What did Triple H have to say about Jinder Mahal’s push into the WWE main event scene on SmackDown Live?
It’s been a while since Triple H’s WWE role expanded to backstage duties, along with taking on one of the highest positions in the company. This has seen him bring in new talents, create NXT and work to create a new generation of WWE programming.
However much this can be attributed to the Game is unknown, but recently, Jinder Mahal received a surprisingly significant boost on SmackDown Live. This saw Mahal win a No. 1 Contender’s match for the WWE Championship, which he’ll get to go for at the Backlash pay-per-view on May 21.
In an interview with For The Win, Triple H spoke about Mahal’s push, explaining the reasoning behind it. He also went in detail on what he told Mahal and Drew McIntyre, who recently returned to WWE, in 2014, and how they’ve come back. It makes for an interesting read, beyond this quote:
"“From the second he’s been back it’s been, ‘What else can I do to make this work? What else can I do to improve? What else can I do to get to the next level?’ It takes time. You bring people back, you let them get their feet wet a bit, you make sure they’ve matured in the way you want them to and move from there. I think fans or people who watch we do, they think it’s a matter of, ‘This guy is there so why don’t they do something with him?’ It’s a more complex process than that and a lot goes into it. But I’m happy for a guy like him — whether it was because of him or whatever reason it didn’t work out on the first pass through — to be able to come back and do it again.”"
This quote from Triple H comes after the Wrestling Observer reported the reason for Mahal’s push, being WWE wanted to capitalize on popularity in India. Maybe these two tie hand in hand, or one’s truer than the other. Whatever the case may be, it’s leading to an increased role for Mahal, which will continue to develop until Backlash.
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There are four episodes of SmackDown Live left before Mahal’s WWE Championship match, so we’ll see how far the company goes with establishing him. Then, the real test will be at the May PPV, which may dictate if this is just a one-off, or a start or something bigger.