Former WWE Champion discloses disinterest in facing John Cena in India; has bigger fish to fry

John Cena will make his WWE India debut on September 8, 2023, at Superstar Spectacle. He is scheduled to tag alongside World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins to take on Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium. However, this is not the only tag team contest on the card.

The Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship will be put on the line as the reigning titleholders, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, take on Jinder Mahal's Indus Sher.

The Modern Day Maharaja's recent interview with News 18 featured an interesting question to which he had a bold answer. While most superstars would find it an honor to step into the ring with The Champ, Mahal claimed that what is most important to him is to help Veer Mahan and Sanga to become the tag team champions:

"I need to be focused with Indus Sher to become tag team champions. That’s my number one goal. If John Cena, if he wants to make the challenge, whatever, we’ll see. But my main focus is to get Indus Sher be the tag team champions," Jinder Mahal stated.

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Jinder Mahal explains why facing the 16-time WWE World Champion in India is not a big deal to him

The Modern Day Maharaja further continued about how important it is for Indus Sher to be able to challenge for the tag belts in India. Calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Mahal added:

"I think this is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in India and have a tag team championship match. I’ve had matches with John Cena in the past. He’s incredible. And whoever is going to have to match with that night is going to be incredible. It’s going to be an incredible experience with the fans and the crowd there and making history. But I think I need to focus on the tag team championship match as of now, but anything is possible."

Jinder Mahal and John Cena infamously took place ahead of SummerSlam 2017 despite the bout being rumored heavily ahead of the show. They fought to a disqualification finish that saw Baron Corbin cash-in his MITB contract and lose to the then-WWE Champion in the process.

Despite a very bad run as world champion, Jinder Mahal had a lengthy one at that. During his reign, he picked up a trilogy of victories over Randy Orton and even retained the belt against the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and, finally, AJ Styles.

The Phenomenal One beat The Modern Day Maharaja in the UK to win WWE Championship gold for the second time in his career. Styles made the most of it this time around, too, and received a huge pop upon winning the world title.

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Will Indus Sher pull off the upset victory over Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in Hyderabad, India? Sound off in the comments section below!