"In a way, they had retired me" - Former WWE Champion reflects on his disappointing run

A former WWE Champion has opened up about his disappointing run with the Stamford-based promotion before his eventual release. The name in question is Jinder Mahal.

The 38-year-old was released from the wrestling promotion earlier this year, in April, alongside his Indus Sher stablemates, Veer Mahaan and Sangha. Mahal is currently performing in GCW under the ring name Raj Dhesi. He recently filed for a trademark on the name.

While speaking to AEW star Chris Jericho on the latter's Talk is Jericho, Jinder Mahal mentioned he didn't do much during his last two years with WWE as he was reduced to managing Indus Sher. The former United States Champion claimed he was told he no longer was an active wrestler. However, Mahal pointed out he was fine with everything:

"So the last two years, I wasn’t doing much. I was managing Indus Sher. In a way, they had retired me. They told me I wasn’t an active wrestler anymore, which was kind of weird. I think maybe they just wanted the focus to be on Indus Sher. I don’t know, something fresh, something new, which I get because I had become very stale. Creative wise, I wasn’t doing much, which is, okay, I get it. I get it. Things change. That’s how my career has always been," he said. [H/T: Wrestling News.co]

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Former WWE Superstar Jinder Mahal criticizes the rare Punjabi Prison Match

Punjabi Prison Match consists of two massive bamboo cages. To win the contest, a performer has to escape both cages before his opponent. There have been only three such matches in WWE's history, involving Jinder Mahal's title defense against Randy Orton at Battleground 2017.

During a recent conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Mahal referred to the Punjabi Prison Match as terrible. He further provided the reasoning behind his words. The former WWE 24/7 Champion added he had a painful experience competing inside the double bamboo cages:

"The Punjabi Prison match s*cks. It's terrible. 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's terrible. And then just the crowd reaction. They couldn't really see the people in the arena. There's two cages when we're on the inside, there's two cages, they really couldn't see. It was just painful. Kendo sticks. Chairshots. Everything," he said. [From 36:10 to 36:48]

Jinder Mahal recently won the AAA World Tag Team Championship in GCW alongside AEW star Satnam Singh. It remains to be seen what lies ahead for the newly crowned champions.