Raj Dhesi Names His Top Three Moments In WWE, His Success After He Returned

Raj Dhesi recently named his top three moments from his time in WWE as Jinder Mahal and how he turned his career around after his WWE release. Dhesi was released from the company back in 2014 for the first time. At the time of his release, he was in the infamous 3MB stable alongside Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater.

Dhesi returned in July of 2016 as Mahal and won the WWE Championship nine months later, a reign that lasted 169 days. Dhesi spoke about how he put himself in a position to come back and more in his appearance on TMZ Inside the Ring. You can see the highlights below:

On His Favorite Moments In WWE:

“The Gold Rush tournament, myself and Seth Rollins for the first-ever NXT Championship. Seth Rollins won that night, became the first ever NXT champion. But wow, to be introed by Howard Finkel, and have Dusty Rhodes out there ringside? And that was actually my first time in the main event scene. It was NXT, but nonetheless in a main event spot. We had a three-segment match, a main event-style match.

“Number two, WeeLC when I was in 3MB, Hornswoggle versus Eli Torito. [chuckles] An iconic moment, iconic match. And then number three, obviously winning the WWE Championship after being released, coming back, reinventing myself, and reaching the pinnacle of our sport — I love to call WWE a sport, because that’s what it is. To me, it’s the perfect intersection of sports and art. And that was my favorite moment.”

On What Made Him Successful In His Return:

“I really believe it was because of the release. That gave me fuel. I was really looking at starting a different career outside of wrestling. Or the option — it was the two streets splitting. One version of my life I was leaving wrestling, and the other one was just me going all in. And I decided just to go all in. Stopped drinking, reinvented myself, hired a bodybuilding coach, and really just worked on improving every single week, every single match, every single promo.

“And it really compounded over the year. It took me 10 months from the time that I came back to become WWE Champion. And I remember going on a European tour when I was the #1 contender. It was two weeks before Backlash. And I remember telling Fit Finley that every match we’re going to get a little bit better. ‘Tell me what to improve on, I’m going to implement those changes. And at the end of two weeks, I want to go back a completely different superstar.’ Every night I got promo time. And I really made it a point just to continue to get better. Every appearance, every night.”

On If He Got Motivated Right Away After His Release:

No, there was definitely a time that I didn’t know what I was going to do. Coming out of WWE when you get released, for a certain period of time you’re consistently booked. And the more you were on WWE television, the more money you can make on the independent scene, and there’s more of a demand. That demand for that 3MBB version of Jinder Mahal was drying out rather quickly — and again, that was because of myself. Drew did a really good job of reinventing himself and using the internet, and using social media promos, and ICW in Scotland and Evolve here in the United States. He did an incredible job.

“I actually did the opposite. I was kind of just working indies and not posting what I was doing, because I was low-key a little bit embarrassed. And right near the end of my tenure of being unemployed, about a month out… one day I woke up with a hangover. I never got hangovers. I would drink all the time and not get hangovers. This one time I got a hangover. Then I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to take a break.’ And then I just started training again and I just felt good. And initially I didn’t plan on quitting drinking. It’s been over a decade now, but it was just going to be a break. And I just continued to feel better. And then within one month, WWE had called me back. Mark Carano called me back and said, ‘We need two separate rosters on Raw and Smackdown. Would you like to come back?'”

On Not Being Brought Back For a Push:

“And again, I wasn’t brought back to become WWE Champion. I was just brought back to fill roster space, essentially. But that was the opportunity that I needed. I had so many regrets from my first run, that I didn’t take it seriously. I’m a firm believer that wherever you are in life, it’s because of you. You are 100% in charge of your destiny; you are in control of your destiny. So, when I took ownership of my life, my career, that’s when I excelled.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit TMZ Inside The Ring with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.