While on a media tour to promote Summerslam, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal sat down with Yahoo! Sports where he talked about growing up, His WWE release, and cultural sensitivity with his character. Here are some highlights:
What is the state of WWE and wrestling in India right now:
Things are good. Everyone is very proud that I am the WWE champion. We get lots of media coverage almost every week – lots of newspaper and TV coverage. When I made the comeback at the Punjabi Prison, that was huge and the clip went viral. When I won the WWE championship it was all over the news, it’s great. I know WWE just launched the merchandise store over there. The highlight show Sunday Dhamaal, which used to only highlight “Raw,” got moved to a primetime spot and now is highlighting both “Raw” and “SmackDown.”
If cultural sensitivity is something that he and the company think about:
“Yeah, absolutely. I know that’s something that the WWE is very aware of. Not just India, but in any country. We don’t want to upset our fans because that’s not what we are here to do. We are here to entertain and ultimately put smiles on people’s faces. If a situation came about something that would offend someone culturally, I would definitely speak up. WWE would want us to speak up because
Whether he would rather defend the title in his hometown of Calgary or in India:
“I would say that it would be more special in India. Both would be very, very special, but Calgary already has had a champion with Bret Hart and they already have a rich, established wrestling tradition. Whereas India, yet, isn’t. You know, I would love to take the WWE championship back to India. Nobody has ever taken a WWE championship to India so just to think about the power that I would have to motivate the youth and to inspire a tremendous amount of people there is amazing. Obviously, the WWE universe right now over there is very passionate and I know the response would just be electric. That atmosphere of performing there would be on a whole other level. When WWE went there last time, I wasn’t back with WWE so I missed that. All the WWE superstars tell me that it was one of their favorite events they ever worked. The crowd was just electric from beginning to end.”
The interview can be found HERE.