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WWE is advertising Jinder Mahal defending the WWE Title against Shinsuke Nakamura for upcoming WWE Live Events for the SmackDown Live brand in July.
Randy Orton is not scheduled for these events, so it’s very possible that Nakamura could be filling in for Orton. We will keep you updated.
Taz opens today’s show speaking about the online fan criticism directed at Jinder Mahal after he captured the WWE Championship at Backlash last night. A lot of fans seem to be angry at Mahal’s meteoric rise to the top of the WWE roster, along with claiming that he must be taking steroids to have a body like he does.
Taz points out that steroids don’t make you a better professional wrestler, and he says PED use means nothing to him in professional sports. He’s not suggesting that people start using PEDs, but he couldn’t care less if people do choose to use them at a professional level.
He says that he doesn’t know Jinder Mahal at all, but he’ll defend any wrestler who has paid his/her dues over the years, and Mahal has certainly done that. After dealing with a plethora of terrible gimmicks and then eventually getting released, Mahal worked his ass off and made it all the way back to the top and he deserves a lot of credit for that.
As far as fans’ criticisms that Mahal came out of nowhere to win this Title, Taz says that’s not the case at all. Mahal has been wrestling for many years, starting in Canada before getting signed by WWE initially many years ago. He was released from WWE in 2014 and worked around the world at indie events before being resigned by WWE. His hard work paid off, and this win certainly didn’t out of nowhere.
Heading into Sunday’s WWE Backlash event, there was a huge shift in the betting odds for the WWE Championship match.
Randy Orton was originally the favorite to win his match against Jinder Mahal but is now a 7/4 underdog. As of this writing, Jinder is sitting at a 2/5 favorite to win the match on Sunday night.
With “smart money” bets still coming in, it’s still very possible for the odds to shift again before the event. Keep in mind, being the favorite doesn’t exactly mean Mahal is leaving the event as champion, as he could also win via DQ or count-out.
WWE announced on tonight’s episode of RAW that AJ Styles will face Jinder Mahal on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live. It was also announced that Randy Orton would face Baron Corbin.
Check back here tomorrow for live play-by-play coverage of the event.
While speaking to Pratyay Gosh, Jinder Mahal talked about how he was able to get into his current physical shape and revealed that consistency is the secret:
“The secret is consistency. I literally haven’t had a cheat meal in 3-4 months. I haven’t eaten anything I shouldn’t have. Even now, on the tour, I have my cooling bag with me and I carry 5 meals with me so that I eat every 2 hours. I eat 30/40 grammes of carbohydrates, 30/40 grammes of proteins with every meal. Then there’s cardio 6 days a week and weight training 6 days a week. I also became straight-edge. I also do a lot of Olympic compound movements. Then there are lots of basic squats, lots of push-ups and other exercises. Overall, from diet to exercise, I’m seeing good results. I’m going to keep getting in better shape because not only do I look better but I feel better. I feel better inside the ring in terms of stamina and endurance, which is important if I want to become WWE Champion and have long matches every night.”
While Mahal has denied steroid use in multiple interviews, Dave Meltzer noted back in January that he believes the WWE Superstar is juicing. He made the following remarks after an episode of RAW, where Mahal appeared way bigger than he previously did:
“Jinder Mahal then came out and my God! Jinder Mahal’s traps have grown incredibly. He’s shredded. He looks like, I mean … anyway, Jinder Mahal has changed his physique completely in like a couple weeks. And he’s got acne all over his back.”
Meltzer continued, “He is what he is and if this was USADA (the United States Anti-Doping Agency), he would probably be in trouble.”
