Who did Raj Dhesi defeat to win the WWE Championship in 2017?

Raj Dhesi, then known as Jinder Mahal, shocked the wrestling world by pinning Randy Orton at the 2017 Backlash event in Chicago. This victory marked the beginning of his 170-day reign as champion, a move that Dhesi credits to Orton’s understanding of ring presence over technical complexity.

Why does Raj Dhesi believe presence is more important than workrate?

Dhesi argues that the 'it' factor and aura are the true metrics of a great performer rather than the complexity of their choreography or high-flying moves. He believes that the ability to make a crowd feel the gravity of a moment is more valuable than performing technical maneuvers like a 450 splash.

What were the main criticisms of Raj Dhesi's WWE Championship reign?

While Dhesi held the title for 170 days, the reign was often criticized as a creative desert due to repetitive interference from the Singh Brothers. Additionally, high-profile matches like the Punjabi Prison bout at Battleground were seen as disasters due to poor visibility and a confusing return by the Great Khali.

When and where did AJ Styles defeat Raj Dhesi for the title?

AJ Styles ended Raj Dhesi’s championship run during a SmackDown taping in Manchester, England, on November 7, 2017. This 'Manchester switch' is noted as a significant moment where Dhesi’s aura met the technical mastery and reality check provided by Styles.

How long did Raj Dhesi hold the WWE Championship during his 2017 run?

Raj Dhesi’s 2017 reign as the WWE Champion lasted for a total of 170 days. Although his time at the top of the industry drove internet fans into a frenzy, Dhesi maintains that his journey was defined by the mental game and knowing how to manage a crowd's energy.

Raj Dhesi is finally talking and he’s roasting your workrate obsession

The Maharaja breaks his silence on the wrestling soul

If you spent your Friday night arguing about star ratings on a spreadsheet, Raj Dhesi has a reality check for you. The man formerly known as Jinder Mahal just dropped a list of the top five wrestlers he’s ever shared a ring with, and the criteria isn't what the basement-dwelling 'workrate' purists want to hear. He’s looking for the 'it' factor. The presence. The stuff you can’t teach in a warehouse in Orlando.

Raj Dhesi’s career has been the wrestling equivalent of a legacy codebase. Nobody is quite sure how he ended up as the centerpiece of the industry in 2017, but he held that title for a 170-day reign that drove the internet into a literal frenzy. To some, he was the ultimate 'hindered' talent. To others, he was a business decision in a turban. But according to the latest report from WrestleTalk, Dhesi is now looking back at his journey with a perspective that prioritizes aura over armbars.

The problem with the modern wrestling fan is the same problem with people who think a high benchmark score makes a model sentient. You’re looking at the wrong metrics. Dhesi isn't interested in how many rotations you can get on a 450 splash. He’s talking about the guys who can walk into an arena and make 20,000 people feel like they’re about to witness a car crash or a coronation. It’s about the gravity of the performer, not the complexity of the choreography.

The Randy Orton blueprint and the Backlash shocker

You cannot talk about Raj Dhesi without talking about Randy Orton. When Dhesi pinned Orton at the 2017 edition of Backlash in Chicago, the collective gasp of the crowd wasn't just surprise—it was a glitch in the Matrix. Orton is the gold standard for what Dhesi describes as 'more than just wrestling ability.' He is a guy who understands that a single look or a slow walk to the ring is worth more than ten Canadian Destroyers.

However, we have to be honest: that title reign was often a creative desert. The decision to have the Singh Brothers interfere in every single match became a repetitive crutch that sucked the life out of his defense. By the time we got to the Punjabi Prison match at Battleground, the gimmick had worn thin. That match was an absolute disaster. You couldn't see through the bamboo, the Great Khali’s return was a confusing mess, and the wrestling itself was secondary to a structure that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Despite the booking flaws, Dhesi’s respect for Orton remains high. He saw firsthand how a veteran manages a crowd that is actively trying to hijack a segment. That is the 'ability' Dhesi is referencing. It’s the mental game. It’s knowing when to breathe and when to strike. If you can't do that, you're just a gymnast in trunks.

The AJ Styles masterclass and the Manchester switch

If Orton provided the aura, AJ Styles provided the reality check. The date was November 7, 2017, in Manchester, England. Dhesi walked into that SmackDown as the champion and walked out as a guy who had just been part of a historic moment. Styles is the rare hybrid who has the 'workrate' the fans crave but also the psychological depth that veterans like Dhesi admire.

That match in Manchester lasted roughly 13 minutes, but it did more for the WWE Championship than the previous three months combined. It was a sprint that proved Dhesi could hang with the best in the world when the shackles were off. Styles forced him to move faster, sell better, and think harder. It’s no surprise that Styles would land on any 'top five' list for anyone who shared a ring with him during that era.

Styles has this uncanny ability to make his opponent look like a world-beater even while he’s beating them. For a guy like Dhesi, who was constantly battling the 'he’s only champion because of the India market' narrative, a match with Styles was a chance to prove his worth. It wasn't about the moves; it was about the struggle. That is the specific kind of magic that separates the icons from the mid-carders.

The 3MB legacy and the 2024 reality check

We also have to look at the 3MB era. It’s easy to laugh at it now, but Dhesi, Drew McIntyre, and Heath Slater were essentially the 'discard' pile of the roster in 2012. Look where they went. McIntyre became a two-time WWE Champion and a WrestleMania main eventer. Dhesi got his own shock run at the top. Slater became one of the most beloved underdog figures in the company.

The fact that Dhesi mentions 'more than just wrestling ability' points directly to his 3MB brother, Drew McIntyre. They both got fired in 2014 and had to rebuild themselves from the ground up. They didn't just go to the indies and do more flips; they went to the gym, changed their bodies, and learned how to carry themselves like stars. When Dhesi returned in 2016, he looked like a completely different human being. He had transformed himself into a guy who looked like he belonged on a poster.

But then came the 2024 release. It was a cold reminder that in the world of professional wrestling, your 'aura' is only as good as the person writing the checks. His final high-profile appearance, a match against Seth Rollins on Raw, was overshadowed by a social media war involving Tony Khan and a tweet about 'Hook.' It was a weird, meta-textual end to his WWE run that felt beneath a former world champion.

Why we need the Raj Dhesi perspective in 2026

As we sit here on April 11, 2026, with WrestleMania 41 just eight days away, the industry feels more obsessed with 'five-star' matches than ever before. We are in the era of the 'grappler,' where if you don't have a 20-minute technical masterpiece, you're considered a failure. Dhesi is a necessary counter-voice to that trend. He is a reminder that the biggest stars in the history of this business—Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Stone Cold—weren't the guys doing the most moves. They were the guys who understood the space between the moves.

Presence: Can you hold a crowd with just a look?
Transformation: Are you willing to rebuild your entire look and style?
Resilience: Can you survive being the butt of the joke in 3MB and still become a world champion?
Psychology: Do you know why you're doing the move, or are you just doing it?

Raj Dhesi is currently a No. 1 contender for respect in the independent scene. He’s taking everything he learned from the Ortons and the Styles of the world and applying it to a new generation. He isn't bitter about his release; he’s enlightened. He knows that he reached a height that 99% of wrestlers will never touch, and he did it by mastering the things that don't show up on a Meltzer rating.

His list isn't just a trip down memory lane. It's a manifesto for what professional wrestling should be. It’s a call to return to character, to stakes, and to the 'big fight' feel. If the industry continues to prioritize the 'move-set' over the 'man,' we’re going to lose the very thing that made us fans in the first place. Dhesi has seen the mountain top and he’s telling us that the view is better when you’re not looking at your own feet.