Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship run almost never happened, and not because of a creative change. It nearly got wiped out before it even started after one rough spot with Finn Balor on Raw.
During TMZ’s Inside the Ring, Mahal was asked about a big WWE near miss from his career. Instead of talking about a match that got scrapped or a storyline that fell apart, he brought up the night he accidentally gave Balor a concussion right before his career took off.
Mahal said the match happened just one week before he was drafted to SmackDown, which became the move that led to his WWE Championship run. The spot was nothing new either. He and Balor had done it plenty of times on live events, but this time the timing was off.
“Actually, it was one week before getting drafted to SmackDown, before I became WWE Champion. It was myself and Finn Balor in a singles match on Raw, and I accidentally gave him a concussion. He was coming off the ropes, I gave him a forearm. We would do this spot every night on the live events as a hope spot. He would come off the ropes, I would give him a forearm, but it was just mistiming.”
That one mistake could have changed everything. Mahal said wrestling is that tight, where being off by even a little can turn into something serious.
“Wrestling is a game of millimeters. If you’re a millimeter off, you could end your career. You could have a broken neck, or anything can happen. A serious injury.”
Mahal said he felt awful about hurting Balor, but the real shock came when he got backstage. Vince McMahon was waiting in Gorilla, and he did not exactly pat him on the back.
“I gave Finn Balor that concussion. Felt terrible. When I came into Gorilla, Vince told me himself, ‘I should fire you.’”
That line had to hit hard. Mahal was already trying to rebuild himself after getting another WWE chance, and one accident almost ended the whole thing right there. The crazy part is what happened next. WWE did not fire him. A week later, Mahal went to SmackDown. One week after that, he became number one contender. About a month later, he was WWE Champion.
“That would, again, change the trajectory of my life, because a week later I went to SmackDown, and a week after that I was number one contender, and a month after, I was WWE Champion. Everything could have ended had I came back to Gorilla and then they said, ‘You’re fired.’ It was very possible.”
Mahal’s title run is still debated years later, but this story shows how close it came to never happening at all. One bad forearm, one concussion, and one angry Vince McMahon could have erased the whole thing before WWE ever put the title on him.
Instead, Mahal survived the scare and ended up with the biggest push of his career. That is the kind of WWE story that sounds insane until you remember how fast everything can change backstage.
Do you think WWE made the right call by keeping Jinder Mahal after that Finn Balor incident? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments section below.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
