WWE held its first-ever Indian talent tryouts in Mumbai.
WWE visited India in search of the next generation of WWE Superstars by holding the first-ever talent tryout in Mumbai. The three-day tryout gave 55 men athletes and 18 women athletes from India the opportunity to showcase their abilities with the goal of being selected. On being selected, the participants will begin training at the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, U.S.
The participants in the tryouts belonged to diverse backgrounds in sports and athletics like kushti, kabaddi, wrestling, American Football, basketball, combat sports, cricket, and bodybuilding. WWE narrowed down the field of prospects from hundreds of applicants who answered the casting calls, hosted by officials in January.
Overseeing the camp were WWE Performance Center Head Coach Matt Bloom, with assistance coaches Robbie Brookside, Sarah Stock and Hartley Jackson and referee Darryl Sharma.
NXT and NXT UK Superstars Kavita Devi, Saurav Gurjar, Rinku Singh, Jeet Rama and Jinny were also present.
The New Day’s Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods also visited the camp and encouraged the participants.
Canyon Ceman, the WWE Senior Director of Talent Development said, “There are about 70 shortlisted participants and they belong to various backgrounds. We are looking for athletes who have charisma, work ethic, passion and creativity.”
“We are looking for athletes who have something special that makes you want to watch them perform.”
“The Indian viewing audience is the biggest in the world so anyone from the chosen can become a superstar and I believe that,” he added.
As for the participants, they went under rigorous training and all eyes were on every individual whether on or off the field.
Canyon added that the athletes need to keep in mind they are representing a brand and not do things that could devalue them and the brand.
There were two show matches. In the women’s match, NXT Kavita Devi defeated her opponent in style as the crowd and the participants cheered for her.
While for the men, we saw a tough battle between Jeet Rama against Saurav Gurjar and Rinku Singh. With the crowd being divided between the two, Rinku defeated Jeet in a hard-fought battle.
Shanky Singh, whose real name is Gurvindeer Singh, shared his experience at the tryout. The seven-foot tall ex-accountant said he gave up his job to make it big in the WWE world.
The participant from Haryana said, “I was always taunted cause of my height. Hence, I used my weakness to my advantage and joined The Great Khali academy in Jalandhar and learnt wrestling."
“It was not an easy road and I faced many challenges because this game is really tough. But my hard work paid off and in 2017 I was called for the tryout, but due to some reason, I was not selected.
“But now I have got a chance again and this time I will make sure I am selected,” the wrestler, who is a great admirer of The Undertaker, said.
When asked about his future, he said, “I want to defeat Brock Lesnar and snatch the WWE Universal championship belt away from him.”
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