A look-back on the crazy world of the WWE from the eyes of a nostalgic fan

The Great Khali was the 1^st Indian to make it big in modern day WWE

There was also an Indian connection in the WWE. No, it’s not the very popular ‘The Great Khali’ of today but a certain Tiger Ali Singh of yesteryear who didn’t gain widespread fame in the WWE. If anything, his stint ended with an injury and a lawsuit against the company. Nevertheless, his few appearances filled hearts of fools like me with pride before of course The Great Khali came into the picture.

The eccentric superstars were often made to wrestle in eccentric matches, like ‘Tables, ladders and chairs’, ‘No holds barred’, ‘cage match’, ‘casket match’, the inhuman ‘barbed wire match’ and so on. Of all it was The Royal Rumble that was fun to watch. A lead-up to the iconic Wrestle Mania, this event sees a wrestler come to the ring every few minutes and tries to fling the ones inside out. The last man standing will be the challenger to the current champion in the Wrestle Mania. This often sprung surprises with unexpected men standing tall in the ring after the rumble.

WWE was a huge hit off the TV screen too. Merchandise ranging from shirts, DVDs and toys were popular among kids. WWE cards became a fad as kids wrestled each other by stats like wrestlers’ height, weight, rank, etc. In that ever-increasing popularity of the WWE, how would Bollywood not miss an opportunity? Some action movies used professional wrestlers’ lookalike in stunt scenes. It was Khiladiyon ka Khiladi which famously used poor lookalikes of The Undertaker and The Crush in fight scenes with Akshay Kumar. And it was a horrible scene like the movie itself I am sure which reduced the wrestling gods to mere caricature (shame on you Akki baby!).

All these memories somehow define a part of my childhood. Why exactly I liked the WWE is still unclear – perhaps it was an emotional release for a physically weak kid, a strange desire to see role models in those wrestlers or maybe pure thrill. Whatever the case be, it was entertainment. The next time I chance upon ‘WWE Raw’ or ‘SmackDown’ on TV, I will try not to recollect those days. My wife won’t understand what it meant to me. Perhaps no one will.