Back to back Olympic medallist, Sushil Kumar is currently negotiating terms with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) network for a potential foray into Pro-Wrestling. The organisation's head of talent development Canyon Ceman has flown down to New Delhi to meet the 33-year old's agent on Saturday evening.
A source close to the Sushil camp confirmed to Sportskeeda, that they are in talks with other 'reputed' wrestling brands, regarding Sushil's Pro Wrestling career. The source said, “We are planning on introducing Sushil to Pro Wrestling in late 2017, and we are also talking to various organisations including WWE to open a franchise in Delhi to groom young Indian Pro Wrestling talent.”
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Raman Raheja, who handles Sushil Kumar's commercial interests confirmed that they are in talks with WWE. He said,”I can't obviously give you internal details of when we are meeting etc, but I can confirm that Sushil is very much interested in growing a Pro Wrestling career now.”
According to our sources, the move comes after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chose tainted grappler Narsingh Yadav, ahead of India's only double individual Olympic medallist. Our source added, “The Chhatarsal stadium has long been the home of wrestlers in the country, and Sushil is looking at ways to monetise it. If grapplers cannot make it to the Olympics and medal, then they should have an alternative career.”
Not the first Indian to feature for the WWE
This is not the first time WWE has tried its hand with an Indian wrestler. In 2014, the Great Khali or Dalip Singh won fans across the globe. Last year, Lovepreet Sangha also made his debut but failed to capture the crowd's imagination.
There is no official confirmation of Sushil joining WWE, but there is a high possibility of it happening late next year. Sushil has also chosen to skip the WFI backed Pro Wrestling League (PWL) this year as well. Sushil said, “It is not possible for me to be a part of PWL, after the way WFI officials treated me during the Narsingh controversy. On top of that, I don’t believe in the PWL concept and will skip it, definitely.”
