The crowd cheered their favourite wrestler's name, kids came along with slogans and wore their favourite wrestler's T-shirt along, there was excitement in the air as people queued to get inside the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium to witness WWE's superstars right in front of their eyes. Jatin Verma was there and he has all the details.
From kids to adults, there was different sort of excitement on Friday. For kids, it was a chance to see the new-gen stars live and for adults it was to see yesteryears stars that they mimicked in their childhood, executing their signature moves on their younger opponents. Thousands queued three hours prior to the start of the WWE event in the capital. With such excitement outside, it was anyone’s guess what the reception would be inside the arena. To add to the fun, RJ Raunak entertained the crowd by asking the audience to express their love for WWE. RJ Raunak asked small kids to mimic their favourite wrestler and gave WWE goodies to those that did the best.
Indian WWE fans were treated to the euphoria of the sport which kicked off with the very first entrance music. Around 7PM on Friday, the lights went dim and that's when the chants of 'WWE WWE WWE', 'CENA CENA CENA' echoed the stadium. The spotlight was in the middle of the ring. Flashes from mobile phones and cameras like fireflies were in the house like clusters of stars in the galaxy.
The much anticipated show began with 'The Big Red Machine' The Kane coming in to his signature music and the much feared slow walk. Kane faced Bray Wyatt and won in under ten minutes.
Next in line was Triple-threat tag team match between The New Day, The Usos and The Primetime Players. New Day emerged as the winners of this match after Xavier Woods pinned Jimmy from The Usos. Jordan and Chad Gable then drew heat with perfectly delivered jibes of: "You have no good sportspersons in India."
The fans booed and it was expectedly replaced with a loud cheer with the entrance of Indian NXT Superstar Kishan Raftaar (lovepreet Sangha). He outclassed Jordan with his finisher 'Jai Hind' and fittingly replied, "Jason, if you are sportsperson, you should never disrespect another one" and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
During the event, 10-year old Rahul Mehta was all prepped up for the show having slogans on chart papers and carrying merchandise of Kane. When asked about how he is feeling seeing all these wrestler live in front of him he said, "This is best start to 2016 that I could possibly ask for. This is the best day of my life. I watch WWE everyday and I am huge fan. It is not just fighting for me, it is what I will remember all my life that I saw all these wrestlers live!"
If this was all heavy built muscles giants, then how can one forget the WWE divasIJ Divas champ Charlotte went up against Summer Rae, which was won by by Charlotte. To add a comedy element Charlotte mimicked her father Rick Flair’s walking style.
Satendar Dagar making his debut was up next. Dagar entered with a Gada and defeated his opponent Chad Gable.
‘My role model is my Mother'
WWE champion Roman Reigns’ role model isn’t a wrestler but his mother Patricia — who was also a professional wrestler. “My father was a professional wrestler and he used to travel the world so when I was child, she was the one who helped me growing up and taking care of me. She was always there for me. I learnt to be a good man from a good woman, so I am very proud to say that my mother is my role model,” he said.
On being asked about the visit to India, he said: "It feels great to be in India. It's always good to see the world; always good to see new places. When I'm sitting at home, one of the great things is when my daughter and I watch TV, and when she sees or hears about a place for the first time, I tell her, `Daddy's been there!' Now I can say that about India as well.”
When question about WWE's authenticity as a sport came, Roman calmly replied, "We're in sports entertainment and we don't tell anybody any different. We're performers on a show and we're telling a story through all of it. But then, is it extremely physicalIJ Absolutely! We're here to tell you a story and take you on an emotional roller-coaster and have you enjoy that ride with us. For anyone to say that WWE is fake or anything like that, no sir! It's very physical and the injuries are real, the blood is real. You get in the ring with me, or any other person in the roster, and you will have hell to pay. These guys are world-class athletes. look at my nose right now. I used to be a lot better looking before I joined WWE," he signed off.