5 Indians that the WWE should totally sign up
(The views expressed in this article are my own and don’t reflect those of Sportskeeda.)
Ah, India.
A country of over 1.2 BILLION people, that’s over four times the population of the United States of America, and yet, the only representative of India who has ever made it to the WWE was The Great Khali, and even he ended up becoming an American citizen.
What a lot of people might not know, is that India is one of the biggest markets for the WWE in the entire world. The WWE is legitimately HUGE in India and millions of people follow it on a regular basis.
The WWE was big in India during the Golden era of Wrestling, it got bigger during the Attitude era and it has only grown in popularity ever since. As an Indian myself, I can attest to the fact that the popularity of WWE in India is only rivalled by the popularity of the country’s unofficial national sport, Cricket and the country’s official pastime, Bollywood.
India has also had a long and storied history of producing wrestlers, with Raheem Buksh, The Great Gama, Gulam and Balram Yadav having been the torchbearers of Indian-style Wrestling (actual grappling, not pro wrestling) in the early 20th century.
Wrestling has enjoyed tremendous popularity in India for hundreds of years, the spectacle of wrestling was probably more loved in India than anywhere else in the world for centuries!
Why then, has the WWE not had more Indians amidst its’ ranks? Even though the WWE have signed Lovepreet Sangha and Satender Dagar recently, there are many other Indians that could be perfectly suited for a spot on the WWE roster.
Today, we’re going to take a look at five such Desi athletes who the WWE should totally sign up. This is not an exhaustive list by any means, and some of the mentions might not be very practical, but we hope you enjoy going through it regardless!
Special mention: Sagar from AngaarTV
Let’s start this list off with a more light-hearted mention, nothing wrong with a little fun before we move on to the serious wrestlers, yes? Alright then.
AngaarTV is one of India’s biggest and the most popular YouTube channels. It is, in fact, the single most popular Wrestling-related YouTube channel from the region! What is AngaarTV? You might ask. Well, if you don’t know about these lads yet, then you’re certainly in for a surprise (and a treat, depending on your preferences).
AngaarTV is like a backyard wrestling federation from Bhayander in Mumbai, India, but they’re different in the sense that they dub WWE commentary over their matches to get a more WWE-ish feel to their performances.
Also read: 5 Punjabi Wrestlers from Canada
The “wrestlers” are mostly adolescents and young adults between the ages of 14 to 22. However, some of the “bigger wrestlers” in the “promotion” are men well into their late 20s and 30s.
One of the younger wrestlers on AngaarTV, and the most talented, in my opinion, is Sagar. Sagar portrays a masked character that is similar to Sin Cara and likes to do the Lucha Libre style. He’s a high-flying wrestler and is responsible for some of the more awe-inspiring moves on the roster.
The kid, even though he’s still very young, certainly has the talent for pro-wrestling and can go a long way, provided he takes the right steps going forward (and some of Hulk Hogan’s vitamins).
Getting serious now, let’s get on with the actual list with an Indian Professional Wrestler from Pune who actually trended on Twitter for his moves!