Jinder Mahal shocked the world at Backlash 2017 when he defeated Randy Orton to become the WWE Champion.
Mahal is often called "the worst WWE Champion ever" and labeled as an "experimental champion" as WWE looked to further establish itself in the Indian market.
Speaking to Louis Dangoor of GiveMeSport, Mahal addressed criticisms of his reign.
"So this is just people downplaying my accomplishments. WWE Universe in India, their TV deals everything, were just as much in play when I was in 3MB and while I was released I do believe WWE Raw was the live on Sony. When I was brought back who still write live on Sony. I wasn't brought back to become WWE Champion, at that time they separated the rosters again, Raw and SmackDown, and they just needed some people who were TV-ready essentially to throw on and maybe highlight some of the newer talent, but somewhere along the line I knew 'Hey this is my way in. This is my foot in the door. I'm going to knock the whole door down and I'm going to become WWE Champion,'" he said.
Mahal was released by WWE in June 2014, the same day as Drew McIntyre.
Much like Mahal, McIntyre returned to WWE to capture the WWE Championship.
"So that's like me saying 'Hey Drew, you were WWE Champion because WWE wanted to expand into the UK'. Why is that? Why are people not saying that? Right now Drew is celebrated, I'm the one who was this experimental champion, which is untrue. I've worked hard for and I've earned every opportunity that I've ever been given, every championship that I've had I've worked very very hard for," said Mahal.
Mahal and McIntyre are set to collide at WWE SummerSlam.
You can view the current lineup for SummerSlam by clicking here.