He came, he saw and he gave us Khali. William Regal is in India again and, this time, he wants to find the next best Indian WWE superstar. He tells Deebashree Mohanty that WWE is only about entertainment but contestants sweat it out for real in the ring

He is charming, well built and has an excellent knowledge about Indian food and recipes — meet William Regal, general manager of WWE NXT, a recognised leader in Global entertainment worldwide. Regal was in town looking for an ideal kushtiman from India. How does he plan to do itIJ “Simple. We will be hosting a kushti competition in Chandigarh to find out the most charismatic Indian wrestler and we shall train him to become the next Khali,” Regal tells you, matter of factly.

What he doesn’t know is that there are already hundreds of athletes  waiting to participate in the competition. “The choice is going to be very difficult because Indian wrestlers  have the best physique and exude a lot of charisma in front of the camera. They bring us the big bucks and it’s important for WWE that we find our man soon,” he says during his media visit in the Capital.

Regal who is still in awe of the late Dara Singh feels that wrestling as a sport has not been given its due but that is the case with most indigenous sports around the globe.

“Did you know that dart game was hugely popular in the USIJ It is played as a professional sport and people living in other part of the world also want to play it. What indigenous sport needs is a whole lot of marketing and loads of TV presence,” the good-looking wrestler says.

Regal looks fit enough for a battle but that will have to wait because his channel has a lot of plans for the fans of wrestling.

“We will start a new season and there will be a lot of surprises coming your way,” he tells you, not willing to reveal anything much.

For him, WWE is also about entertainment and less about the actual sport. But that doesn’t take anything away from the seriousness of the sport.

“WWE is pure entertainment and lots of fun. But that doesn't mean people are not fighting a real battle. They are obviously given a script but the punches are all quite real. If you are looking for pure sports, there are other avenues to visit,” the fight master who has wrestled in India back in the 80s, tells you.

Ask him what has changed in India and pat comes the reply: “The awareness around the game of wrestling is a welcome change. After Khali, there is a lot of noise around WWE and suddenly India has become a potential market for us to tap,” he says.