"He's the most gifted athlete I’ve ever been in the ring with" - former WWE Champion praises Randy Orton
Jinder Mahal has missed a large chunk of 2020 with injury. After a return to WWE RAW in April, Mahal underwent surgery a month later to fix complications with his knee. The former WWE Champion looks set to return stronger than ever in 2021.
Jinder Mahal was recently interviewed by WrestlingNews.Co. During the interview, Mahal was asked about who his favorite opponent in WWE was. Mahal named 14-time World Champion Randy Orton as his favorite person to work with. Mahal said that it is impossible to have a bad match with Randy Orton:
Randy Orton. He’s just super knowledgable, so relaxed, no stress. Randy you can’t have a bad match with. He's the most gifted athlete I’ve ever been in the ring with.
Jinder Mahal opens up about his WWE release and his return
After making his WWE debut in 2011, Jinder Mahal was released in 2014 while he was a part of 3MB. After a lot of hard work and perseverance in the independent circuit, Mahal returned to WWE in 2016 and soon entered the most successful phase of his career. Jinder Mahal was traded to SmackDown in the 2017 Superstar Shake-Up. He then won a six-pack challenge to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Mahal then defeated Randy Orton at Backlash 2017 to win the WWE Championship.
During the interview with WrestlingNews.Co, Jinder Mahal also opened up about his WWE release and why it was the best thing that happened to him, and how it helped him return and become the WWE Champion:
The more you struggle, the longer you’re underutilized ultimately the more you appreciate when you get that spot. It was awesome. If I could redo it again, I wouldn’t do anything differently. Getting released in 2014 is probably the best thing that happened to me. It got me remotivated and refocused. I don’t think I would have became WWE Champion if it didn’t happen and I don’t think Drew would have either so we would have been coasting and kind of doing the same thing air guitaring.
Mahal has missed a lot of 2020 with injury. It also looks like Mahal will be a part of NXT India Championship tournament in 2021.