‘A dream doesn’t transform into reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work’ – Colin Powell

Commonly known as Jinder Mahal, Yuvraj Singh Dhesi is an Indo-Canadian professional wrestler who performs on the SmackDown Brand under WWE. He won WWE Championship 2017 over Randy Orton at Backlash becoming the 50th WWE Champion and the first wrestler of Indian descent to win the title.





Initial Days





Born on July 19, 1986, at Calgary, Canada, Dhesi is of Punjabi Jat Sikh origin. He grew up in a wrestling family as the nephew of Stampede Wrestling legend Gama Singh who inspired him to begin his professional wrestling career at Martial Arts Fitness Centre in Calgary, training with Rick Bognar.





He debuted in Premier Martial Arts Wrestling (PMW) as Raj Dhesi alongside fellow wrestlers like Natalya Neidhart, Tyson Kidd, and Viktor. As Tiger Raj Singh he won various tag team championships in Stampede and Prairie Wrestling Alliance (PWA).





‘The journey of thousand miles began with single steps’- From WWE to Independent Club and Again Back to WWE









In 2010 Deshi made his life-changing the decision to travel to Tampa, Florida to try out for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)’s development promotion Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).





Taste of Success





Florida Championship Wrestling (2010-2011) – He signed a year contract with FCW and came out wearing a turban and speaking different languages that made him stand out. Early feuds (2011-2012)–He made his WWE debut on April 29, 2011, an episode of SmackDown under the ring name of Jinder Mahal. On his first television match on June 17, he defeated Vladimir Kozlov and on July 1 episode, Mahal was revealed to be married to Khali’s sister thus making their alliance as a brother-in-law. On October 14 episode soon after the concerned alliance broke off due to defeat in a couple of matches, Mahal competed in the largest battle royal in WWE history and ended up in the top three finalists.





He began appearing FCW rebooted NXT and he started a winning streak by defeating several fellow wrestlers. On August 8 episode of NXT, Mahal has crowned the first NXT Champion, where he defeated Bo Dallas in the first round.













“If people are not Laughing at your Goals, your goals are too small."-Azim Premji

3MB and departure (2012-2014), The Alliance of Mahal, Slater, and McIntyre was named 3MB, who went on racking up many wins in their career. In April 2014, 3MB formed an alliance with Hornswoggle to feud with Los Matadores, after which WWE announced that Mahal was released from his WWE contract. Independent circuit (2014-2016), As an independent circuit, Dhesi ended losing up matches for ROW, ASW, WWC, QPW and so on under the name Raj Singh.





Return to WWE (2016-present), Soon he decided to return back to WWE and reappeared in the August 1 episode of RAW. At Backlash on May 21, Mahal defeated Orton to win the 50th WWE Championship soon after which Orton demanded another match revoking his rematch clause. With Mahal referring to the great Khali as his ‘personal hero’, Khali returned to the battleground on July 23 to help Mahal defeat Orton to retain the WWE Championship.





Conclusion





‘He came a long way and still have ways to go’ – Jinder Mahal came across a long way to finally reach his life-changing match of WWE Championship that made him the 50th WWE Champion. His amazing story of struggle and success inspires us never to quit but to follow our dreams no matter what comes in our way to fulfill it.





“All Birds find shelter during rain. But Eagle avoids rain by flying above clouds.”– Dr APJ Abdul Kalam