Heath Slater Wishes Jinder Mahal Had Gotten a Year With the WWE Championship

– Heath Slater discussed Jinder Mahal losing his WWE Championship to AJ Styles on this week’s Smackdown, opening his own school and more in a new interview with Wrestling Inc. Highlights are below:

On Jinder Mahal losing his WWE Championship to AJ Styles: “I didn’t see it, but I heard about it. And I mean, WWE Champion for six months, heck yeah! I mean, why not? And he lost to ‘The Phenomenal One’ and as you know, AJ’s great and I’m sure it was an awesome match and I will watch it. But yeah, it was a damn shame because I was hoping he would go for a year with it.”

On the title changing hands on Smackdown for the first time since 2003: “Nothing surprises me anymore if you want me to be honest. It’s one of those things where I’m sure the world was surprised and happy, because Jinder is a great heel. Anything can happen in the WWE that’s just how it is, that’s what makes it fun and spontaneous and unpredictable. You just never know.”

On opening his own wrestling school: “Every wrestler always has the idea of wanting to have his own school. So pretty much it just came to me when I first walked into the first school I went to. Getting to learn the basics, seeing how it’s run, and then it’s one of those things where you just want one yourself one day. That’s how it happened with me, I always wanted one, that’s what it is. I’ve always wanted one and know I’ve got one, so I’m happy.”

On how far the school has progressed: “Right now we have kids coming in at the end of November, December, and then like four signing up next year. So right now we have six in there, doing their thing, but we should have around 12 or 13 by the start of next year, something like that. So it’s going, but I mean it always starts out slow. You gotta it noticed and have people hear about it and when they hear about it, they get interested and when they get interested, they might want to do it. So it’s just one of those things.”