Veer Mahaan appeared on Tuesday’s NXT, teasing a reunion with former tag team partner Sanga.
Backstage, Sanga was talking to Nathan Frazer about the final spot in the North American title ladder match at Halloween Havoc on October 22. After Frazer left, Veer appeared. The two stared each other down as the segment ended.
Mahaan and Sanga recently reunited at a NXT house show on September 24, teaming for the first time since early 2021 under their Indus Sher name. Mahaan had been on WWE TV since April, mostly competing on Raw. However, he only appeared on TV a few times since Triple H was named head of WWE creative in July.
Indus Sher first started teaming in 2018, and at one time were featured on NXT TV managed by Malcom Bivens (Stokely Hathaway in AEW). After the team split up, Sanga reappeared on NXT 2.0, first as a heel bodyguard for Grayson Waller and later in a babyface role, encouraging others backstage.
Indus Sher, the former tag team featuring Veer Mahaan and Sanga, have reunited.
At a house show in Citrus Springs, Florida, the two reunited to face Andre Chase and another talent. It is the first time that the two have teamed together since January 2021, when they teamed with Drew McIntyre to defeat Jinder Mahal and The Bollywood Boyz at WWE Superstar Spectacle, a show highlighting Indian talent.
The two started to team together back in 2018. At one time, they were featured on NXT television managed by Malcom Bivens, now known as Stokely Hathaway in NXT. They were split up, with Veer later being called up to Raw. After feuding with the Mysterios, he has only been seen a few times on television since Triple H took over WWE creative in July.
Sanga was later reintroduced in NXT 2.0 as a bodyguard for Grayson Waller. However, Sanga soon split up with Waller and became a babyface, encouraging others in a positive way in backstage segments. His most recent match aired on Tuesday’s NXT, where he lost to Von Wagner.
After nearly six months of vignettes, Veer Mahaan re-debuted on the Raw after WrestleMania, attacking Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio after Dominik lost to The Miz in 31 seconds.
Mahaan was aligned with Jinder Mahal and Shanky on the Raw brand in the summer of 2021, but was broken off from their act with the idea to push him as a singles competitor. He has been a regular on WWE Main Event since October 2021, winning 14 consecutive bouts on that show.
Born in India, Mahaan, real name Rinku Singh, won a reality show contest in his native country designed to find “The Million Dollar Arm.” He traveled to the United States to continue baseball training with USC pitching coach Tom House.
Mahaan became the first Indian-born player to sign a professional baseball contract in the United States, and was part of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, pitching for a variety of their minor league affiliates over parts of eight seasons.
Mahaan’s baseball story was chronicled in the 2014 Disney film Million Dollar Arm.
Mahaan signed with WWE in January 2018 and made his debut on the NXT brand later that year. He was called up to the Raw brand in May 2021 where his alliance with Mahal and Shanky began.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Joe Alonzo (4:11)
This was another squash against a local jobber as Veer continues his slow march towards his April 4th Raw debut on April 4th.
Whether that date means that he’ll make a WrestleMania appearance remains to be seen, but at least the ridiculously long wait is over.
Alonzo is a Chicago local and worked some AEW Dark matches in 2020 against the likes of Cody Rhodes. His Twitter account tells you all you need to know: he wants to sign a professional wrestling contract really badly. Good luck to him.
Mahaan didn’t give him much here as he shrugged off his advances. Veer used a nerve hold which seems totally unnecessary in a squash, but I guess he wants to clock up some minutes ahead of his Raw debut.
The finish was the usual three move setup: running splash, lawn dart, Million Dollar Arm. But rather than the DDT, he used a submission move this week which we haven’t seen from him before. It was kind of a choke hold, but looked a little loose.
Let’s see how they book him on the main roster and how long his undefeated streak lasts before they give up on him.
Cedric Alexander (w/Shelton Benjamin) defeated T-Bar (8:59)
Once again, T-Bar looked unlucky in his loss but he is still winless in his last five. Apart from unnecessarily long rest holds, this was good.
This went longer than it needed to (nine minutes) with Alexander managing to wear T-Bar down by hurting his legs so that he was too unstable to hit the Eyes Wide Shut.
T-Bar now has the moniker “The Tyrant” on his trunks, but it’s not something they’re making much of a reference to in the announce booth. This losing streak has been full of people stealing victories, but this, coupled with his continual appearance on Main Event, has to be a concern.
They opened with a good pace and it ended well, but otherwise this dragged a bit.
In the end, Alexander used a dropkick to T-Bar’s left knee and followed it up with a leg sweep which toppled him and made him unsteady. He was wincing when he had Alexander up on his shoulders for the Eyes Wide Shut.
Alexander wriggled out of the hold and rolled him up for the win. He and Benjamin got out of there as quick as they could and I guess we’ll see if they rematch this one next week.
Final Thoughts:
Another meager Main Event offering this week. Mahaan will have one more squash before he moves up, so it will be interesting to see who they use on this show after WrestleMania. Main Event is still a show that needs a real shakeup, but I’ve been saying that for years now and it doesn’t look like they’re interested in doing anything with it.
Tonight’s vignette on Raw announced that Veer Mahaan will appear on the April 4 edition of Raw, the Raw following WrestleMania 38 weekend. Vignettes have been airing on Raw since October hyping Mahaan’s debut, usually ending with the phrase “Veer Mahaan is coming”.
Mahaan had been associated with Jinder Mahal and Shanky prior to last year’s WWE Draft. Mahal and Shanky were moved to SmackDown, but Mahaan remained on Raw as a singles wrestler. Despite the vignettes, Mahaan has wrestled regularly on WWE Main Event, most recently defeating a local competitor on the March 14 edition of the show.
Prior to signing with WWE in 2018, Mahaan, real name Rinku Singh, won a reality show called The Million Dollar Arm in India where he threw the fastest and most accurate baseball. He traveled to the United States and eventually played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the MLB. His story was the subject of a film released by Disney in 2014 called Million Dollar Arm.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Gary Heck (3:25)
This was another squash for Mahaan against enhancement talent, but it was a more dominant performance than in previous weeks.
Mahaan’s opponent this week was Heck who seemed to be pretty much fresh out of the box. He is reportedly WWE trainer Larry Heck’s younger brother. That’s some pretty niche trivia right there.
Apart from an unnecessary bear hug, Mahaan could have had this one wrapped up inside a couple of minutes. And, logically, that’s what they should be doing with him. Each week these squashes get slightly shorter, but Mahaan never just plows through the guy.
Heck got in some clubbing forearms in the last minute, but this was very much Mahaan by numbers. He nailed Heck with a running splash to the corner before hitting the Million Dollar Arm and finishing him with the DDT.
Mahaan is now undefeated in twelve straight and getting slightly better, but still no closer to debuting on the main roster.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated T-Bar (5:58)
Ciampa went 3-0 against T-Bar in a match that we really don’t need to be seeing again anytime soon.
Ciampa seems to be nomadic these days as he bounces between NXT, sporadic Raw appearances, and working Main Event. This was his fourth outing on the show and he remains a popular face with the crowd.
When he and T-Bar go at it, it looks pretty stiff, but this was probably the weakest of the three bouts they have had together on this show.
In all three matches, it’s been left with Ciampa getting his hand raised but never felt very definitive or conclusive. The same was true here.
The match was balanced and then went down to near falls. T-Bar landed the Eyes Wide Shut, but Ciampa kicked out. Ciampa went for the Fairy Tale Ending, but couldn’t maneuver T-Bar into it. So, in the end, it was a reversal into a high knee that got it done for Ciampa as he rolled T-Bar up for the win.
The crowd got behind this a little, which was nice. T-Bar looked on disgruntled after the loss while Ciampa waved him bye-bye and blew him a kiss.
Final Thoughts:
Main Event continues to be just a show with little to write home about. What should be the most interesting storyline — when Mahaan will make his main roster debut — has gone on for so long now that it’s just farcical.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Savion Truitt (4:53)
Another week and another squash for Mahaan that again went much longer than it needed to.
Truitt was this week’s victim, making his WWE debut. Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, he has worked for APW and LSC in the past.
They mentioned that Mahaan is still not yet on the main roster despite the continual adverts promoting him coming “soon.” Saxton reckons Mahaan is keeping the roster on its toes. Yeah, that’s it.
Although Truitt got some offense in toward the end, Mahaan finished him with what is becoming a familiar combination: a running splash, the Million Dollar Arm, and a ddt.
Veer is now 11-0 since October last year when they added the ‘Mahaan’ to his name.
Street Profits defeated Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin (7:56)
This was a lot of fun: a good, solid tag match that the pre-Raw crowd could get behind that built to a neat finish.
This was the Street Profits’ Main Event debut. While Angelo Dawkins has worked this show before in a singles capacity, this was Montez Ford’s first outing on the show. Dawkins worked with Buddy Murphy when they were filming shows without crowds at the Performance Center during the pandemic.
They went back and forth in this one and worked through a commercial break. Lots of pace and creativity meant that there was a lot to like here.
The finish was a typical WWE tag finish where one member from the heel team ends up incapacitated on the outside, allowing the other to take the finisher in the middle of the ring without any shenanigans.
With Benjamin and Alexander on the floor, Dawkins nailed them with a diving senton and rolled Benjamin back in so that Ford could end it with the top rope frog splash.
Final Thoughts:
The show featured a fun tag team match and an unnecessarily slow squash, but it was a better show than last week. I’d like to know what the over/under is on Mahaan debuting before WrestleMania, but I’m guessing he’s coming in afterward. Street Profits being on Main Event isn’t a great sign, but they’re good enough to overcome it.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Storm Grayson (3:46)
This was a squash, but it went longer than it needed to with Veer getting the victory in dominant fashion.
WWE was feeding T-Bar local jobbers a few months back, but Veer Mahaan must have run out of lower card opponents — because they gave him Chicago-based wrestler Storm Grayson.
Veer took his time in this one, choosing to stop a two count early on, then picking Grayson up and using a rest hold.
Although Grayson tried to get some offense in, Mahaan no-sold most of it. It went longer than it should, though, and Mahaan should have looked more impressive than he did here.
In the end, the Million Dollar Arm, a running splash, and the leaping Thesz Press finished Grayson off in under four minutes.
Final Thoughts —
One match was all she wrote this week. It seems that WWE did tape Austin Theory vs. Apollo Crews for Main Event on Monday, but it didn’t end up airing. Maybe they chose to cut it after changing their plans with Theory and Pat McAfee. Either way, one crappy squash that ran under four minutes made this a pretty terrible show.
This week’s Main Event was taped at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Apollo Crews (w/ Commander Azeez) (5:00)
This was a rematch from last week and ended with the same outcome. It was definitely a better contest than last time out and felt much pacier.
While Veer Mahaan is still undefeated and may or may not appear on Raw one day soon, Apollo Crews now only has one singles win since last August. They just aren’t pushing the act with Crews and Commander Azeez like they had been — and they looked weak again here.
Azeez got a cheap shot in early on but was sent packing far too easily at the finish. He’s such an enormous presence but isn’t being booked like he should be.
In this one and in last week’s match, Crews tried to get all his stuff into the short bout, but Mahaan had an answer for everything.
Mahaan is slowly improving and seems to enjoy being a babyface as he was here. He finished this one by pulling Crews down from the top rope and using a running splash/Thesz Press.
It remains to be seen what Mahaan’s finisher will be if and when he joins the main roster, as he’s now used three over the last few months.
Liv Morgan defeated Queen Zelina (w/ Carmella) (8:01)
This dragged a little as they were given too much time, but Zelina Vega is enjoying her gimmick and Liv Morgan looked good again here.
Not only was this the first time I can recall one half of the women’s tag team champions working a match on Main Event, this match also marked Vega’s debut on this show.
Logically, Morgan should have been given a tag partner and they could have worked a better match, but nothing tends to make much sense on this show. Carmella didn’t do much other than help Vega out of a pin late on.
Morgan recently worked the women’s Elimination Chamber match and has been up against Rhea Ripley and Doudrop of late, but this was the second time this year she has found herself on Main Event.
After the ad break, they got going into a much better pace and Morgan managed to come back and hit the Oblivion out of nowhere to get the win.
The way that Morgan powers up to quickly snap on Oblivion is really effective and is the kind of thing they could make way more of. This was a good win for her.
Final Thoughts —
Two pretty average matches this week on a show that continues to exist in a vacuum. It will be interesting to see what happens with Veer and whether post-WrestleMania we get any roster shake-ups that would bring some fresh faces to Main Event.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, before Monday’s Raw. Kevin Patrick returned to the announce table after he had been replaced by Jimmy Smith last week.
Veer Mahaan defeated Apollo Crews (w/Commander Azeez) (5:03)
There wasn’t much to this one. They used Azeez to try to distract Mahaan, but his unbeaten run continued here.
Crews and Azeez are pretty forgettable as an act and them working this show really doesn’t help matters. Crews had really found a groove at one point last year, but the brakes have been slammed on that now.
This was slow and labored with Mahaan stupid enough to get distracted by Azeez. Crews tried to get some of his stuff in, but it was cut short.
Crews dodged the Million Dollar Arm, but Mahaan is still using his unnamed DDT finisher, catching Crews with it to take him to 7-0 since adopting his new name.
Tommaso Ciampa defeated T-Bar (8:30)
Ciampa won in a rematch from last month, but this went longer than it needed to after far too much of the match being taken up by rest holds.
Last time out on Main Event, Ciampa had posted a nasty looking elbow injury on his social media accounts. That was over a month ago and he has worked dark matches and NXT since then without favoring any kind of damage.
The crowd was really into Ciampa, but this match felt much longer that the time it ended up running. They made it look like they were working hard even though it wasn’t much of a spectacle.
They did have a good near fall toward the end where you could tell that the crowd thought it might be over. T-Bar used a big boot and Ciampa kicked out at two and three-quarters.
T-Bar went for the Eyes Wide Shut, but Ciampa wriggled out and hit a high knee. He got the win with a really ungainly looking inside cradle and fled the ring after the bell to celebrate.
Final Thoughts:
After the excellent tag match on last week’s show, we returned to mediocrity again on Main Event. Mahaan’s Raw debut is still a running joke, if you can call it that, and you have to worry for the likes of Ciampa who is surely way too good to be sporadically working this show.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, before Monday’s Raw.
Veer Mahaan defeated Akira Tozawa (4:02)
This was a lackluster squash that went longer than it needed to.
Mahaan’s promised debut on Raw is now getting a bit ridiculous. Vignettes started airing back in November 2021 and here we are, four months later, no further along.
Mahaan and Tozawa worked a labored match, complete with a nerve hold halfway through, in which Mahaan no-sold most of Tozawa’s offense.
Mahaan used his Million Dollar Arm move and again, not as his finisher. They referenced the fact that he was a former baseball pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates – something that they haven’t been doing in his last few outings.
Tozawa was finished off by Mahaan’s still unnamed spinning neckbreaker and we still wait to see if or when he ever makes his main roster debut. Based on this outing, be prepared to be thoroughly underwhelmed when he does.
Liv Morgan defeated Doudrop (7:19)
This was perfectly fine as Doudrop took the loss on her first appearance on Main Event.
A similar thing happened to Keith Lee last year when he went from having an episode of WWE 24 air on the WWE Network to making his debut on Main Event in the same week. Doudrop was working with Becky Lynch at the Royal Rumble last weekend and now winds up here, taking a fall, which is probably an unsettling feeling for all involved.
They worked well with Morgan playing the plucky babyface and Doudrop the overpowering force to be reckoned with.
Doudrop exploded out of the blocks which gave the match a good opening feel, but things slowed down after the commercial as they went into a rest hold.
Morgan and Doudrop both had the chance to shine with some nice moves, including a top rope springboard dropkick from Morgan.
In the end, it was a nice finish as Morgan seized upon an opportunity when she got her knees up to block a Vader Bomb in the corner. She saw her chance and sprinted across the ring to nail Doudrop with Oblivion to snatch the win.
Final Thoughts:
On the one hand, it was good to see the women’s roster represented here, especially since they put on a superior performance. On the other, you have to wonder what the future holds for Doudrop after that burial.
Happy New Year, everyone! This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, before Monday’s Raw.
T-Bar defeated Sal Sergio (2:26)
This was just a squash with nothing to it. T-Bar is a decent big guy, but they have absolutely nothing for him right now.
Sergio was Antonio De Luca for an NXT match back in 2020, but has also worked as Mambo Italiano. A graduate from both Lance Storm and Booker T’s wrestling schools, he got nothing in here and was just used as a body to be thrown around by T-Bar. He nailed Sergio over the top rope, chokeslammed him on the apron and then finished him with a big boot and the Eyes Wide Shut.
There’s nothing wrong at all with a squash match on Main Event every now and then, but when you only have two matches on the entire show, you can’t help but feel short-changed.
Veer Mahaan defeated Shelton Benjamin (6:55)
Mahaan had a good match last week, but he and Benjamin didn’t particularly gell here. The main thing is he’s still absolutely, definitely coming to Raw…maybe.
It’s 2022 and they continue to waste Benjamin who is just way better than bouncing around on this show week after week. He did the best he could here, but there were some clunky spots down to poor timing by Mahaan more than anything.
Benjamin nailed Mahan with a kind of leg lariat/superkick before the commercial where he slapped his thigh so hard, people audibly gasped. Otherwise, this was pretty forgettable.
In the end, Veer used his as-yet unnamed finisher to get the victory. It’s kind of a Sister Abigail meets a Cross Rhodes but essentially a spinning, inverted DDT. It looks like it’s here to stay while the references to his short-lived baseball career are apparently gone.
Final Thoughts:
Well, it’s the first WWE Main Event of 2022 and we’re still on autopilot. This was a very forgettable show, but it will be interesting to see what this year holds for Main Event. The Hulu deal reportedly expires this year and with the dwindling roster due to all the cuts, it might mean that the need for a show like this is even more negligible.
