A former WWE star has recalled a pitch where he could have faced off against Roman Reigns in a match stipulation that is still regularly mocked by the fans.
While certain matches have stood the test of time such as TLC, Hell in a Cell and the Elimination Chamber, others have been thankfully retired with some fans wondering how WWE came up with it in the first place and others wondering if Vince Russo had been secretly re-hired due to the sheer insanity of the rules.
In 2006, WWE fans got to witness the first Punjabi Prison match at the Great American Bash pay-per-view. Known for the double cage, time-controlled doors and being generally hard to watch live in the arena, the stipulation has only occurred 3 times in the company.
Revived in 2017 at Battleground, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defended the title against Randy Orton inside the infamous structure and remained the champion due to assistance from The Singh Brothers and The Great Khali. While speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Mahal explained why he was not a fan of the infamous stipulation and memories of Khali providing an assist that night:
“So first off, the Punjabi prison match sucks. It’s terrible. [In what way?] It’s so hard. The inside cage is the blue old-school cage. You can hit it as hard as possible and it won’t even make a noise. It was terrible. Then just the crowd reaction they couldn’t really see the people in the arena, there’s two cages, so when we’re on the inside, there’s two cages they couldn’t really see and it was just painful. Kendo sticks, chair shots, everything. But then The Great Khali [shows up].
So actually funny story. So I knew Khali was going to come. Singh Bros knew, Randy knew, nobody else knew supposed to be a big secret. They have the Punjabi Prison tarped off and all the way from the roof. Kick everybody out of the bowl, no security guard like no one’s in there. But they gotta get Khali ringside to rehearse.
So they like wheel them in on basically like a buggy between crash pads, what are you guys doing? They tried their best to hide him, but everybody saw him. Khali saved my championship. I won, at the end he raised the championship like he won it. So it was good, it was amazing. Actually Khali’s hand is so big like he’s patting me on the back but it feels like someone’s slapping me, he’s like yeah good job, good job, slapping my back. I’m trying to block it with my elbow. Last thing I want right now.”
Continuing, Mahal noted that there were discussions of facing off against Roman Reigns inside the Punjabi Prison before jokingly responding that the match was scrapped as Reigns said no:
“Actually, I was supposed to possibly have one with Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules. I think we just had a regular straight-up match and it was in Chicago, too. There was talk of the Punjabi Prison match coming back, me and Roman in the Punjabi prison. [And then did he just say I don’t think so?] Yeah, just like Brock [laughs].”
It should be noted that while Mahal and Reigns never faced off at Extreme Rules, they did have a one-on-one match in 2018 at Money in the Bank that Reigns won.
Rising WWE Star Credits Roman Reigns
A part of the company for more than 10 years and one of the biggest stars of the modern era, Reigns has become a locker room leader and a mentor to others as a result of his rise to the top of the card. In a separate interview, one current star named Roman Reigns among multiple mentors who have helped their own journey.
Also in the interview, Jinder Mahal explained why a WWE botch occurred.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit the source and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.