Jinder Mahal On Poorly Received Shinsuke Nakamura Promo, Becoming Top Contender ‘Out Of Nowhere’

Ahead of his WWE Championship Match against Shinsuke Nakamura this Sunday at WWE Hell in a Cell, Jinder Mahal spoke to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. Here a few highlights from the interview:

Becoming WWE Champion:

“There was originally no plan in place for me to become WWE champion. It felt like I became the number one contender out of nowhere. I call what I did forcing the results. I wasn’t happy with my position. I was putting in the work, but I wasn’t getting the results. I was going to force the result no matter what the cost.”

His panned promo on Shinsuke Nakamura last month that some perceived to be racist:

“Every day in WWE is also an opportunity. I have to rise to the occasion every time I am given that opportunity, and that includes every promo on SmackDown, too.”

Samir Singh’s nasty bump during the Punjabi Prison match in July:

“I kept watching him go higher and higher when he was fighting off Randy Orton, and when I thought he’d already went too high, he went one ring even higher. Then he hit the table real, real hard. Ultimately, they’ll tell you there is no price too high to pay for the Maharaja.”

Jinder also discussed his relationship with Bret Hart, how far he goes back with The Singh Brothers, wanting revenge on Rob Gronkowski and more. You can read the full interview here.