Road Dogg Recalls Brock Lesnar Ending WWE’s Jinder Mahal ‘Summer Experiment’

WWE

Former WWE writer and producer ‘Road Dogg’ Brian James has recalled Brock Lesnar refusing to work with Jinder Mahal ahead of Survivor Series 2017.

In the lead-up to the pay-per-view, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal called out Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, but was defeated by AJ Styles under two weeks out from the event.

Styles went on to face Lesnar in a champion vs champion bout, and Mahal ultimately didn’t compete at Survivor Series.

Speaking with Sportskeeda Wrestling, Brian James stated that he believed Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship push was a ‘summer experiment’.

Noting that Lesnar refused to work with Mahal, James said:

“Brock said, ‘I’m not working with him.’ Look, he said that about several people, by the way.”

When asked if he thought Mahal was capable of working with Lesnar, James said:

“I don’t think so. Brock’s on another level. And so if you get somebody else that’s on, like, I don’t know that he’s on another level in a way where he could carry a Jinder Mahal title match and make it look competitive. I don’t know that he’s on that level.

“But yeah, I don’t think Jinder could do it. You call it an experiment, Chris. And I honestly think it was a summer experiment. And when Brock came back and said, ‘Okay, what are we going to do?’ We’ll do whatever we want to until Brock comes back, and then we’ll get the title on somebody to work with and we’ll have a main event match.

“Look, I don’t think just like I think the fans kind of viewed it, it wasn’t a great creative decision. I fought it as hard as I could. But that was the decision that was made. He was going to be champion. Now look to Vince’s point, we dressed him up and put those Bollywood Boys with him and we did everything we could do and looked beautiful on television. It didn’t have any substance, you know.”

Addressing the theory that Vince McMahon made Mahal WWE Champion to appeal to the Indian market, James said:

“Look, that’s what I assumed. I know what happens when you assume but that’s what I assumed and I don’t think that’s a bad idea. You know what I mean? What if it took off?

“What if it did something at the biggest market on the globe? You know what I mean? Like it’s not a bad roll of the dice because ratings were still pretty decent during it all because we did have other great stuff underneath.”

Lesnar recently challenged for Roman Reigns’ Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the main event of SummerSlam 2022.

Stay up to date with WWE win/loss records for 2022 using our tracker right here.

Transcription via WrestlingNews.co.

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• Brock Lesnar
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