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What's the story?
Indian wrestling promotion, Continental Wrestling Entertainment, owned by The Great Khali, recently welcomed WWE executives Norman Smiley and Canyon Ceman. The duo visited the promotion to conduct tryouts for budding Indian pro wrestlers.
In case you didn't know...
Continental Wrestling Entertainment, or CWE, which is the brainchild of former WWE Superstar, The Great Khali, was established in 2015 in the city of Jalandhar, Punjab.
Kavita Devi, the first Indian woman Superstar to make an appearance in the WWE, is a product of the promotion. Devi competed in the Mae Young Classic earlier this year, and it was announced last month that she has signed a contract with the WWE and will begin work at the Performance Center in January.
The heart of the matter
Khali's official Facebook page made the announcement of the tryouts, which also revealed details of the event. 40 wrestlers were put through the grind in the tryout over five hours, and the WWE officials were reportedly impressed with what they saw.
Canyon Ceman, WWE's Senior Director of Talent Development took to the microphone and spoke passionately about how the WWE see India as a big market and brand, and those present there had a lot of potential to make it in the business of sports entertainment.
Norman Smiley, a former pro wrestler with the ECW, WCW and TNA, and who is now a trainer at NXT, watched the future pro wrestlers from the sidelines and also imparted wisdom to these young Indian stars.
Smiley, who is the longest-serving trainer in the WWE, gave advice on what it takes to become a WWE Superstar and gave tips on becoming better wrestlers.
The below video is a must-watch for aspiring pro wrestlers.
What's next?
As Ceman said in the above video, WWE are keen on bringing wrestlers over to the USA and the WWE, but he didn't give a timeline as to when that will happen.
Kavita Devi is the next big hope for Indian pro wrestling, and she will start training at the WWE Performance Center in January.
Meanwhile, the WWE India tour will take place on December 9th, 2017 at the IGI Stadium in New Delhi. Tickets for the show are available here.
Author's take
WWE have shown that they're very interested in tapping the potential that exists in the Indian market with the India tour, an Indian as the WWE Champion, and this recent tryout reiterates their commitment to the cause.
