Jinder Mahal Recalls Being Somewhat Disappointed For Being In WrestleMania 33 Battle Royal
WWE SmackDown Live superstar Jinder Mahal was recently a guest on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia. During his interview, the former WWE Champion discussed why he wasn't satisfied with competing in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33 last year.
Mahal finished as runner-up in the Battle Royal on the kickoff show, losing to Mojo Rawley. He had been a jobber for the majority of his tenure prior to that, so the runner-up finish came as a bit of a surprise. Mahal explained that he enjoyed the experience, but he had bigger goals of being a part of the main card and he still has a lot he hopes to achieve in his WWE career.
"It was cool, definitely, but part of me, I'd be lying if I'd say it wasn't disappointing in a way because I wanted to be on the main show. Actually, one of the things that I did in this last year is that I write down my goals. Every day I write down 'Main Evented WrestleMania,' along with writing, '10-Time World Champion,' I have all these goals. I write down what my net-worth is going to be, how many properties I'd like to own. Every day I write this down," Mahal said. "One of my goals is main eventing WrestleMania. Right now, I write '10-time World Champion.' Before I became WWE Champion I used to write down 'Become A Champion in WWE,' because I was so low on the card, to even hold a championship in the WWE I would think that it would be so cool. I can be Intercontinental Champion, U.S Champion, but I should have written 'Become a World Champion.' I'm a firm believer that if you put it on paper and it reminds you to work hard every day, especially every day if you write down your goals."
Mahal is scheduled to face Jeff Hardy for the U.S. Championship at The Greatest Royal Rumble this Friday. He said writing down his goals has helped him maintain his focus and improve himself mentally as well as physically. He said he's been learning techniques used by successful businessmen and applying them to his approach to his work.
"So, every time I write down my goals I realize that I have to hit the gym, I have to eat right, I have to improve in the ring, I have to give it 100%, I have to improve on my promos. These are the things that go through my head daily because I work hard on them. I have to remind myself every day, and I encourage everyone that listens. I listen to a lot of audio books, and business-related books, all of the great businessmen have one thing in common; they write down their goals. They keep a journal," he said. "Not only that, but I write down my goals and I check it off; whether or not I ate right, work out, check it off. At the end of the day I write down an 'L' or a 'W', whether or not the day was a 'Loss' or if it was a 'Win.' It really bothers you to have to write down an 'L.' An 'L' looks like a day I ate a lot of junk food, or I didn't work out when I was supposed to, or train when I was supposed to train, or if I felt that I had a bad performance in the ring. You definitely learn from all the mistakes that you make, everybody is going to make mistakes, and I make plenty of them, I don't really have any regrets because it has gotten me to where I am today and I am very happy where I am today, but it's nowhere near I have planned for myself to go to."
Mahal also discussed his release from WWE in 2014. He said he wasn't too broken up about it because he knew he would have a good chance of returning to the company as long as he improved himself. He said he used it as a learning experience and feels fortunate that he was given a second chance.
"I knew that I had a good shot of coming back. I was on SmackDown TV when I was 24, I was released when I was 27 and came back at 29. A lot of people don't get signed until they are my age right now, so I was fortunate enough to go through the experience, and the experience of making mistakes. Not only in-ring experience, but life experience now," Mahal said. "That was one thing that I lacked because I literally went from College to the WWE, I didn't have a real life, or any real life experience. I am very fortunate, and very lucky, but also I missed learning a lot of lessons. The mistakes people make in their day to day jobs I was making those mistakes in WWE. But, fortunately enough I was given a second opportunity."
Mahal explained that his biggest regret is how he stopped caring towards the end of his first tenure in WWE. He wasn't happy with the direction of his character, so he didn't put forth the effort he should have. Now that he's in a better position as one of company's top heels, he understands what it takes to be a successful WWE superstar.
"When I got released I had obviously a lot of regrets. I felt that in the end with 3MB I stopped caring, which is one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make. I stopped caring because it was my thinking. I was playing the blame game. I felt that I didn't have a good storyline, or I would dread coming to TV because I would be doing something I didn't want to be doing. I was put in that type of position because of me," he said. "I said this recently too, every WWE superstar is 100% of their career and where it goes. Whether you are in the main event, or opening match, or getting released, you are 100% in control of everything. I also said this, people always mention how someone has to get a push, it's like, no, I didn't ask for a push, I made the push."
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.