Former WWE Star Jinder Mahal Recalls 'Huge Red Flag' Toward The End Of His Run

At the beginning of this year, things began looking up for Jinder Mahal in WWE. The dormant wrestler had a promo segment with The Rock and was booked for a title match, challenging Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship on "WWE Raw." However, following the match, Mahal was again put on the backburner before soon being released. Appearing on "Busted Open Radio," Mahal revealed the first sign after the match with Rollins that things may not be trending upward for him.

"So we did the match with Seth and we got a lot of buzz," Mahal said. "After that, it was back to nothing. The Royal Rumble was actually one week after that and I wasn't in the Royal Rumble. That was a huge red flag to me at that time, and was kind of an indication that maybe I wasn't going to be used."

Mahal revealed that he pitched for himself to enter the annual battle royale in the number 30 slot, which would make him the last man to enter the match. Instead, Mahal was relegated to live events and "WWE Main Event." He had just one televised match after that, taking part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale on the April 5 edition of "WWE SmackDown." Mahal was then released later that month, with the news first emerging during an episode of "SmackDown."

This past weekend, Mahal made his return to independent wrestling, performing in GCW under the name Raj Dhesi. Looking back on his lengthy stint with WWE, the wrestler has no regrets.

"That's the thing with WWE — you get many opportunities and sometimes you have missed opportunities," Mahal continued. "It's all good. I had a great time there and I have very close friends that work there. I still support them. I watch the product and it's amazing."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.