Jinder Mahal Says Vince McMahon Told Him He Will Be Champion Again

After riding high throughout 2017, 2018 has been a bit of an up and down year for Jinder Mahal.

The former WWE champion lost the belt prior to Survivor Series last year, a match that was at one time planned to be a triple threat between he, AJ Styles, and Brock Lesnar. Instead, Styles won the title prior to Survivor Series during a SmackDown taping in the U.K., shocking the world in the process.

Jinder addressed being dropped from that big Survivor Series match, as well as the outlook for his future, during a recent appearance on the Sam Roberts wrestling podcast.

“I wasn’t worried at all. A lot of people say, ‘It’s disappointing you got the push.’ No, I didn’t get the push, I made the push. I believe that every WWE superstar is in charge 100 percent of his own destiny. It’s up to me. You know, you drop the title, you win the title, but that’s part of the storyline. That match I had with AJ [Styles], even though I lost the title, it’s like I lost the match, I really did win. I had an awesome outing, awesome match, came back and got a big hug from Vince,” Mahal said.

It was widely assumed (and reported) that Mahal’s push coincided with WWE’s ambitions of expansion in India. However, when disappointing ticket sales forced the cancellation of one of the India shows back in December, Mahal quickly found himself without the championship belt. However, Mahal said that he sees himself as WWE champion again in the future, and perhaps more surprisingly, told Roberts that McMahon himself told him that another title reign is in his future.

Right now, Mahal finds himself in a U.S. title feud with Randy Orton and Bobby Roode. Asked whether he sees that as a demotion from his prior spot on the card, Mahal was quick to answer.

“No, it’s not. It’s the United States Championship. I’m still on SmackDown, on the live events I’m still in a main, main spot, and that’s up to me to maintain that level. You know, maintain that level of performance, and that’s 100 percent up to me. If you see me fall down the card, it’s my own fault. If I’m staying at this level, it’s because of the hard work that I’m doing and I ultimately will become WWE Champion again. I 100 percent believe that,” Mahal responded.

[H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcript.]