A former WWE Superstar has detailed the preparation and aftermath of their segment with The Rock.
Announced ahead of time, WWE promised that a former World Champion would be making their return on the January 1st episode of Raw. With many excited about who it might be, the crowd collectively groaned when the music of Jinder Mahal rang out through the arena. Receiving a full entrance and cutting a long promo, Mahal was eventually interrupted by the Hollywood star. Following some jabs aimed at The Rock’s movie career, The Great One laid out The Modern Day Maharaja before teasing a future showdown with Roman Reigns.
Discussing what happened in the leadup to the segment with Chris Van Vliet, Mahal explained how he found out that he would be in the segment with The People’s Champion:
“So I kind of pieced it together. So I got a text from creative ‘Hey, you guys have nothing this week’. And then actually travel texted and said, ‘Hey, you guys are not flying out.’ I’m in a group chat with Indus Sher and our travel department. And 20 minutes later, I get a separate text saying, ‘Actually, you are going.’ And I thought it was a little weird that it was just me and not Indus Sher. But I don’t think anything of it.
And then like a few hours later, I saw the announcement on Twitter, former WWE Champion returns. I knew it wasn’t going to be me but I figured I’m going to be a part of it. I texted Indus Sher, ‘Hey, are you guys going to Raw?’ They said no, [so] it’s just me going. So I’m like, okay, good chance I think it’s me. And actually, it was Christmas week. I was with my family in Calgary.
I was flying back on the 30th and when I was on my flight, I got a text from one of the writers. ‘Hey, can you talk on the phone?’ I said ‘I’m in the plane for a few more hours I’ll call you when I land.’ One of the writers said, ‘Yeah, so we got you in the segment with the Rock. Yes 100%.’ [I said] ‘Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.’ So that’s how I found out man one or two days before.”
“The Rock Is A Class Act”: Jinder Mahal
Preparing the segment, Mahal continued and recalled Brian Gewirtz telling him that he had plenty of time to take part in a full entrance and was extremely thankful that Rock gave him that opportunity:
“Oh, it was amazing. I met him [Rock] at his hotel. And Brian Gewirtz was there, wrote an awesome promo. When he sent it to me [I said] can we say this? [Brian said] Yeah. Okay, I guess with The Rock anything goes. So no he just said have fun, let’s do it. He was excited to work with me and I was obviously excited to work with him. And he’s just a class act, The Rock is amazing for him to give me that moment.
And especially Brian, telling me like we got time don’t rush, because I was actually kind of shortchanging myself. I was like, maybe I will walk and talk to the ring. He said no enjoy it, have a full entrance, get some heat. We were allotted 20 minutes, so it was an awesome experience.”
When all was said and done, The Great One left Mahal a brief voice message, letting him know that his return would not be too far away:
“Yes, he actually kind of left a little bit of an Easter egg. He sent me a voice note, ‘Thank you, appreciate working with you, and I’ll be seeing a lot more of you around now that I’m doing things all across the board with WWE.’ It didn’t click in. After a few days later it did. I was like, oh, that’s what he meant by doing things all across the board.”
Shortly after the segment aired, The Rock was announced as a member of the TKO Board of Directors.
Also in the interview, Jinder Mahal discussed his journey to becoming WWE Champion.
Additionally, Jinder Mahal discussed his spat with Tony Khan.
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