The former WWE Champion is willing to go to AEW if it makes sense.
Surprisingly, Raj Dhesi (Jinder Mahal in WWE) was released from his contract in April 2024. Though he wasn’t in a prominent role before his release, Dhesi had a featured segment with The Rock and was in a WWE Championship match against Seth Rollins weeks before his release.
It ended a lengthy tenure with the company and the 39-year-old has been working the independent scene ever seen. Notably, before his release, Raj got into a little spat with AEW President Tony Khan. Raj has talked about his response to Tony Khan’s viral tweet and he’s stated numerous times that there was no hard feelings towards the AEW President.
But would Raj work in AEW? If the right story came along.
During his interview with TMZ’s Inside the Ring, the former WWE star talked about the possibility of going to AEW and he’s definitely open to it if the right opportunity presents itself.
“Not on that end, but I would have to see if the business makes sense. What’s the storyline? Is there a plan for me or am I just coming to do nothing? It’s not a good feeling when you get paid every week and you’re not earning it. I’m past that point in my life and career. Whatever I do, I want to do something next level, whether it’s in wrestling, business, or something else. I don’t want to just coast anymore. Of course, I’d be open to it, but it would have to make sense on a financial level, a storyline level, a creative level; all things have to make sense,”
He’s also willing to go back to WWE. Of course, like AEW, it just has to make sense. Anything is certainly possible, but Dhesi doesn’t particularly fit the AEW style. He is a name so it wouldn’t be too surprising if he popped up there sometime though. Nevertheless, the former WWE star has been pretty active on the independent scene since his release.
Though he hasn’t worked for any of the big companies, Dhesi has competed in MLP, Black Label Pro, and WSW. The former WWE star seems to be perfectly happy with what he's doing currently, so it doesn’t seem that he needs to be in a big name promotion. He recently competed at Top Talent Wrestling’s KDays Slamfest against Mo Jabari. Desi picked up the win.