Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal Reveals Details On Working With Vince McMahon (Exclusive)

Zack Heydorn | Oct 17, 2024

WWE.com

Raj Dhesi, formerly Jinder Mahal in WWE, was the WWE Champion in 2017 and said in an exclusive interview with The Takedown On SI that as champion, he had a lot of direct communication with Vince McMahon.

In the interview, Dhesi described the process of working for McMahon and revealed new, specific details on that part of the job.

"(I had) a lot of direct communication (with Vince)," Dhesi said. "Talking to him in his office, or being summoned to his office just to see what the plan was for the night. At that time, he was very hands on. Even a lot of my promos was him writing.

"So, when you get the promo, a writer gives you the promo. If it's highlighted, it means it's coming straight from Vince. And sometimes the whole paper would be highlighted. If it's something like that and if you want to change it, then you gotta go talk to him directly, but he expects you to say it if it's highlighted as it is. If it's not, and especially now you have more flexibility."

Dhesi said that working on promos in the new creative regime headed up by Paul Levesque is much different.

"I was there when the management switched and I'm hearing now even more so, that there's more flexibility with promos," Dhesi said. You kind of write it with a writer. For instance, the promo that I had with Seth right before our match -- me and the writer basically wrote it that afternoon. And basically, she got it approved. She just told Hunter, and he said, 'Yeah, that's good.'"

Dhesi also detailed the infamous backstage atmosphere in WWE while Vince McMahon was in charge of the company. Last minute changes and shows written minutes before buildings opened up was common occurrence, but something talent needed to adjust to.

"At that time, it was a little more hectic," Dhesi said. "Things would change last minute. Anything could change last minute. When I actually became number one contender, I won that Six Pack Challenge Match before facing Randy Orton. Originally, I had a different promo and it was written by the writer and it got approved. I had memorized it, but literally 15-20 minutes before the match, Vince changed the promo completely. I just got that promo in gorilla as I was getting pumped up -- getting ready to go out there. So, I got the match going in my mind and I gotta memorize this promo that I gotta do after the match.

"In that era, the show was written like that afternoon and up until doors were open, or sometimes even as the show was going on, things were changing. I've actually been in a match in WWE where the finish changed mid-match. It was myself and the Singh Brothers versus Lucha House Party and Kalisto. We were supposed to go over and at some point the referee told us the finish switched."

Raj Dhesi will wrestle this weekend for the relaunched MLP. He'll face Bully Ray in a tables match.

MORE: Raj Dhesi Leaves WWE And Jinder Mahal Behind On New Independent Run ... Sort Of [Exclusive]