5 WWE backstage stories we learned this week: Jinder Mahal, Paige, John Cena, more

#2 How Jinder Mahal found out he would not face Brock Lesnar

Jinder Mahal began November 2017 as WWE Champion and looked set to face Brock Lesnar in a Champion vs. Champion match in the main event of Survivor Series.

Twelve days before the pay-per-view, Mahal lost his title on an episode of SmackDown to AJ Styles, who went on to do battle with “The Beast” in what turned out to be one of the best WWE matches of the year.

Mahal, who has been sidelined since June 2019 after undergoing knee surgery, spoke to talkSPORT this week about the chaotic night that he lost the WWE Championship.

He revealed that, just like when he won the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at Backlash, he was only informed that he was going to lose the title on the day of the show in Manchester, England.

“I do want to face Brock. I was supposed to have the match with him. [I found out I was going to lose the title] the day of the tapings in Manchester, the day of. AJ was in and I was out just like that. That’s the thing though: I found out I was becoming WWE Champion in one day. I won it in one day and I lost it in one day. But, that’s the way it goes.”

“The Modern Day Maharajah” was drafted from SmackDown to RAW as the #18 pick in the fourth round of the 2019 WWE draft, so we can expect to see him back on our screens soon.