Jinder Mahal Dismisses Claims He Was Made WWE Champion To Boost Indian Market Interest

Jinder Mahal has downplayed suggestions the WWE made him WWE Champion due to their desire to increase interest in the product from Indian markets, saying he knew it was going to be his time because of how hard he worked.

Mahal was the shock victor over Randy Orton at WWE Backlash 2017, taking the WWE Championship from the Viper, and held the Title for nearly six months before losing it to AJ Styles in November.

The Modern Day Maharaja's run was dubbed an 'experiment' by some fans, but Mahal himself has disputed those claims, saying it would be like declaring Drew McIntyre was only WWE Champion because the WWE wanted to expand further into the United Kingdom.

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Mahal said: "While I was WWE Champion, I was called the experiment, the unworthy champion, the worst champion of all time. So this is just people downplaying my accomplishments.

"WWE Universe in India, their TV deals, everything, were just as much in play when I was in 3MB, and while I was released I do believe WWE Raw was then live on Sony. When I was brought back, we were still live on Sony.

"I wasn't brought back to become WWE Champion, at that time they separated the rosters again, Raw and SmackDown, and they just needed some people who were TV-ready essentially to throw on and maybe highlight some of the newer talent, but somewhere along the line I knew 'Hey this is my way in. This is my foot in the door. I'm going to knock the whole door down and I'm going to become WWE Champion.'

"So that's like me saying 'Hey Drew, you were WWE Champion because WWE wanted to expand into the UK'. Why is that? Why are people not saying that? Right now Drew is celebrated, I'm the one who was this experimental champion, which is untrue.

"I've worked hard for and I've earned every opportunity that I've ever been given, every championship that I've had I've worked very very hard for."