When it became clear that Jinder Mahal's WWE Championship reign wasn't making a difference to WWE Network subscriptions in India and was actually hurting SmackDown Live's ratings, the decision was made to have AJ Styles beat the Modern Day Maharajah for the title. As a result, The Phenomenal One wound up squaring off with Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series.
During a recent interview, Mahal made it clear that he's hoping his move to RAW - where he's currently feuding with The Big Dog, Roman Reigns - will lead to a match with The Beast down the line.
"Unfortunately, I lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles but I held the WWE Championship for 6 months. Many people thought that I would never hold the WWE Championship, let alone any Championship in WWE so I proved a lot of people wrong, but now that I moved to Raw, my goal is the WWE Universal Championship, but there is also many great competitors such as Roman Reigns, who I have my eyes on right now.
"He claims that Raw is his yard, I think differently. I think I am the most dominant superstar in WWE. Right before I lost my title match against AJ Styles for the WWE Championship I was going to face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, so now that I am on Raw that match is very possible for the Universal Championship. Other than that, Seth Rollins is the WWE Intercontinental Champion. I am excited to be on Raw and I look forward to holding more championships."
Mahal lost the United States Championship to Jeff Hardy during his first night on RAW and with speculation running rampant that the plan is for Reigns to face Lesnar for the Universal title yet again, chances are Mahal is only being used to make him look strong in the build-up to that bout.