Jinder Mahal: Getting Released Was The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me

– Jinder Mahal recently appeared on Talk is Jericho (transcript via wrestlinginc.com), here are the highlights…

On The Formation of 3MB: “I came to TV. I can’t remember where we were. Right when I got to the building, I see Heath Slater. He’s like, ‘man, I just had a meeting with Vince [McMahon]. I’m going to get my own band!’ [Mahal asked], ‘who’s going to be in it?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, man.’ Johnny Curtis wasn’t Fandango at the time and he was coming to TV. Surprisingly enough, Dean Ambrose was coming to TV. [Slater said], ‘well, maybe Ambrose’ not knowing that [he was going to The Shield]. They had other plans for him. And I jokingly said, ‘watch, I’ll be in the band.’ Completely joking! So Drew McIntyre is my best friend. He’s like my brother, so I was hanging around Drew ringside and one of the writers called him over, Kevin Eck. Kevin Eck calls Drew over and I just stumble down the hall, ‘oh, I’m going to go to catering.’ I come in the hallway and I see Scotty, Scott Armstrong, ‘oh, Scotty, the card’s out. What do I got?’ And I think it was Heath Slater versus Brodus Clay with Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, and Rhyno. The plan was a Milli Vanilli type [of lip-syncing situation]. I think even Vince was like, ‘we’re going to do that where you guys get caught lip-syncing’ or whatever like that.” Mahal continued, “at the same time, like, a week or two later, [The] Shield came and the attention was sort of shifted. I remember even at one time, we went to RAW and we weren’t booked and they were like, ‘Vince only wants one three-man group.’ They were like, ‘oh, you guys will be on SmackDown.’ We weren’t on SmackDown. We were on Superstars.”

On Losing Motivation & His Release: “I just kind of lost motivation, looking back now, which I never should have done. It should have motivated me more, but if you look at the shape I was in when I debuted, like, I was kind of like how I am now. I was ripped, veins everywhere. I was in good shape.” Mahal admitted, “looking back it was one of my biggest regrets. I obviously got released. Looking back now, I would have fired me. Like, I didn’t care. I was miserable. It was completely different at that time. I feel like everyone around me was just like miserable in the locker room.” Mahal explained, “every week, it was like 3MB, it was nothing that was going to be positive or fun. It was ‘go do something embarrassing.’ Do you know what I mean? So I was just so unmotivated. I don’t know. I was just in a bad place.”

On His Release Being a Relief: “Yeah, [being released was a relief], but, at the same time, it still sucks because this is my dream and all I ever wanted to do, but, at the same time, there was a little bit of, ‘oh, I don’t have to go to TV anymore.'” Mahal professed, “looking back now, or in five years or 10 years, I’m going to look back and be like, ‘do you know what? Getting released was the best thing that ever happened to me because: a) I got into real estate; b) I kicked myself out and got remotivated. Like, to think, if I was still in that slump from 3MB till now, like, I’d be dead! You can’t maintain that! I would be shot. There’s no way I could do that, be that miserable, be living like that for that long, so it’s almost the best thing that happened to me.”

On How He Spends His Nights: “I behave. I lock myself in my hotel room every night. And so yeah, it’s a complete 360º [turn], or 180º [turn], or whatever it is. 180 from whatever I was doing before.” Mahal continued, “I mostly drive alone or I ride with Gallows and Anderson, even when I’m home alone I listen to like CT Fletcher or like Eric Thomas, ET, just stuff to motivate me. Yeah, positive, or I listen Grant Cardone audiobooks just being positive and it’s weird. It’s kind of like The Secret. I haven’t read The Secret, but I know what it’s about, just having positive energy around you and being positive and things start happening. I’m really, honestly, a firm believer of this. Like who would have thought?”