"I was scared of him" – Former WWE Champion on his relationship with Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon was WWE's creative figurehead between 1982 and 2022. In a recent YouTube video, Jinder Mahal gave an insight into how his interactions with the former WWE Chairman developed over the years.
Mahal worked for WWE between 2010 and 2014 before returning for another run with the company between 2016 and 2024. In 2017, he unexpectedly defeated Randy Orton at Backlash to win the WWE Championship.
Appearing on Maven Huffman's YouTube channel, Mahal told the former WWE star he was afraid of McMahon at one stage:
"Earlier in my career, I always avoided Vince. I was scared of him. I might see him in Gorilla [backstage area], 'Hi, sir.' Come back, 'Sir, was that good?' Try to get a handshake. During this time [2017], I got to work with him closely, build a relationship with him. He would tell me what he wants out of me. He would write my promos for me, like specific things that he wanted me to say." [6:22 – 6:43]
Mahal held the WWE Championship for 170 days before losing to AJ Styles on the November 7, 2017, episode of SmackDown.
Vince McMahon's instruction for Jinder Mahal
During his WWE Title reign, Jinder Mahal was universally disliked by fans. His on-screen allies, The Singh Brothers, also performed as bad guys and often helped The Modern Day Maharaja win matches.
Mahal added that Vince McMahon wanted him to work a slow in-ring style, allowing his opponents to receive the crowd's adulation:
"Vince always wanted me to work holds, pick a body part. Holds, holds, holds, holds. That's all he wanted out of me. I do know why. It's because he wanted the babyface to do the exciting moves and bring the crowd up. He wanted a solid heel. That's how Vince built this business: heel [versus] babyface." [6:43 – 7:03]
Later in the video, Mahal explained why he dreaded facing Randy Orton in Last Man Standing matches at non-televised events.
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Please credit Maven Huffman and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.