WWE Signs First Female Middle Eastern and Indian Wrestlers

STAMFORD, CT: World Wrestling Entertainment Inc, the American publicly traded, privately held entertainment company recently announced in mid-October that it has signed up the first women wrestlers from India and the Middle East.

WWE deals primarily in professional wrestling but also has film, music, video games, product licensing and direct product sales. Founded in 1952 by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt, it has become the largest wrestling promotion company in the world, holding over 500 events a year and broadcasting to 36 million viewers in more than 150 countries.

It is no wonder that WWE has tried to diversify its talent base and bring in wrestlers from around the world. The first South Asian who made it big at the WWE was 7ft tall, 420lb heavy Dalip Singh Rana, now 45 years-old, who hails from the village of Dhirana, Himachal Pradesh where he would often do the heavy work like lifting cattle from one barn to the other. He has fought under the name The Great Khali since 2000. He briefly held the WWE World Champion title in 2007 and has acted in a few odd Hollywood movies, like The Longest Yard in 2005. He now has his own company, Continental Wrestling Entertainment, in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Another Indo-Canadian wrestler, Yuvraj Singh Dhesi, 31, from Calgary, Alberta fights under the ring name Jinder Mahal, and became the WWE Champion in 2016.

But this is the first time WWE has signed a female Indian wrestler, Kavita Devi, 34, from Malvi village, Julana tehsil, Harayana Pradesh. Devi wrestled in the Mae Young Classic tournament in August, but was eliminated in the first round by Dakota Kai. She will start training with WWE in January 2018 and already trained at The Great Khali’s CWE School in Jalandhar.

WWE also signed up Shada Bseiso, 31, from Amman, Jordan, who impressed talent scouts in the invitation only try-out in April in Dubai and will begin training with Devi at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida in January. She has a Business Administration degree from the American University in Beirut, is a trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and an on-air bilingual host and voice-over actress.