Interview: The Singh Brothers talk about Jinder Mahal vs. Triple H, favourite wrestlers, approach to the business, Bollywood, and more
Sportskeeda caught up with The Singh Brothers ahead of the much-awaited Jinder Mahal vs. Triple H live event in Delhi, India. Here's what Samir and Sunil had to say ahead of the clash of WWE Kings--
Sportskeeda: We’re with The Singh Brothers ahead of WWE Live India. It’s an absolute pleasure to have you guys here. Let’s get you guys started on what the plan is for Jinder vs. Triple H -- is there anything special you guys have planned?
The Singh Brothers: Well, The Game vs. The Modern Day Maharaja! If you know The Singh Brothers, you know what we’ve been doing for the last 6 months, we don’t give out our game-plans. December 9th Indira Gandhi Stadium, you’re gonna have to find out yourself what’s gonna happen. Just like everyone else.
SK: I’m going to have to ask you a tough question. The Maharaja was seen dishing out a little bit of The Maharaja’s punishment (on The Singh Brothers).
The Singh Brothers: We deserved it! We deserved it. We let him down! 2-on-1 against AJ Styles; we had a huge opportunity. AJ is one of the best wrestlers in the world, probably in the last few decades. He truly is Phenomenal, and it was an opportunity of a lifetime. And we let The Maharaja down. And he (Mahal) had every right to put us in our place for that. Lesson learned, brother. Lesson learned.
SK: And everything’s good now? Is everything good?
The Singh Brothers: We’re family! Brothers always fight. The big brothers always take a little…It’s all good.
SK: Jinder was the champion, but you guys had a magical run with him. Jinder defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton, against Nakamura. Can you just describe the experience going to various places; defending the title?
The Singh Brothers: Well, the biggest thing for us was not only that but getting to see Jinder make history in Chicago becoming the first WWE Indian Champion. And that -- to help him get to that level was just an incredible feeling. And not only that but to defeat somebody as big as Randy Orton. Not just defeat Randy Orton once, not twice, but three times over.
We, literally, for 6 months, travelled the world -- Argentina, Mexico, Peru, China, Japan, Hawaii, and now finally India. When he was WWE Champion, we were everywhere, and wrestling Randy Orton literally on a nightly basis. Shinsuke Nakamura was in there, and it was an opportunity of a lifetime.
You know, you go from, (how) we were in NXT, and then we had this amazing opportunity. Man, you couldn’t even write a storybook like that. And in all seriousness for us, the biggest opportunity was sitting under and learning too. You see the way a guy like Randy Orton wrestles. Or the way a guy like Shinsuke (does). You see all that and soak it in like a sponge.
SK: You guys were also trained by another phenomenal wrestler, Mr. Wrestlemania, Shawn Michaels.
The Singh Brothers: Yes. We’re very lucky. When we started in NXT, the (WWE) Performance Center, Shawn Michaels had just moved. And we kind of gravitated towards him, and he took a liking to us. I think he saw a lot of Marty (Jannetty) and Shawn in us. Because we were known as ‘The Bollywood Boys’ at that time. Even our gear was a lot like ‘The Rockers’ with the tassels and the bright colours.
A lot of our Tag Team moves were like The Rockers, so he took a liking to us. And I would say Shawn really helped us get to this point. And the cool thing is that he’s the greatest of all time, in our humble opinion. So, to have him there and pick his brain, and ask him questions—We’re like, ‘hey, what do we do here?’, ‘what do we do there’. And even to this day, he’s still willing to (help).
SK: Since you said ‘even to this day’, did you get some tips on his friend Triple H that you might use?
The Singh Brothers: (laughs) You know, we didn’t get to that point. But we think we might have to throw Superkicks in there.
SK: In the future, as a Tag Team, do you have any plans for yourself? Maybe breaking out in the future?
The Singh Brothers: Our goal since we were kids was to one day become WWE Tag Team Champions. It would be great to be the first ever WWE Indian-born Tag Team Champions. Jinder was the first WWE Champion -- Indian-born. So, that could be a great historic moment for India. Absolutely, the goal is to one day become WWE Tag Team Champions, and the only way that happens is when you start wrestling as a Tag Team. If that opportunity comes up, great, but right now our focus, our main priority is making sure Jinder becomes 2-time WWE Champion.
And not only that, but defeat Triple H this Saturday, at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.
SK: Time for our Sportskeeda Rapid-Fire. Here goes—Your favourite wrestler ever?
The Singh Brothers: Bret Hart…Tossup between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.
SK: Favourite female wrestler?
The Singh Brothers: I would say, Trish Stratus. Yup. Trish Stratus.
SK: Greatest piece of advice you’ve got?
The Singh Brothers: Bret Hart, in 2008, we just started wrestling. He told us, ‘I’ll give you the same advice that Pedro Morales gave me’, like, ‘you can’t hold back true talent’.
It’s (like) if you’re talented, one day, you’ll rise. And we had literally just started in the business at that time, and when he told us that we looked at each other like, ‘wow’. To read that same advice that he wrote in his book, it was cool.
SK: If you guys were not WWE wrestlers what would you guys be?
The Singh Brothers: Man. I’ll probably be beating up (Bollywood star) Akshay Kumar (laughs).
I’ll probably be like, ‘Yeah, bro. Take me in’. (laughs)
SK: Speaking about Akshay, you had some friendly exchange with him. So, are you on talking terms with him?
The Singh Brothers: It’s been amazing. Literally lived every dream possible. I (Samir Singh) have worked with Akshay Kumar in the movie ‘Brothers’, and I trained with him for 3 weeks prior to the movie. And in the gym, and just working out with him. He’s such as humble guy and works so hard.
His life experience on how hard he worked. You know he was an outsider (in Bollywood) and he made it on his own. He’s a testament to if you work hard enough, you can really overcome anything in life. I take it as a blessing that I got to share screen-space with him.
SK: So you guys are going to walk out to the ring. What’s going on in your mind before you walk out? What do you do in that one second? Do you have a particular song that goes on in your head? Give us the inside scoop what goes on?
The Singh Brothers: We don’t have a song, but we always look at each other and go, ‘Jo Bole So Nihal Sat Sri Akal’ ( a traditional greeting used by Sikh people worldwide). We thank God every day we’re here. It’s a dream job (being a WWE Superstar). I don’t know anybody who would not want to be in the WWE.
And to be in the main event program every night with Jinder Mahal. Like Triple H -- Triple H was the guy that signed us in WWE. That’s the cool thing -- a year ago he offered us a contract for Cruiserweight Classic to come to WWE. And now we’re representing Jinder Mahal going into this amazing moment.
That’s a real cool question you asked because every night when we’re closing out the show with Jinder, when we introduce him and get him to the ring, we’re just so thankful. So grateful to be in the spot that we are, because it took us 12 long years to get here. And by God, we’ll do whatever it takes to stay here.
SK: Can you cut one last promo for Jinder?
The Singh Brothers: The Modern Day Maharaja is walking into Indira Gandhi Stadium and he’s got one thing in mind, brother -- Khallas, to ‘The Game’ Triple H!
The Maharaja vs. The Game. It doesn’t get any bigger. It doesn’t get any better.