How WWE can find its footing in India without The Great Khali

Time Up

A majority of the WWE Universe wouldn’t have noticed the fact that Big Show has been absent from a credible storyline ever since he was knocked out by Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble. But since you are aware of it now, for the record, Big Show was actually in India.

If you thought that Show came to India just for a random visit, it’s time to refresh those brain cells.

Being the second largest country in terms of population, India is being recognized as a top international market by the wrestling promotions across the United States for a long time now. WWE and TNA stars making occasional visits and Colt Cabana wrestling in remote villages are only the inception of the business moves that they are making to conquer the Indian fans.

Though there are several companies making their moves, WWE stands out from the rest. And I believe I need not give any justification other than saying; they are the biggest fish in the sea.

And for almost the past decade, The Great Khali is seen as the tapping medium for the WWE to explore the vast Indian market.

But one has to admit that Hornswoggle wrestles better than the giant wrestler. Khali, apart from his initial big push has been an utter failure with the fans. Though the feud against Undertaker and some time on national TV benefited the company’s popularity well, fans didn’t take much time to realize that the guy could barely walk.

With the idea of Khali is becoming stale as each second passes the company clearly needs to think about what they can do to keep the fire burning in India other than just sending some random wrestler every now and then.

So here is a look at certain things that can be put on the list and is way better than what they are doing now.

Wrestlers

Experience+Popularity- Violence

To be frank there aren’t many wrestlers who could say that they solely belong from India but there are some certain names that ring some bells.

Apart from Great Khali, Jinder Mahal is the only one currently in the WWE roster and he has been confined to a rock star jobber for the time being. There are no signs of him getting a push in the near future with that gimmick as well but giving him a good Indian gimmick and a very nice push along with it could work well for the company.

Apart from Mahal, two other names that WWE could use are Sabu and Sonjay Dutt.

Though they don’t technical belong to India, both have great looks to fit into any Indian Gimmick. Being popular and experience, Sabu could easily settle into the WWE despite the show being family friendly. Meanwhile, Sonjay Dutt has proved to everyone that he has the skills to make chain wrestling popular again.

Nevertheless, three wrestlers in kayfabe Indian gimmick that can actually wrestle would be a lot better than a big giant who just walks around.

The WWE Network Contents

A good start

Personally speaking, I’m someone who grew up witnessing DX tearing down production trucks and Stone Cold flipping his finger over. So whenever someone mentions about the old WWE product it suddenly strike a nostalgic string.

And surely, this will be condition of the majority of WWE fans in India.

So what the company needs to do is to make the rich content from the past available to the masses in India in order to feed their nostalgic needs.

The old contents are clearly a better way to attract new fans than the current product which could work out well as well. And since the company is bound on growing beyond the cultural limits, the WWE Network might be a good launching pad for this project.

Bollywood

Bollywood has people with muscles too

Celebrities making their appearance in the WWE are not at all a rare sight. We’ve seen the light of Hollywood stars making a great impact on the show, so why not give the desi heroes a chance?

The popularities of film stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Rajnikanth and many more in the country could work as ideal launching pad for the WWE to make their presence felt.

One can only imagine how much hype the company will get it Rajnikanth makes an appearance on Raw and confront the lights of Shield, Wyatt Family or Triple H. such a big name in the country at their event is going to give the WWE a big stage to show the fans that it’s a good idea to start watching wrestling.

It need not be on a regular basis but one appearance once in a while by the Bollywood stars is going to help WWE flourish in India.

Having shows in India

India awaits

I’m not talking about house shows; I’m talking about Raw, SmackDown and pay-per-views. Having such shows once in a while in the big cities of India will be a great thing to do keeping in mind the reaction that the WWE superstars got when they visited India.

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and arguably one of the most effective one as well. TNA has been employing the same in Great Britain and the company is currently reaping the benefits of it as they surpassed WWE in terms of the popularity in that region.

Though TNA’s idea of an Indian promotion bombed, the WWE would have better luck due to the sheer star power that they have at their disposal.

Their unused wrestlers like Mark Henry and Big Show are bigger than the current TNA World Heavyweight champion making it a sure win situation for the WWE if they make it happen.

Cricket

The ultimate surprise

The last one had to be bigger than Bollywood and in India if there is something that surpasses Bollywood it has to be cricket.

Though the sport is confined to the commonwealth nations, the Indians see it as some sort of religion without which they can’t live. So bringing in a famous Indian cricketer to host or even put on one appearance as a celebrity wrestler will work well for the company in terms of publicity in the nation.

Imagine Sachin Tendulkar doing such things, Tendulkar going against Vince McMahon in some sort of a gimmick match and many possibilities that follow. This is going to help WWE reach the deepest corners of India as the fans are so crazed about cricket that even if they forget their son’s name they won’t forget If Sachin makes an appearance on WWE.

With such a plethora of options at their disposal the WWE is still stuck with Khali hoping that a miracle would happen and he would start flying around turnbuckles all of a sudden. It might be the time to rethink about that hope and start putting in efforts if they are to benefit from this rich country.