Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal has been axed by the company just months after a sharing the ring with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

His release was one of five names said to have been cut from the roster, with Veer Mahaan, Sanga and Xia Li and Xyon Quinn also let go.

Jinder Mahal is a former WWE Champion who challenged for top gold in WWE as recently as January.Credit: WWE

Chiselled superstar Maha’s departure marks the second time he’s been let go by the wrestling giant, having previously been released ten years ago before making a comeback.

While never regularly and consistently used by WWE in storylines in years that followed, Mahal had a knack for managing to nail everything asked of him when opportunities did come up.

Arguably the best example of that came just months ago, when the grappler was tasked with standing toe-to-toe with The Rock as part of a special appearance to mark the New Year by The Great One.

As ever, Mahal held his own in a verbal joust with the Rock, who’d marched to the ring to defend the honour of the United States after a verbal attack by his villainous foe.

Mahal would then attack The Rock, before The People’s Champ got the upper hand, eventually leaving him laying.

The clip would break a WWE social media record at the time, netting over 171 million views in a matter of days.

The Indian-Canadian weeks later challenged WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins on Monday Night Raw, but came up short.

He’d feature just once more on WWE programming just prior to WrestleMania XL, confirming his WWE exit on X in the early hours of Saturday morning by posting: “I Quit. Maharaja Out.”

Mahal attacked Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson on Raw in January but The People’s Champ soon got the upper handCredit: WWE

Weeks after tangling with The Rock, Canadian-Indian Mahal stepped up to World Heavyweight Champion Seth RollinsCredit: WWE

Fightful in The US followed up by confirming that Mahal had been let go by WWE as opposed to quitting, adding: “We didn’t hear of any situations of heat [trouble backstage] that would have contributed to the releases, and generally the talent let go appeared to be well liked.”

It was in his second run with WWE that the Canadian-born sensation really made his mark, capturing the company’s top championship with a shock win over Randy Orton in 2017 before defeating him twice more in high-profile rematches.

Mahal went on to lose the title later that year here in the UK, defeated by AJ Styles in Manchester in an unforgettable scene that saw the gold change hands outside of North America for the first time in its illustrious history.

Mahal had started his wrestling career in 2004, featuring on the Independent scene before being snapped up by WWE, staring in their developmental territories before debuting on SmackDown in 2011.

He aligned with The Great Khali and later feuded with Sheamus, before featuring alongside Heath Slater and Scot Drew McIntyre as the now infamous 3MB stable.

After first being released by WWE in 2014, he wrestled again on the independents before returning two years later for his second stint.