Jinder Mahal has claimed that Drew McIntyre would never have been WWE Champion if the Modern Day Maharaja didn’t show him the way.
In 2014 Jinder Mahal was released by WWE before returning to the company to claim the WWE Title in 2017. It was a move that Drew McIntyre would replicate in 2020 after also being released by the company in 2014.
After returning to WWE in May 2021 following a lengthy absence in part due to injury, Mahal entered into a feud with his former 3MB partner Drew McIntyre. This eventually led to a clash between the pair at SummerSlam which McIntyre won.
Speaking to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Mahal said that he had paved the way for McIntyre’s World Championship success.
“He followed it to a T… I came to WWE before Drew. Came back. Became WWE Champion before Drew. Main evented all over the world before Drew. Did all this media before Drew. Now Drew touts himself as this great media machine and everything. Doesn’t stop talking about how much media he does. Guess what? We all do it. I was there. We all do it. We all have our turn. I’m still doing it. I just don’t advertise it.
You see Drew McIntyre wearing this suit. Where do you think he got his style from? The Maharaja, right? All the swagger, all this confidence. If there was no Modern Day Maharaja as WWE Champion there would be no Drew McIntyre. I showed him the way. I showed him it was possible. I gave him the belief in himself.”
Continuing on, Mahal explained that despite his harsh words for McIntyre, he respects the Scottish Warrior for what he’s achieved.
“They were. As much as bad things are said about Drew—which are all true, by the way—I gotta give respect to Drew. He, like myself, reinvented himself. Became a great representative of the company.–Exactly, exactly, exactly. He’s a little bit too close for comfort. But as I was saying, whatever, I respect Drew on a personal level. But on a professional level, I have to humble him. I’m going to embarrass him at SummerSlam. Not only that, a win against Drew McIntyre will automatically put me into the WWE title picture,”
Both Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre were released on June 12th in 2014. While Mahal arrived back in WWE before McIntyre, The Scottish Warrior has won the NXT Championship and WWE Title twice since coming back to the company in 2017.
McIntyre will be aiming to become a three-time champion when he steps into the ring with Big E at Crown Jewel on October 21st.
H/t to Fightful for the transcription.