On a recent episode of the “TMZ Inside The Ring” podcast, former WWE Champion Raj Dhesi (fka Jinder Mahal) opened up about his viral segment with The Rock on the Day 1 2024 episode of WWE Raw.
Dhesi gave fans a full behind-the-scenes account of how the moment came together, from finding out about the surprise to rehearsing with The Great One himself.
At the time, Dhesi revealed that he wasn’t being used on WWE television and was home in Canada, having just gotten engaged days earlier. After WWE teased the return of a “former WWE Champion,” he assumed it was someone else. “I knew it wasn’t me returning. I knew someone else was. I’m trying to do the math, just for my own sake… is Big E coming back? Is it Goldberg?”
That’s when he received a call from a WWE writer. “When I landed, I called the writer, and he told me, he’s like, ‘Hey, so you probably seen on Twitter a former WWE Champion, yes, it’s gonna be you and… it’s gonna be The Rock,’” Dhesi recalled. “But hey, kayfabe, super kayfabe, don’t tell anybody anything. And I didn’t tell anybody anything. Actually, I didn’t even tell my fiancée.”
Dhesi revealed that The Rock personally chose him for the spot. “So Rock told me he picked me,” he said.
The preparation process included working with The Rock’s longtime writer Brian Gewirtz and even rehearsing at The Rock’s hotel hours before the show.
Dhesi admitted he wasn’t fully memorized, unlike Rock. “Rock had actually his part already memorized. I was a little bit embarrassed, because let’s rehearse, and I hadn’t really memorized the script. So I’m referring to the page… I have a real big problem doing that, so I just need bullet points. But I told them, like, ‘Guys, I promise in the ring, I’ll have it.’”
Looking back, Dhesi believes he more than held his own against the Hollywood megastar. “Yeah, definitely… I feel like I out-promo’ed The Rock.”
Check out the complete interview below:
