India has always been a huge market for the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when it comes to fan following and social media engagement, but only a handful of wrestlers from the country ended up joining the promotion.
However, the number of Indian talents at the WWE developemental level has grown exponentially in the last couple of years and the recruitment is not stopping any time soon.
WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative - Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque - believes that India has a lot of talent to offer when it comes to professional wrestling and WWE will not mind setting up a local performance centre in order to help the Indian prospects in the future.
Mentioning India as an example, he said if the country had five good prospects, they would be brought to the WWE Performance Centre in Orlando, but if it had 50 hopefuls, talent scouts and trainers might take trips abroad in order to set up a training infrastructure for the local athletes.
READ | With focus on India, WWE targets more recruits from the country
{{/usCountry}}READ | With focus on India, WWE targets more recruits from the country
{{/usCountry}}“We will have to do more and more tryouts and training outside as the global talent pool increases. If there are five athletes coming from India, we will bring them here. But, once the number goes up to around 50 or 60, we will be looking to train them there,” Triple H said in a media conference call.
“In my opinion, the scope of WWE in India is massive. I visited India twice last year and the fanbase there is absolutely massive. The fans are really passionate about WWE and once we start recruiting more talents from the country, I am sure the popularity will increase exponentially,” he added.
In the past, one of the main issues that Indian prospects faced was the lack of awareness about the company. However, WWE recently launched its official Performance Centre website and it provides details on how to apply, the steps after a successful tryout, offers a look at the most up-to-date roster, and even shares first-hand insight from current WWE talents. Triple H believes that this will make life much easier for the prospects and the website will be a boost for WWE’s recruitment procedure.
“In the past, we have done local scouting in India through various trainers as well as coaches and that is how we got Kavita Devi and Kishan Raftar. With the website, the athletes now have a direct pathway and if they have a interest in WWE, they can contact us directly and showcase their talent.”
READ | Familiar faces and localised content: WWE’s formula to capture the Indian market
In the past, the stigma of ‘sports entertainment’ has haunted WWE and not all athletes were comfortable in joining the company. But, Triple H believes that it is all in the past and with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) stars like Ronda Rousey joining the promotion, no such stigma exists in the modern day.
“When it comes to the athletes, the entertainment factor of WWE can sometimes be a bit scary. But the money is real, the performance is real and the hard work is 100 % real. The athleticism is a major part of the business and I don’t think there is any stigma attached to the business any more,” he said.