2023 saw AEW President Tony Khan have his fair share of social media meltdowns as part of his seemingly one-sided beef with WWE. While he refrained from calling anyone a "bald a**hole" last month (which is how he previously described Triple H and Shawn Michaels), he did set his sights on the USA Network...and Jinder Mahal.
It started when pro wrestling pundit Raj Giri shared his take on Mahal getting a seemingly random World Heavyweight Championship match against Seth Rollins on RAW. He pointed out that the two have history seeing as Rollins beat Mahal to become the inaugural NXT Champion, prompting the USA Network account to ask, "What was the cagematch rating?"
This was a blatant shot at Khan as he's been known, on countless occasions, to cite ratings on that site while discussing the popularity of AEW matches.
He went on a tangent about Mahal going a year without winning a match and questioned why fans were fine with that, but not with Hook getting similar treatment after a winning streak. Khan once again found himself being ridiculed for his fanboy-like whining but Mahal himself has now weighed in.
"I think Tony Khan is forgetting I'm the Modern Day Maharaja, former WWE Champion, and being a former WWE Champion, I should be number one contender anytime I want," he told The Gorilla Position. "The Royal Rumble happened a week after that. If you notice, I wasn't in it because I didn't feel there was a need. The Modern Day Maharaja wants a title match, he can just get one."
"It's okay. Overall, it's great. It caused a lot of buzz, and I appreciate the competition because it makes everybody better."
Elsewhere in the conversation, Mahal reflected on working with The Rock during a memorable RAW segment which would eventually lead to the Hollywood A-Lister returning to WWE for what looks to be a full-time role heading into this April's WrestleMania.
"[It was] unbelievable. Obviously, he’s now a board member, so he brings a different side of entertainment to WWE. I believe it’s only going to make us bigger. Coincides with RAW moving to Netflix next year. It’s an amazing time. An amazing time for the company. We’re exploring uncharted territory in terms of growth."
"All of us performers in the locker room are super excited. Dwayne is a very giving performer. Based off my experience, he’s always been super helpful," the Modern Day Maharaja added. "Anytime he’s there on RAW or SmackDown, he hangs out after. He’s super approachable, he gets along with everybody."
We haven't seen much of Mahal since and, as he points out above, there was no sign of him in the Royal Rumble. It's strange when he was in a title match last month, but it could be WWE simply needed him for a very specific role rather than as part of any longterm storytelling plans.