Brock Lesnar was the man behind Jinder Mahal’s loss to AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. Lesnar refused to work with Jinder Mahal.
The Modern Day Maharaja aka Jinder Mahal’s claim to fame was when he returned to the WWE in 2016 with an impressive body transformation and defeated Randy Orton the following year to become the first ever WWE Champion of Indian descent. Mahal was on a roll when he defeated a high-caliber superstar like Randy Orton.
What was more surprising than his return and win over the Viper was the brevity of his run as the main event superstar. Although Jinder held the title for an astonishing 170 days, he was immediately replaced and never pushed again as a major talent. Jinder’s decline was reportedly due to the influence of “The Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar.
In November 2017, just weeks away from Survivor Series, Jinder was booked to face Brock Lesnar who was WWE Universal Champion at the time in the main event of a Champion Vs Champion match. The match was confirmed as both their names were in the lights and WWE had already advertised the match. However, Jinder’s reign as the WWE Champion ended abruptly when he dropped the title to AJ Styles on an episode of SmackDown Live.
Just perhaps a few weeks before Survivor Series, Mahal lost the title and the entire plan changed. Instead of Mahal, AJ Styles would face Brock Lesnar in a Champion Vs Champion match. The reason behind The Maharaja’s untimely defeat had to do something with Brock Lesnar. Although it is still unknown why Brock didn’t want to work with Jinder, it was revealed later that the competitor to challenge him was changed at his behest.
According to wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer, Brock wasn’t keen on working with Jinder Mahal.
He reported, “You know why they did that? Because Brock did not want to work with him [Jinder Mahal],”
Jinder Mahal’s career after the loss to AJ Styles
Following the incident, Mahal lost to Triple H during their WWE tour to India which according to Dave Meltzer was simply because Triple was supposedly a more admired wrestler in India. Dave said, “And then they go to India, and they have Triple H beat him,” the wrestling insider explained. “He loses in India to Triple H, and the big explanation is, well, Triple H is really over in India. It’s like, Triple H is 50 years old. My god!”
After unsuccessful attempts at recapturing the WWE title from AJ Styles, Jinder Mahal’s career trajectory then changed to the mid-cards. Mahal then claimed The United States Championship after defeating Rusev at WrestleMania 34. Eventually, Mahal lost his US title after the superstar shakeup when he was drafted to Raw losing to Jeff Hardy. Mahal is currently signed to SmackDown where he wrestles teaming up with the Indian Giant Dilsher Shanky.
