Professional wrestling is a popular sport in India. The country has a rich history of professional wrestling and many professional wrestlers from India have worked around the world in various promotions. International wrestling promotions such as WWE and Impact Wrestling generate high television viewership and have a significant fan following in India.
History
In early 20th century Baksh Butt, known as The Great Gama, was a famous body builder, pehlwani wrestler and professional wrestler in India. Originally from Punjab, he began wrestling in 1895 at the age of 17 and won the world championship in 1910. He retired in 1929 after working with opponents from India, Europe and the US. Other Indian wrestlers at this time included Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Jatindra Charan Guho and Tiger Daula.
Tiger Joginder Singh and Arjan Singh Das were the best professional wrestlers from India in their time, and worked in promotions in Singapore, Japan, USA in 1940s and 1950s.
Dara Singh was a notable Indian pro wrestler who won titles internationally. In the 1950s, he won the world championship against the world famous Emile Czaja, popularly known by his ring name King Kong. He also defeated world champion wrestler Lou Thesz of the US. Singh participated in almost 500 professional matches and remained undefeated in all of them, wrestling against George Gordienko of Canada, John da Silva of New Zealand and others. In 2018 WWE honoured Dara Singh by inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame Legacy.
Gama Singh wrestled in the 1970s-1990s. He then moved to Canada and opened a wrestling training school.
Indian wrestler Sangram Singh was signed with South African promotion.
Star Sports and Ten Sports used to air matches from the TNA and WWE promotions respectively.
Wrestling Promotions in India
Freak Fighter Wrestling (FFW) runs shows in Sampala, Haryana.
The Wrestle Square promotion has established a pro wrestling school, Jeet Wrestle Square (JWS) academy, with Jeet Rama (Satendra Dagar) in Northern India.
Continental Wrestling Entertainment is the largest promotion and training school in India. It was created by the Great Khali in 2015 and is in Jalandhar, Punjab.
Due to the popularity of pro wrestling and India's vast market and economic potential, WWE often held tryouts in India to recruit wrestlers and train them at their Performance center in the US. The Sony Ten 1 and Ten Sport 3 channels broadcast WWE in India. The Eurosport channel airs matches from All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Indian Wrestlers in the US
World Wrestling Entertainment
Dalip Singh Rana, is widely known by his ring name The Great Khali. He was the first professional wrestler from India to be signed to WWE.
The Great Khali became WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2007. In the 20-man battle royale match, he defeated Batista, Kane and others. At the No Mercy 2007 pay-per-view he wrestled against Batista in a Punjabi Prison Match. During his WWE career, he defeated WWE legends such as The Undertaker, John Cena and Rey Mysterio in his WWE career. On April 7, 2021, WWE honoured him by inducting him into the WWE Hall of Fame, making him the first professional wrestler from India who to receive this honour. After WWE, he moved back to India and opened a pro wrestling promotion, Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) in Jalandhar, Punjab, where he provided training to budding wrestlers and organised wrestling events.
Yuvraj Singh Dhesi (born July 19, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler of Punjabi descent. He is currently signed to WWE, under the ring name Jinder Mahal, and became the first WWE world champion of Indian descent in April 2017. He is the nephew of Gama Singh who helped to train him. He started his WWE in 2011 as (kayfabe) the brother-in-law of the Great Khali and they worked together as a tag team with manager Ranjin Singh. In 2016, he also wrestled for The Great Khali's wrestling promotion Continental Wrestling Entertainment (CWE) in India.
Indian wrestlers including Saurav Gurjar, Rinku Singh, Shanky, Satendra Dagar, Lovepreet Sangha, Giant Zanjeer, Guru Raaj and Badshah Khan have since worked with WWE.
In 2017 Kavita Devi from Haryana became the first female professional wrestler of Indian nationality to wrestle in WWE.
Female MMA fighter Sanjana George from Kottayam worked for WWE for a year in 2021.