39-year-old star’s WWE championship win at WrestleMania was a last-minute decision

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Now, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal has revealed that a similar thing happened to him heading into WrestleMania 34. Mahal featured in a Fatal 4-Way match against Bobby Roode, Randy Orton, and Rusev for the United States championship at the showpiece event.

Speaking to TMZ’s Inside The Ring, Mahal said he wasn’t even supposed to be in the match and was a late addition.

“That match actually came to fruition very late. It was originally supposed to be Randy vs. Bobby Roode, one-on-one for the United States Championship. Somehow, I weaseled my way into that match. I believe it was Randy because he was dealing with some back or some knee issues, and just to kind of make it easier on him, they added me to the match. And Rusev had gone super over with the ‘Rusev Day,’ and it made a ton of sense to put him in the match,” he said.

Jinder Mahal mentioned that Rusev was the big favorite heading into the match due to his popularity, and nobody expected him to come out on top instead. He said he only found out that he was winning the US title on the day of the show.

“Rusev was the heavy, heavy favorite. I don’t think anybody expected me to win. I actually found out that I was going to win that day,” he added.

Jinder Mahal open to one last match in WWE

Jinder Mahal returned to WWE in 2016, two years after being released by the promotion. His second run proved to be more successful as he won the WWE and US championships.

But eight years later, he was released once again from the company. During the discussion on Inside The Ring, he said that he isn’t satisfied with how his time with the sports entertainment giant came to an end.

He said it happened suddenly after he wasn’t used on TV for weeks. Mahal said he would be open to a return to do a Loser Leaves Town match to close the book on his WWE career.

If you use quotes from this article, please credit TMZ’s Inside The Ring and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.

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