What’s Going On Between WWE Star Jinder Mahal, AEW’s Tony Khan?
Jinder Mahal is set for a big push, and a back-and-forth exchange involving AEW president Tony Khan helped the WWE superstar go viral on social media.
On this week’s episode of “RAW,” Mahal challenged Seth Rollins for his WWE world heavyweight title. There is no confirmed date for the match, but it put the former WWE champion back in the main event scene for the first time since 2018.
Rollins and Mahal have a history going years back to their NXT days, and the official account for USA Network, which broadcasts “RAW” and “NXT,” on Monday posted, “What was the Cagematch rating?”
Cagematch is a popular online wrestling database where users can rate wrestlers, matches and shows, similar to IMDB. Khan last month in a “Worlds End” media call touted AEW’s and Ring of Honor’s high Cagematch ratings as barometers for success. Khan took the USA Network post as an indirect target at AEW, which is broadcast by Warner Bros. Discovery.
“A moral victory for USA is one win more than their World Title challenger Jinder Mahal has in the past 364 days … because it’s been literally a full year since he won a match,” Khan posted on X on Tuesday. “You really put AEW in our place getting Jinder Mahal in a big match on your tv show. Do it more often.”
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AEW wrestler Hook, who is the son of ECW legend Taz, last week issued a challenge to AEW champion Samoa Joe. Fans felt it was odd to compare Hook to Mahal, but Khan also had a response to that.
“A double standard: (Hook), 28-1 career record, on winning streak calls out the Champ, a logical challenge sparks online outrage,” Khan said. “Jinder has literally lost every single match he’s in for the past year, immediately gets title shot, where is the rage.”
Khan added in a plug for “Dynamite” on Wednesday, and his social media activity tends to be his indirect way of promoting his show. His posts caught the attention of Mahal.
“Who tf is Hook?” Mahal posted Tuesday in a now-deleted tweet, per Sportskeeda.
The 37-year-old added in his own plug for “RAW.”
WWE fans immediately went to Mahal’s defense posting nostalgia clips of the veteran’s title largely maligned title run. His spotlight also came a week after his in-ring segment with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson where the returning legend made easy work of the former WWE champion before calling out universal champion and real-life cousin Roman Reigns. Mahal later challenged The Rock to a match in India.
Mahal’s match with Rollins likely will occur at “Royal Rumble” this month. Hook’s challenge against Joe could be answered by the champion this week.