What’s the story?
Triple H, in a recent interview with Josh Barnett of USA Today’s For The Win, spoke about the return of Superstar Jinder Mahal, a performer who was once apparently told to “go other places” before coming back to the WWE by the Game himself.
In case you didn’t know...
Jinder Mahal has been making quite a splash in the WWE Universe by securing the No.1 Contender spot on the SmackDown roster for the World Title currently held by Randy Orton.
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This sudden push for Jinder has been attributed to WWE acknowledging its huge fan base in India and making moves to strengthen their grasp in the subcontinent by having an Indian challenge the WWE World Champion.
The heart of the matter
In the interview, Triple H mentioned that he liked Jinder from the moment he saw him for the first time. Jinder was young, ‘green’ and a hard worker yet HHH believed that he was too immature at that point in his career to fully seize the opportunity given by WWE.
Here’s what Triple H had to say about Mahal and Drew McIntyre’s first stints in the promotion.
“Jinder is a guy who has always worked extremely hard. He trains hard; he’s very intense about what he wants with his career; he’s very thoughtful. That’s the same with Drew. That opportunity came for them when you’re too young and not ready for it and a little immature to it. (When they left), I had a conversation where I told them, ‘We’re not going to be able to do more with you here. Go other places, learn more in your career, mature and think about the business in a different way.”
Triple H expressed his opinion that Jinder should go to other promotions, experience the world of pro-wrestling first hand and learn to call his own shots without having people like WWE management dictating his every move. HHH’s main argument was that Jinder needed to mature as a wrestler before coming back to WWE.
The Game went on to give both Superstars credit for the changes they have made on returning to the WWE:
“To Jinder’s credit and to Drew’s credit, they left, they went and figured it for themselves, they improved. They’re both men now as opposed to kids trying to make it in the business. They see their careers differently and what they want and are still extremely hard workers and great people. Now hopefully they are in a better position to succeed.”
Having done exactly what HHH told him, JInder is now back and taking the WWE Universe by storm as one of the more interesting heels in recent SmackDown history with antics like stealing the opponent’s Title belt and speaking Punjabi in front of a mostly American crowd.
What’s next?
Jinder will be seen challenging the WWE World Champion at Backlash, namely Randy Orton, who had his belt stolen from him this week during SmackDown LIVE!
Author’s take
I agree that Jinder’s big push came from nowhere but I’m confident that at this stage of his career, Jinder can pull off a good feud with anyone decent on the SmackDown roster.
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