‘I Really Did Myself A Disservice In Building That Genuine Fan Connection’ – Former WWE Star Raj Dhesi (Jinder Mahal) Thinks He Should Have Opened Up About His Personal Life More On Social Media, Rather Than Trying To Protect His Heel Character

WWE

Former WWE star Raj Dhesi (Jinder Mahal) believes Netflix’s WWE Unreal and social media can be great tools to blend storylines with real life in wrestling, with the latter being something he wishes he had utilized more in his own career.

It has now been just over two years since Raj Dhesi was released by WWE, with the 39-year-old departing as a former WWE Champion and United States Champion.

While Dhesi reached the very top of WWE during this second run in the company, he spent the entirety of his tenure as a heel, with fans not getting to see any other sides to his character.

Despite only two years passing, there now exists more ways for fans to get to know their favorite WWE superstars behind the scenes, with Netflix’s WWE Unreal peeling back the curtain to show the inner workings of the company’s product and the lives of some of its biggest names.

While WWE Unreal has had it’s fair share of critics given how it “exposes the wrestling business,” Dhesi explained during an appearance on Busted Open that he feels the show is instead a “great tool to move the business forward”:

“The way that I see the business going, and even what it is today, the best storylines are blending what’s happening slash happened in your real life and bringing that somehow on screen. That’s why I really believe Unreal is such a great tool to move the business forward.

“I know everybody has their opinion on it, some people disagree entirely with pulling the curtain back and exposing the business. The business has been exposed. It’s fine, we all know what it is. It’s the intersection of art and sports, it’s the perfect intersection.

“Now through that show, you can share struggles. Really build that personal connection and bring those into storylines or maybe you plant a storyline within Unreal – everything is a work anyway. You plant something in Unreal and then bring it into Raw and it moves the needle forward.”

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Dhesi also believes social media is a great way for wrestlers to show different sides to themselves away from WWE TV and is something he should have tapped into way more during his run in the company:

“With social media especially, wrestlers can show a different side of themselves, they can be vulnerable. And that’s one thing I’ve really learned lately: how important it is to build that connection.

“Because for years I was stuck under this misconception that I need to protect my wrestling character: I’m a heel, I shouldn’t post my personal life on social media. I should have figured out a way to do that creatively because I really did myself a disservice in building that genuine fan connection, and that’s something I’m building now.

“A lot of people have never heard me speak or share my opinion and sometimes they hear it and they’re shocked like, ‘Wow, you’re actually intelligent or have an opinion’ because all they saw was this heel character for so many years. And going forward in the future, the Gen Z crowd they love that connection, they love real stories.”

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• raj dhesi
• wwe
• Jinder Mahal

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