Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, who goes by the ring identify Raj Dhesi, has hit out at WWE for not having any South Asian stars on their roster.
Dhesi, who has been one of the profitable Indian-origin stars in WWE historical past, lately spoke on the For the Love of Wrestling conference, the place he spoke concerning the significance of illustration. He bemoaned the truth that there are not any South Asian wrestlers on WWE’s roster.
“Rising up, there have been no South Asians on TV. All we had was Apu [from the ‘Simpsons’] for illustration [laughs]. Sadly … it is the reality. We did not have anyone, we had typical stereotype characters, [like] a gasoline station employee or a tech nerd. So, rising up, I did not have anyone I might relate to so it is crucial for my era of wrestlers — and never simply myself, however all of us — we speak about this, how vital it’s to encourage the following era. We have already completed so many nice issues, however we have to accomplish extra. And the truth that there may be zero — not a single South Asian in WWE proper now, ‘Uncooked,’ ‘NXT,’ or ”SmackDown,’ there’s one thing significantly improper with that,” stated the previous WWE star. “However we will not blame the system. We ourselves need to stand up. Now we have to get ourselves to that degree, and we are going to.”
Dhesi spoke proudly concerning the contributions of different South Asian wrestlers, together with The Nice Khali, Dara Singh, and Tiger Jeet Singh, to professional wrestling. He stated the late Dara Singh, who was inducted into the Legacy wing of the WWE Corridor of Fame in 2018, impressed him and his friends like The Singh Brothers, Shanky, and Veer.
There are only a handful of Indian heritage wrestlers in professional wrestling at present, with AEW having the likes of Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh, whereas Shera wrestled just a few occasions on TNA Wrestling final yr. WWE launched Dhesi, together with Veer and Sanga final yr, whereas Shanky was let go in 2023.
