Jinder Mahal is loving life right now with the direction WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon has carved out for the current No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship.
Mahal will face the Legend Killer Randy Orton, one of the most decorated champions in WWE history, Sunday at Backlash at the AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. He has recently becoming a betting favorite to take the belt from the Apex Predator in a pay-per-view some have criticized coming in as a snoozefest which promises little to no title changes.
Mahal sat down with Chris Jericho for the Talk Is Jericho podcast and discussed a number of topics. One of the things he mentioned is that he was originally distant from WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon, but has warmed up to the driving force behind the WWE. Here’s what Mahal had to say:
I’ve become closer with Vince. It was weird, during my first run, and even when I was on 3MB, I would kind of like avoid Vince. Not avoid him, but he’s intimidating. Now, I have like a good relationship with him. It’s weird. He’s like an evil genius. Is there anyone who has watched more [pro] wrestling than Vince McMahon? Vince knows what he’s doing.
Mahal added that it was McMahon who changed the promo for Mahal to do an anti-American rant when he became No. 1 contender:
He had rewritten my promo.The original promo was something totally different, so when I finished calling the match, one of the writers was like, ‘hey, Vince changed your promo.’ I was like, ‘okay, bring it to me. Please bring it to me.’ So they [broughgt] it to me and I had read the American comment and I was like, ‘ah, I like the old promo better.’ Like, it was like something like, ‘I tried being peaceful, but nobody was listening. But now I have all you guys’, everyone’s, attention. I beat five of SmackDown’s very best and I did it all alone.’
Something like that. It was just like a regular heel promo, but the new one was like, ‘you Americans this and that.’ And I was like, ‘argh, man, I don’t think we should go [there]. Like, but I’m like, ‘but whatever. Vince wrote it. It’s okay.’ But I did it and the reaction I got, I was like, ‘oh man, Vince is a genius!’ He knows exactly what’s going to draw the most heat.
Here is a link to the full podcast:
https://www.podcastone.com/episode/JinderMahal