Ring Name: Jinder Mahal
Nicknames: "The Maharaja", "The Man of Peace", "The New American Dream"
Billed Weight: 255 lbs (116 kg)
Place of Birth: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Finishing Move: Cobra clutch slam
Major Titles Held: WWE Championship(1 reign)
Signature Moves: Cravate, Double underhook suplex, Hangman, High knee, Knee lift, Multiple knee drops, Neckbreaker, Reverse STO
Managers: Hornswoggle, Lana, The Singh Brothers
Interesting Trivia: Jinder’s Uncle is former WWE Superstar (then WWF) Gama Singh. Dhesi is of Punjabi Sikh Jatt origin and speaks Punjabi and English. He holds a business degree in communications and culture from University of Calgary.
Win/Loss Ratio: 411(w)/94(l)/5(d) out of 510 total matches
Entrance themes: "Main Yash Hun" by Jim Johnston (WWE; April 29, 2011 – October 19, 2012), "One Man Band" by Jim Johnston (September 21, 2012 – October 19, 2012; Used while a part of 3MB), "More Than One Man" by Jim Johnston featuring TB5 (October 25, 2012 – June 12, 2014, August 1, 2016; Used while a part of 3MB), "Panga Paijave" by Diljit Singh (IGF), "Sher (Lion)" by Jim Johnston (August 15, 2016 – present)
Humble Beginnings, Jinder Mahal’s history
Yuvraj Dhesi began his wrestling career after receiving training from Rick Bognar at the Martial Arts Fitness Centre in Calgary, Canada. He then trained with Allen Coage and Gery Morrow before joining Prairie Wrestling Alliance. There, he secured the PWA Championship Title from 2008 to the beggining of 2010 as well as the Tag Team Championship.
He also participated in Great North Wrestling (GNW) where he was involved in feuds with the likes of Samoa Joe and Hannibal.
WWE Debut
Dhesi tried out for WWE’s developmental Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in 2010 where he used his Punjabi gimmick and wore a turban in hope that the talent judges would prefer his character standing out among the other contestants.
The name Jinder Mahal was first used by Dhesi when he debuted on SmackDown on April 29th, 2011 in a segment where he greeted The Great Khali and Ranjin Singh, Khali’s manager at the time. Since then he feuded with Superstars like Jey Uso, Ted DiBiase, Sheamus and The Great Khali himself.
NXT and 3MB
When the WWE rebooted their NXT developmental after dissolving FCW, Jinder was made a part of that and he even faced Seth Rollins for the inaugural NXT Championship Title match where Rollins defeated him to become the first ever NXT Champion.
On SmackDown, Mahal formed a stable with fellow main roster Superstars Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater called 3MB after Mahal and McIntyre attacked Brodus Clay during his match with Slater in September 2012. 3MB defeated Team Co-Bro, the team of Santino Marella and Zack Ryder fairly often on the show that year, even grabbing a tag team victory against them at the Survivor Series pre-show.
WWE Pay Per View appearances and Departure from WWE
Mahal competed at the Royal Rumble as the 27th entrant as well as participating in the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30, where he was eliminated by Mark Henry.
On June 12, 2014, it was announced that the WWE had released Jinder of his contract and he left the promotion shortly after.
Independent wrestling career
He fought for the Reality of Wrestling promotion at their summer iPPV, ROW Summer of Champions 2014 under the name Raj Singh, defeating Jasper Davis.
On October 24, 2014 at Wrestling in Vancouver at the live event Fright Night Live, Raj Singh teamed with his cousin Gama Singh Jr. to defeat Kyle Sebastian and Collin Cutler to win the ASW Tag Team Championship.
He also appeared in the Puerto Rican promotion the World Wrestling Council against local star Ray Gonzalez. He also participated in Qatar Pro Wrestling Souq Waqif Championship tournament in April 2015 where he ended up as first runner-up.
On May 5, 2015, Dhesi, as Raj Singh, made his debut for Japanese promotion Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), losing to Wang Bin. In 2016, he also wrestled for The Great Khali's wrestling promotion Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) in India.
WWE Return
WWE announced on July 27th, 2016, that Dhesi had re-signed with them as Jinder Mahal and on the August 1st episode of RAW, Mahal and Heath Slater appeared, demanding WWE contracts. RAW GM Mick Foley offered Mahal and Slater a chance to get a contract by defeating each other in a match, which was won by Jinder.
By December 2016, Mahal was noticably more muscular and had formed and alliance with fellow main roster Superstar Rusev. The two faced teams like Enzo & Cass and The New Day but this alliance soon fell apart and at Fastlane, Mahal and Rusev got seperate matches against Cesaro and Big Show.
Wrestlemania 33 and WWE World Title Shot
Jinder Mahal was the runner-up for the 2017 Andre The Giant Battle Royal, only to be eliminated by Mojo Rawley who had some help from his best friend, Rob Gronkowski.
Soon after being drafted to SmackDown Live following the Superstar Shae-Up, Jinder won the Six-Pack-Challenge, defeating Rawley, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler to become the number one contender for the WWE World Championship, after an interference from The Singh Brothers.
The next episode of SmackDown saw Jinder attack Randy Orton with the help of the Singh Brothers and he also stole Randy’s WWE World Championship belt and ran away during a segment.
Mahal interfered in Orton’s match against Bray Wyatt, helping Wyatt secure the victory.
On the May 2 episode of SmackDown, commissioner Shane McMahon forced Mahal to turn over the stolen championship belt before defeating Zayn.
A week later, Mahal pinned Orton in a six-man tag team match to earn his team the victory.
It came as a shock to the entire wrestling world when Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at Backlash on May 21, 2017, becoming the 50th recognized WWE Champion. He was also the first ever WWE Champion of Indian origin.
Mahal hosted a Punjabi celebration for himself at the Smackdown after Backlash where he invited dancers and singers from India. His celebration was cut short as Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon informed him that Randy Orton had invoked his rematch clause for the upcoming PPV: Money in the Bank.
Orton lost his rematch at MITB, giving Jinder Mahal his first successful title defence.
The two men faced off yet again at the Battleground PPV inside a Punjabi Prison match which was again won by The Modern Day Maharaja thanks to an assist from The Great Khali.
On August 15, 2017, edition of Smackdown, after Jinder Mahal lost to John Ceva via disqualification, MITB winner Baron Corbin tried to cash-in his contact on Mahal.
Mahal was successful in retaining his Championship yet again as he pinned Corbin with a roll-up.
The Maharaja then entered a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship. The two squared off against each other at Summerslam where Jinder retained his Championship by defeating Nakamura.
In a Summerslam rematch, the two faced each other yet again at the Hell In A Cell PPV where Mahal was successful yet again in retaining his WWE Championship.
Jinder finally lost his Championship to AJ Styles on the November 7th episode, bringing his 170-day title reign to an end.
Jinder Mahal is currently embroiled in a rivalry with United States Champion Bobby Roode and Randy Orton.
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