Jinder Mahal
| Jinder Mahal | |
|---|---|
Mahal in 2015
|
|
| Birth name | Yuvraj Singh Dhesi |
| Born |
July 19, 1986 Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Calgary |
| Family | Gama Singh (uncle) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Jinder Mahal Raj Dhesi Raj Singh Tiger Raj Singh |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Billed weight | 255 lb (116 kg) |
| Billed from | Punjab, India |
| Trained by |
Allen Coage Gama Singh Gerry Morrow Rick Bognar |
| Debut | 2003 |
Yuvraj "Raj" Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986), better known by the ring name Jinder Mahal, is a Canadian professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.
Dhesi began his professional wrestling career at the Martial Arts Fitness Center in Calgary, Alberta training with Rick Bognar and Premier Martial Arts Wrestling (PMW) working as Raj Dhesi. He then went on to train with Allen Coage and Gerry Morrow. He worked for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance, where he was the PWA Champion from 2008 until January 2010, and also he is three time tag team champion. Dhesi also competed for Great North Wrestling (GNW), where he feuded with such wrestlers as Samoa Joe and Hannibal.
He decided to start training to become a WWE wrestler. He traveled to Tampa, Florida, to try out for WWE's developmental promotion Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). At the try out Steve Keirn, Pat Patterson and Mike Rotunda saw him wrestle but Dhesi thinks that what sold him to the WWE was his ability to speak Punjabi and his authentic costume like his turban. He remembers that, "I think they needed an Indian guy, they were looking for one." In early 2010, he was signed to a developmental contract with FCW.
Dhesi made his televised WWE debut on the April 29, 2011 episode of SmackDown under the ring name Jinder Mahal, greeting fellow Indian wrestler The Great Khali and his manager, Ranjin Singh, backstage. During the segment, Mahal spoke in Punjabi that he was really happy and excited to see Khali and Ranjin. On their part, both of them were happy too. The next week, 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 heel. Mahal interrupted a Khali Kiss Cam segment the following week, slapping Khali twice. On the May 20 episode of SmackDown, Mahal interrupted Khali's match against Jey Uso, leading to Khali confronting Mahal. 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. After the match, Khali walked away from Mahal, ending their alliance. On the September 16 episode of SmackDown, Mahal attacked Khali during his match with Heath Slater which Khali won. On the September 23 episode of SmackDown, Khali defeated Mahal in a singles match, thus suffering his first loss in a singles match. On the October 14 episode of SmackDown, Mahal competed in the largest Battle Royal in WWE history, a 41-man Battle Royal, where Mahal made it to the final three before being eliminated by Randy Orton.
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