Jinder Mahal Biography

Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Indian-Canadian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Jinder Mahal.

Having begun his career on the independent circuit, Mahal joined WWE in 2010, making his debut on the company's main roster the following year. After a short-lived alliance with his storyline brother-in-law The Great Khali, Mahal was then mostly utilized as enhancement talent during his initial stint with WWE, forming the group 3MB with fellow lower card wrestlers Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre before both Mahal and McIntyre were released from the company in June 2014. Mahal returned to WWE two years later with a dramatically improved body condition and received a push following WrestleMania 33, culminating in a win over Randy Orton at Backlash in May 2017 for the WWE Championship, becoming the 50th WWE Champion and the first wrestler of Indian descent to win the title. Mahal would later go on to win the United States Championship at WrestleMania 34.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2002-2010)

Growing up in a wrestling family as the nephew of Stampede Wrestling legend Gama Singh, Dhesi began his professional wrestling career at the Martial Arts Fitness Center in Calgary, Alberta, training with Rick Bognar.

Dhesi debuted in Premier Martial Arts Wrestling (PMW) as Raj Dhesi and then went on to train with Bad News Allen and Gerry Morrow, wresling in a revived Stampede Wrestling alongside fellow future WWE wrestlers Natalya, Tyson Kidd and Viktor. As Tiger Raj Singh, Dhesi also won various tag team championships in Stampede and in Prairie Wrestling Alliance (PWA), spending much of his early career teaming with his cousin Gama Singh Jr., with whom they were known as The New Karachi Vice and also as Sikh & Destroy, winning the PWA Canadian Tag Team Championship.

In PWA, he was the PWA Heavyweight Champion from 2008 until January 2010 and also spent time in Great North Wrestling (GNW), where he feuded with wrestlers such as Hannibal and Samoa Joe.

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2010-2011)

In December 2009, Dhesi traveled to Tampa, Florida to try out for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). At the tryout, Dhesi believed that his Punjabi gimmick and promos made him stand out, stating that he "came out wearing a turban and had [his] full outfit on" and that "they like guys who speak different languages and have different looks".

In early 2010, he signed to a developmental contract with FCW and wrestled there for a year under the ring name Jinder Mahal.

Early feuds (2011-2012)

Mahal made his televised WWE debut on the April 29, 2011 episode of SmackDown, greeting backstage fellow Indian wrestler The Great Khali and his manager Ranjin Singh by speaking in Punjabi that he was really happy and excited to see Khali and Ranjin. The next week on SmackDown, Mahal, unimpressed by how Khali and Singh have been partaking in childish activities instead of winning matches, confronted Singh about his mismanagement of Khali, establishing himself as a villain. Mahal interrupted a Khali Kiss Cam segment the following week on SmackDown, slapping Khali twice. On the May 20 episode of SmackDown, Mahal interrupted Khali's match against Jey Uso, leading to Khali confronting Mahal. On his first televised match on the June 17 episode of SmackDown, Mahal defeated Vladimir Kozlov and on the July 1 episode of SmackDown it was revealed that Mahal was married to Khali's sister, making them (kayfabe) brothers-in-law. On the September 5 episode of Raw, he suffered his first loss when he and Khali lost to WWE Tag Team Champions Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston in a non-title match. In a rematch on SmackDown, they lost again to Bourne and Kingston, leading khali to walk away from Mahal after the match, thus ending their alliance. On the September 16 episode of SmackDown, Mahal attacked Khali during his match with Heath Slater which Khali won by disqualification. On the September 23 episode of SmackDown, Mahal suffered his first loss in a singles match to Khali. On the October 14 episode of SmackDown, Mahal competed in a 41-man battle royal (the largest battle royal in WWE history) and Mahal made it to the final three before being eliminated by Randy Orton.

In November, Mahal targeted wrestlers whom he deemed as beneath him or embarrassing and in November began a feud with Ted DiBiase. On the December 30 episode of Smackdown, Mahal broke DiBiase's winning streak via submission to end their feud. In December, Mahal tried to make a name for himself and went after Sheamus, constantly disrespecting him, but was defeated and for several months they were involved in multiple matches, with Sheamus always getting the best of Mahal. At Mahal's first Royal Rumble on January 29, 2012, he was eliminated by The Great Khali, rekindling their feud and leading to a match on the February 3 episode of SmackDown, which Mahal lost. At Over the Limit on May 20, Mahal participated in and lost a battle royal match where the winner was to receive a shot at the Intercontinental Championship or the United States Championship when he was again eliminated by The Great Khali.

In late April, Mahal began confronting several wrestlers, starting with Randy Orton, interrupting one of his promos and being attacked in retaliation with an RKO. On July 23 at Raw 1000, Mahal confronted Kane, leading a group consisting of Camacho, Curt Hawkins, Drew McIntyre, Hunico and Tyler Reks and claiming none of them had been given an opportunity within WWE and would make one by taking down Kane, but The Undertaker's sudden appearance halted their advance and The Brothers of Destruction attacked the group and took them out. On the July 27 episode of SmackDown, Mahal lost to Ryback by countout and then began a feud with him, winning by intentional countout and disqualification. To try and prove himself to Ryback, Mahal requested a match against two local wrestlers in a match style similar to Ryback's, defeating them quickly by submission. In spite of this, Mahal continued his feud with Ryback, attacking him during their matches and after Ryback's, but was ultimately pinned by Ryback on the August 24 episode of SmackDown to end their feud.

When WWE rebranded its developmental territory FCW into NXT, Mahal began appearing on the rebooted NXT, where he started a winning streak by defeating several wrestlers, including Derrick Bateman and Percy Watson. On the August 8 episode of NXT, Mahal was inserted into the Gold Rush tournament to crown the first NXT Champion, where he defeated Bo Dallas in the first round. On the August 15 episode of NXT, Mahal defeated Richie Steamboat in the semi-finals of the Gold Rush Tournament. On the August 29 episode of NXT, Mahal was defeated by Seth Rollins in the finals of the Gold Rush Tournament, thus ending his NXT winning streak. At the Night of Champions pre-show on September 16, Mahal competed in the 16-man battle royal to become number one contender for the United States Championship, but was eliminated by Brodus Clay.

3MB and departure (2012-2014)

On the September 21 episode of SmackDown, Mahal and Drew McIntyre interfered in Heath Slater's match against Brodus Clay by attacking Clay. The alliance of Mahal, Slater and McIntyre were later named 3MB. From October 2012, 3MB racked up many wins against Team Co-Bro (Santino Marella and Zack Ryder) and The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso), all of them due to illegal interference. At the Survivor Series pre-show on November 18, Mahal and Slater defeated Marella and Ryder when Mahal pinned Ryder. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 16, 3MB were defeated by the team of Alberto Del Rio, The Brooklyn Brawler and The Miz. The next night on Raw at the Slammy Awards show, 3MB lost to Del Rio, Miz and Tommy Dreamer. Mahal competed in the 30-man Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2013 by entering at number 27, but was eliminated by Sheamus. On the April 12 episode of SmackDown, in an attempt to make a name for themselves, 3MB tried to attack Triple H, but were attacked themselves by The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins). On the April 15 episode of Raw, 3MB called out The Shield, only for Brock Lesnar to come out instead and attack the group. At the Night of Champions pre-show on September 15, 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater) competed in a number one contenders tag team turmoil match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, in which they were the last team eliminated by Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay and Tensai).

In late 2013, 3MB began adopting new ring names against their opponents, although their misfortunes and amounting losses remained the same. At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, Mahal competed in the Andr the Giant Memorial battle royal, but was eliminated by Mark Henry. In April, 3MB formed an alliance with Hornswoggle to feud with Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando). On June 12, WWE announced that Mahal was released from his WWE contract.

Independent circuit (2014-2016)

Dhesi wrestled for Reality of Wrestling (ROW) under the name Raj Singh at their summer iPPV, ROW Summer of Champions 2014, defeating Jasper Davis. On October 24 at All Star Wrestling (ASW) in Vancouver BC at the live event Fright Night Live, Singh teamed with his cousin Gama Singh Jr. to defeat Kyle Sebastian and Collin Cutler to win the ASW Tag Team Championship. Between 2014 and 2015, he appeared in Puerto Rican promotion the World Wrestling Council (WWC) against local star Ray Gonzalez. He also participated in Qatar Pro Wrestling (QPW) Souq Waqif Championship tournament in April 2015, where he ended up as first runner up. On May 5, Singh made his debut for Japanese promotion Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), losing to Wang Bin. In 2016, he also wrestled for The Great Khali's wrestling promotion Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) in India.

In a 2017 interview on Chris Jericho's Talk is Jericho podcast, Mahal revealed that he "hit rock bottom" during his time in the independent circuit. He also mentioned that he stopped drinking alcohol and began working out and eating cleaner, losing 20 pounds in the process, two months prior to WWE calling him to return.

Return to WWE

Teaming with Rusev (2016-2017)

On July 27, it was announced that Dhesi had re-signed with the WWE as Jinder Mahal. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Mahal returned to television alongside Heath Slater, demanding contracts until Raw General Manager Mick Foley informed the pair that they had to face each other in a match for a Raw contract, which Mahal won. Throughout the rest of the month on Raw, Mahal began losing to the likes of Neville, Sami Zayn and Darren Young. Mahal would then adopt the gimmick of a "man who comes in peace", advocating peace and tranquility. On the September 12 episode of Raw, Mahal stated that after he left WWE he "felt anger and rage" and had since "found inner peace" before defeating Jack Swagger. Afterwards, Mahal began competing on Main Event and Superstars, where he often traded wins and losses against Darren Young.

On the December 19 episode of Raw, a notably more lean and muscular Mahal began an alliance with Rusev after Mahal had a confrontation with Rusev's rival Enzo Amore before the two attacked Amore. On the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw, Mahal and Rusev defeated Amore's tag team partner Big Cass in a 2-on-1 handicap match. The following week on Raw, Mahal lost to Cass (who had Shawn Michaels at ringside) after Michaels performed the Sweet Chin Music on Rusev at ringside, which distracted Mahal.

On the February 27 episode of Raw, Mahal and Rusev began to show tension after Rusev inadvertently distracted Mahal, causing the two to lose to The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods). The alliance between Mahal and Rusev ended at Fastlane on March 5, when Mahal informed Raw General Manager Mick Foley about his desire to return to singles competition, prompting Foley to place the duo in singles matches that night and with both Mahal and Rusev losing their respective matches against Cesaro and Big Show. This was done due to Rusev suffering a legit shoulder injury.

WWE Champion (2017-2018)

</ref>|align=right|width=30%}} On the WrestleMania 33 kickoff show on April 3, Mahal was the runner-up in the Andre the Giant Memorial battle royal, being eliminated last by Mojo Rawley after interference from Rob Gronkowski. On the April 11 episode of SmackDown Live, it was revealed that Mahal had been drafted in the Superstar Shake-up and later that night, he lost to Rawley after another interference from Gronkowski to end their feud, but Mahal would defeat Rawley on the June 6 episode of SmackDown Live.

On the April 18 episode of SmackDown Live, Mahal won a six-pack challenge also involving Rawley, Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Sami Zayn to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship after interference from Mahal's new allies, The Singh Brothers (Samir and Sunil Singh). As part of the storyline, Mahal would confront and attack WWE Champion Randy Orton, taking the title belt and costing him his match with Bray Wyatt at the Raw brand's exclusive Payback event on April 30. On the May 2 episode of SmackDown Live, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon forced Mahal to return the title belt. Mahal would go on to defeat Sami Zayn later in the episode and pin Randy Orton in a six-man tag team match to earn his team the victory the following week on SmackDown. On May 21 at Backlash, Mahal defeated Orton to win the WWE Championship (his first championship in WWE) and became the 50th recognized WWE Champion, the first of Indian descent. After Mahal held a Punjabi celebration for his WWE Championship win, it was announced by SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon that Orton had invoked his rematch clause for Money in the Bank on June 18, where (with WWE Hall of Famers Bob Orton Jr., Ric Flair, and Sgt. Slaughter at ringside) Mahal defeated Orton in his first title defense. When an irate Orton demanded another match, McMahon granted it on the condition that Mahal would choose the stipulation, which was revealed to be a Punjabi Prison match. With Mahal referring to The Great Khali as his "personal hero" and thus ignoring their past animosity, Khali eventually made his return at Battleground on July 23 to help Mahal defeat Orton and retain the title.

On the August 15 episode of SmackDown Live, after Mahal lost to John Cena by disqualification, Money in the Bank winner Baron Corbin cashed in his Money in the Bank contract for a title match, but Mahal was able to pin Corbin with a roll-up to retain the title after Corbin attacked Cena. In the following weeks, Mahal started a feud with Shinsuke Nakamura over the championship, retaining the title against him at SummerSlam on August 20 after interference by The Singh Brothers. In a rematch between the two, which took place on October 8 at Hell in a Cell, Mahal once again defeated Nakamura to retain the title. In October, Mahal declared his intent to battle Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. However, Mahal lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles on the November 7 episode of SmackDown Live, ending his reign at 170 days. Mahal received his rematch for the title against Styles at Clash of Champions on December 17, but he lost by submission.

After Mahal lost his rematch, he continued his feud with Styles for the WWE Championship at live events throughout December and January. Mahal was also quickly inserted into the United States Championship picture after Dolph Ziggler vacated the title on the December 19 episode of SmackDown Live. An eight-man tournament was set up to crown a new champion and Mahal would compete in the tournament, defeating Tye Dillinger in the first round on the December 26 episode of SmackDown Live. On the January 16, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live, Mahal defeated Xavier Woods in the semi-finals and after Bobby Roode won his semi-final match against Mojo Rawley, The Singh Brothers attacked Roode, with Mahal taunting him, leading Roode to challenge Mahal to have the finals of the tournament to take place that night. Mahal would refuse, but SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan made the match official for the following week, where Mahal lost to Roode in the final. At the Royal Rumble on January 28, Mahal entered the Rumble match at number 17, eliminating Woods and Big E and before being eliminated by Kofi Kingston. On the January 30 episode of SmackDown Live, Mahal lost a fatal four-way match against Kingston, Rusev and Zack Ryder.

Championship pursuits (2018-present)

On the February 20 episode of SmackDown Live, Mahal would call out United States Champion Bobby Roode, which would result in a brawl between them and Randy Orton. In the following weeks, Mahal would defeat both Orton and Roode. At Fastlane on March 11, Mahal first appeared in the pre-show saying that he should be both the United States Champion and the number one conteneder and during the event came out to taunt Orton after he just won the United States Championship, but Roode then performed a Glorious DDT on both Mahal and Orton. On the 20 March episode of SmackDown Live, it was announced that Mahal would face Orton and Roode in a triple threat match for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 34. On the March 27 episode of SmackDown Live, he teamed with Rusev to defeat Roode and Orton, subsequently adding Rusev to the title match. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Mahal pinned Rusev to capture the United States Championship for the first time in his career. During the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Mahal was drafted back to Raw, taking the United States Championship with him. Soon after this, though, he lost the championship to Jeff Hardy ending his reign at eight days.

Other media

Mahal appears in WWE '13, WWE 2K14 (as a member of 3MB) and WWE 2K18.

Personal life

Dhesi is of Punjabi Jat Sikh origin and speaks Punjabi, Hindi and English. He is the nephew of wrestler Gama Singh, who is considered a legendary villain in the original Stampede Wrestling and who wrestled around the globe and also briefly for the then WWF (World Wrestling Federation, now known as WWE) in the 1980s. Dhesi also holds a business degree in communications and culture from University of Calgary.

Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Shaw Graham Sucha tabled three documents before the Assembly, formally congratulating Mahal for winning the WWE Championship.

Dhesi is friends with amateur wrestling champion and UFC fighter Arjan Bhullar.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Arm trap neckbreaker
  • Camel clutch
  • Full nelson slam
  • Khallas (Cobra clutch slam) - 2017-present
  • Sands of Time (Fireman's carry double knee gutbuster)
• Signature moves
  • Abdominal stretch
  • Body scissors
  • Chinlock
  • DDT
  • Double knee armbreaker
  • Double underhook suplex
  • Figure four leglock
  • Hangman
  • High knee
  • Knee lift
  • Low dropkick
  • Modified powerslam
  • Multiple knee drops
  • Neckbreaker
  • Reverse STO
  • Samoan drop
  • Scoop slam
  • Second rope overhead chop
  • Short-arm clothesline
  • Side kick
  • Superplex
• Managers
  • The Great Khali
  • The Singh Brothers(Sunil Singh)
• Nicknames
  • "The Enlightened One"
  • "The Man of Peace"
  • "The Modern Day Maharaja"
  • "The New American Dream"
• Entrance themes
  • "Main Yash Hun" by Jim Johnston (WWE)
  • "One Man Band" by Jim Johnston (WWE; used while a part of 3MB)
  • "More Than One Man" by Jim Johnston featuring TB5 (WWE; used while a part of 3MB)
  • "Panga Paijave" by Diljit Singh (IGF)
  • "Sher (Lion)" by Jim Johnston featuring Ali Kaz (WWE)

Championships and accomplishments

• All-Star Wrestling
  • ASW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Gama Singh Jr.
• Continental Wrestling Entertainment
  • CWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Prairie Wrestling Alliance
  • PWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Gama Singh Jr.
  • PWA Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2017)
  • Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2017)
  • Ranked No. #30 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
• Stampede Wrestling
  • Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Gama Singh Jr.
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Overrated (2017)
• WWE
  • WWE Championship (1 time)
  • WWE United States Championship (1 time)