During his 12 years working under the WWE banner, Jinder Mahal (also known as Raj Dhesi) enjoyed a number of memorable career moments. Three, however, stand above the rest for him."The Gold Rush tournament, myself and Seth Rollins for the first ever NXT Championship. Seth Rollins won that night, became the first ever NXT champion, but to be introduced by Howard Finkel and have Dusty Rhodes out there ringside. That was actually my first time in the main event scene. It was NXT, but nonetheless in a main event spot. We had a three segment match, a main event style match," Mahal recalled on "TMZ's Inside The Ring.""Number two, WeeLC, when I was in 3MB. Hornswoggle vs El Torito, an iconic moment, iconic match. Then number three, obviously winning the WWE Championship after being released, coming back, reinventing myself, and reaching the pinnacle of our sport. I love to call WWE a sport because that's what it is to me. It's the perfect intersection of sports and art. That was my favorite moment."Mahal's NXT Championship collision with Seth Rollins took place in the summer of 2012, just months before Rollins ascended to WWE's main roster as a part of The Shield. Mahal, meanwhile, resided as a main roster fixture for over a year, then came into "WWE NXT" for the aforementioned "Gold Rush" tournament that determined the inaugural NXT Champion.The 2014 WeeLC match saw Mahal, Drew McIntyre, and Heath Slater accompany Hornswoggle to the ring as he took on El Torito. At one point, Mahal even got himself involved in the bout. Three years later, Mahal famously unseated Randy Orton as WWE Champion at Backlash, with his subsequent reign spanning nearly six months.If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "TMZ's Inside The Ring" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
