like Randy attacking Jinder before the bell and beating down the Singh Brothers are traditional heel tactics, while the TV viewers just let the American commentary team work them into thinking these are the actions of the angry babyface.
  • It's also appropriate how, like Bret, Jinder is from Calgary (or Bizarro World, as Jerry "The King" Lawler puts it).
• The lyrics of Jinder Mahal's theme, "Sher (Lion)", is quite impressive when translated from Punjabi to English. Like his own Badass Boast in song form.
  "No mother has given birth to a child that can stop me."
  "One day as a Lion is better than 10 years as a jackal."
• How about the fact that within a short amount of time, Jinder has gone from being a jobber, to losing his job, to being a jobber again, to a main eventer?
• Earning the respect of Triple H after losing a brutally long house match in India back in December 2017.
• Jinder has gotten a bit of a recent renaissance by being handpicked by booker Triple H as the Red Herring special guest "former world champion" to appear on the New Year's Day 2024 edition of Monday Night RAW before The Rock reveals himself as the true special guest and immediately makes short work of Mahal.
  • Jinder's promo work was impeccable, with him taking note that the U.S. is currently divided and is considered a joke in the world stage, according to him.
  • Jinder then mocked the "USA! USA!" chants and then proceeded to translate the U.S. National Anthem in Punjabi, unbeknownst to the crowd. This led to them booing the lyrics to their own national anthem, much to their chagrin.
  • Jim Cornette himself praised Jinder for delivering genuine heel heat and making the most out of the segment mostly designed to make The Rock look good as he finally challenges his cousin Roman Reigns to a match.
• The success of the New Year's Day segment with The Rock then led to Jinder having a program against World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins on the 1/8/24 edition of Monday Night RAW.
  • This has even led to him getting a title shot against Seth for the WHC, funnily enough. Looks like Jinder will continue unhindered once again in 2024!
    Jinder (to Seth): You sing, you dance, you dress up, you bring no value, you throw childish temper tantrums when things don't go your way, when the show goes off air. But I digress.
  • The upcoming match is actually going to be the third time Jinder and Seth are going to face-off. They've been wrestling each other since NXT. Their rivalry is more storied than previously thought, as showcased by this Reddit video package! It's LONG-TERM STORYTELLING after all!
• The fact that Jinder got a title shot against Seth Rollins has somehow upset All Elite Wrestling owner Tony Khan^note with him posting tweets decrying the double standards of fans celebrating Jinder for getting an underserved title shot while criticizing Hook for challenging AEW heavyweight champion Samoa Joe despite his superior 28-1 match record compared to Jinder's.
  • Some people on Twitter might claim this is a sign of Jinder's amazing heel heat while others might wave it off as X-Pac Heat instead.
  • Jinder did some trolling of his own by replying to Tony Khan (with a now deleted tweet), asking, "Who tf is Hook? WATCH MONDAY NIGHT RAW ON @USANETWORK MONDAY 8PM EST!!!"
  • Corey Graves stands by Jinder and Eric Bischoff has replied to one of Tony's tweets against Mahal with a Clown Emoji. Meanwhile, Tazz quote-tweets Jinder in support of his son (of course). Jonathan Coachman also quote-tweets Tony and says stories are more important than win-loss records.
  • "Don't Hinder the Jinder","#JinderMahal", and other related hashtags soon ended up trending on Twitter on January 9, 2024, around a few hours after Tony Khan released his contentious tweets.
  • At WWE's The Bump show, Jinder says that although he feels offended by Tony's tweets and does feel overlooked, he was still trending all day on Twitter and "somehow the Modern-Day Maharaja is the talk of the town."
• The match itself between Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal for the Heavyweight Championship was pretty spectacular in terms of the story it told, although others from the IWC might view it otherwise.
  • Flanked by Indus Sher at ringside and accidentally injuring his leg after a Phoenix Splash, Seth Rollins had to contend with a hungry Jinder Mahal and a Damian Priest wishing to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. Seth's back was indeed against a wall.
  • Against all odds, Seth was able to overcome Damian's distraction (who ended up brawling with Drew McIntyre), cheating from Indus Sher (who got ejected by the ref), and a Kalas from Jinder before a mad scramble led to Seth hitting his Stomp Finishing Move.

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