Steve Austin On His Thoughts On Jinder Mahal, Hurricane Helms Talks Impact Trying To Sign Jinder
A hurricane came through The Steve Austin Show recently as Shane 'Hurricane' Helms returned to the podcast. Among other things, Helms discussed WWE Champion Jinder Mahal's recent championship victory at WWE Backlash. Also, Helms and Austin talked about Mahal's ascension up the ladder on SmackDown Live.
According to Helms, he could not predict the outcome of the WWE Championship match at Backlash between Mahal and the former titleholder, Randy Orton, and he is always pleased when that happens.
"I thought it was pretty well done. I didn't know which way they were going and that's what I love about [pro] wrestling. I love when I can't predict who the winner is going to be."
During the interview, Helms revealed that Mahal met with Impact Wrestling officials prior to re-signing with WWE.
"I like Jinder, man. I can tell he's working hard. I liked him back in the day and actually before he signed with WWE, he came down to TNA for a visit and I tried to talk him. Not that we had a deep discussion, but I went and endorsed him to the higher-ups and I thought that he was a good guy to bring in. But then, the WWE offer came right away and he made probably what was a better decision financially, especially considering now. I thought it was good."
Although Helms spoke favorably of Mahal, 'Sugar' Shane shared that Mahal should and will improve on his mic skills and his facial expressions.
"I mean, his work is good, but there are definitely things that can be improved upon. But I think, if you watch him, you can see there's something there. There's an energy to him. His promos need to get a little bit better. His facials are good, but he goes to that angry face entirely too fast."
On the subject of Mahal, Austin indicated that 'The Maharaja' is a "cool" nickname and that Mahal's size definitely mattered in the eyes of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
"He's got a great look, a great body." Austin continued, "oh dude, [the 'Maharaja' nickname] has cool factor written all over it. Plus, if you play that with arrogance, it works for you. But, dude, down the road, I think that it spells money. I think the kid [has] got a great look. Like [Helms] said, he's got the great facials. And [Helms] know[s], dude, you've got to bring a few things to the table, whether it's appearance or size, looks, handsome, ugly, are you a flat-out bad ass worker, just unbelievable talker? This kid has bits and pieces of the things [one needs to be successful]. And all of these things can be graded on a scale of one to 10 on what you're bringing to the table. But, at first, one of the big things you've got to bring, dude, for Vince to get in that big spot, size helps and it just does."
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Source: The Steve Austin Show