Wrestlers Kurt Angle and Gail Kim were in India to promote TNA’s latest collaboration with an Indian programming network. They spoke to Iknoor Kaur about how India has evolved in the sport
When two well-bodied and six feet something-tall men, smash each other on the ground and scream as they show off their moves, one of the first things said by the television viewer is, “It’s all fixed.”
After all the blood and sweat, screaming and shouting and hours of wrestling, that is all they get. There was a time wrestling was a sport that entertained, however, today it may have become an entertaining sport instead. Olympic gold medallist wrestler Kurt Angle and woman wrestler Gail Kim, who were in the Capital recently to promote Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling’s recent collaboration with Sony Six, felt otherwise. “It’s not fixed, it’s predetermined,” said Kurt as he sat up to his defence.
“If two of us are going to wrestle, we both will know who the winner is going to be, but most of the match in the ring, is without any planning. It is a very dangerous sport and taxes your body to no ends. If we start actually competing against each other I don’t think any of us would last even a week,” he shared and Gail added, “We don’t deny that it is not about entertainment. That is the entire idea. It’s physically real and demanding along with being entertaining. There’s a creative team and writers, so that the fans can enjoy what they are watching. But the athletic part is very real.”
Along with men’s wrestling TNA will also bring women’s wrestling to the forefront. According to Gail, that may help inspire more women to take up the sport.
She said, “With wrestling, women get a chance not to only wrestle, but look beautiful and be athletic at the same time. So I think that women here may get inspired.”
Kurt explained, “It is not about girls walking in bikinis and pulling each other’s hair. It is really about wrestling and seeing beautiful girls who actually know how to do it. You don’t see that happen often. People get to see technique instead of beauty or glamour. That is why the sport is a sport and not a general entertainment channel show.”
A big misconception about wrestlers is that they are usually never that fit because of the kind of strain their bodies go through. However, Gail said that being fit is one of the most important and difficult things in the sport.
“As a girl you need to be beautiful, have a good body and at the same time be physically fit and fight those matches,” she added.
On the flipside, Kurt feels that “being fit is the only alternative to losing your job. You are going to be injured and you need to know how to work around that. You have to know how to prevent them. Your body is your temple — the better you look, the better you portray yourself on TV. We have to look like world class athletes — diet right and train right. At least for Gail and me, since we are top class wrestlers, if we are not on TV, we’re not getting the exposure we need,” he explained.
During his visit to Delhi, Kurt also spent a day with Indian wrestler and Olympic silver medalist Sushil Kumar. Kurt believes that India in general has dramatically evolved in the world of wrestling.
He said, “Talking as an Olympic wrestler, I have to say that Indians have grown by leaps and bounds. Right now India has two Olympic medallists on its team, which is amazing because not many countries have that. I can’t believe how good these wrestlers are. When I wrestled in 1996, I was happy if I drew an Indian wrestler because I knew I was going to kick his b*** (laughs). But it’s a lot different now. They have grown as world class athletes and tough competitors.” In spite of India’s growth in wrestling, we still lag behind in pro wrestling, added Kurt.
“The only pro wrestlers we have from India are The Great Khali and Sanjay Dutt, but they are trained in the US. So how does one bridge that gapIJ We know it as a fact that if we bring the facilities to India, there will be a lot of wrestlers who will emerge,” he asserted. Kurt also shot for a few episodes on Sab TV’s Baal Veer.
“It is a part of our cross-branding with Sony Six. It was great fun. I did some pro wrestling with the kids and the actors and it was very comical. I had a ball,” he summed up.
photos Pankaj Kumar