Roots of Wrestling in India before the Pro Wrestling
Wrestling in India has been a popular sport from the ancient times. It is considered as a prestigious event in the Olympic Games. Wrestling is known as dangal and Mal Yuddha. The Great Epic Mahabharata has mentioned about the game of wrestling in India. Bhima, Jarasandha, Duryodhan and Karna are all great wrestlers in the Epic. The Epic Ramayana also mentioned about wrestling and Hanuman is one of the greatest wrestlers at that time. Gobar Goho was a world famous wrestler and Pehlwani practitioner. He won the World Light Heavyweight Championship in the United States in 1921. He was the first Asian to win this title. Gobar Goho developed new style of wrestling which in turn helped in rising indian wrestling to newer heights.
Ambika Charan Guha was an Indian wrestler who founded the first akhada of Bengal, which became a pilgrimage to the budding wrestlers of India. Swami Vivekananda also learned wrestling from his akhada. Kodi Ramamurthy Naidu was an Indian wrestler who gained enormous respect to Indian wrestling. He was awarded the title Kaliyugi Bhima by the King George of the United Kingdom. He later established a Circus company and donated a lot of money to Indian Independence Movement and charitable trusts. Nathmal Pahalwan was a wrestler and popularly known as Guruji and Pahalwanji. He won numerous wrestling contests and won prestigious title of Hind Kesari.
Sanjay Kumar is a well-known Indian wrestler who has won the title of Bharat Kesari and Hind Kesari. He had participated in commonwealth games in 1995 and won gold medal. He also got 5th position in Asian championship in 1991. He made a record by winning Bharat Kesari title continuously for 10 times.
Pro Wrestling In India
Dara Singh was an Indian Wrestler. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha of India. Tiger Jeet Singh is a professional wrestler born in India and settled in Japan. He spent his wrestling career for 22 years in Japan. Dalip Singh Rana is famously known as The Great Khali. He is an Indian professional wrestler and power lifter. He became World Heavyweight Champion in 2007. He is best known in his career with World Wrestling Entertainment. Mahabali Shera is an Indian Pro Wrestler who is currently competing in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
YET NO GREAT HISTORY IN PRO WRESTLING FOR INDIA??
AND THE KINGS
World Wrestling Entertainment is a company that deals with professional wrestling. It is professional wrestling promotion founded by McMahon in 1952. It is the largest company holding more than 320 events per year. Its headquarters is in Stamford, Connecticut. The events that are promoted by WWE or based on entertainment and is comprised of scripted and choreographed matches. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Company deals with professional wrestling founded by Jeff Jarett and Jerry Jarett. It became one of the world largest wrestling promotions. It is now considered as next to WWE. Its headquarters is situated in Nashville, Tennessee. This company has promoted new style for wrestling by introducing hexagonal ring and X division for safer high- flying and high risk style of wrestling.
Ring of Honor is known to be one of the top American Independent professional wrestling company founded by Rob Feinstein and gabe Sapolsky in 2002. They sell PPV online, through DVD and has huge fan following around the world because of their wrestling style They also perform the anniversary show in Toronto every year. The top Japanese promotions are New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Small promotions that are out of television promotions are termed as Independent Circuits. A wrestler is said to be in the indies when they are working for one independent circuits and they are said to be working the indies if the wrestler is working for different independent promotions.
Japan also encourages Pro wrestling companies. New Japan Pro Wrestling Company is the largest promotion company in wrestling. It was founded in 1972 by Antonio Inoki. The headquarters is situated in Minato, Tokyo. It is the largest promotion in Japan and second largest in the world next to WWE in revenue. They are known for open agreement with companies like WWE, TNA, ROH, PRIDE and JAPW for working with them. All Japan Pro Wrestlers is a Japanese Promotion for wrestling events and is one of the popular one in Japan founded in 1972. Its headquarters is in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Pro Wrestling Noah is the Japanese professional wrestling event founded in 2000 by Mitsuharu Misawa. Until 1984, there was no independent circuits in Japan. The advent of Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation paved way for indies.