Tag: wwe india

WWE sets up Jinder Mahal vs. Triple H for house show in India

Posted on by Joseph Currier

While Jinder Mahal may not be WWE Champion when the company heads to India next month, he already has at least one high-profile match set for the tour.

WWE set up Mahal vs. Triple H for their December 9th house show on Twitter last night. Triple H first put out a video saying that he’s been asked repeatedly if he’s going to step back into the ring on the tour and challenged Mahal to the “biggest match in India’s history” if the fans want it bad enough. Mahal then replied in a promo where he accepted the challenge.

WWE will be in New Delhi, India for house shows at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on December 8th and 9th. Before losing the WWE title, Mahal was supposed to defend the championship against Kevin Owens at the shows. Whether Owens will still be on the tour (and who Mahal will be facing on the 8th if he isn’t) hasn’t been announced yet.

Mahal, the Singh Brothers, and Owens had been scheduled to be the only SmackDown representation on what are otherwise Raw house shows. Mahal would have been positioned as a complete babyface against Owens in India. Now that he’s facing Triple H on the 9th, it seems more likely that both will end up getting cheered.

After losing the title to AJ Styles in Manchester, England last Tuesday, Mahal will inevitably get a rematch at some point. The next SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view will be Clash of Champions on December 17th.

WWE officially confirms the signing of Kavita Devi

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has officially confirmed the signing of another Mae Young Classic participant.

In conjunction with Jinder Mahal’s media tour of India, WWE announced that Kavita Devi and Shadia Bseiso (who is from Jordan) have signed with the company — touting that they’re the first Indian and Middle Eastern women to sign WWE contracts. Both attended tryouts that the company held in Dubai this past April.

“Recruiting Kavita and Shadia to join our developmental system underscores WWE’s ongoing commitment to building a talent roster as diverse as our fan base,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque said. “We’re confident Kavita and Shadia will inspire future WWE superstars as we continue to recruit the most talented athletes and entertainers from around the world.”

Devi lost to Dakota Kai in the first round of the Mae Young Classic. A clip of the match that WWE posted on YouTube far outdrew anything else from the tournament due to interest in India and it being posted on Indian news websites, with it currently approaching eight million views.

Dave Meltzer reported in the September 18th edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Devi was already under contract with WWE. Meltzer notes that she’s not scheduled to start in the United States until January.

Jinder Mahal to defend his WWE title against Kevin Owens in India

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has announced Jinder Mahal’s opponent for their two-show tour of India in December.

While doing media in India, Mahal appeared on the set of WWE Sunday Dhamaal (the company’s weekly Hindi-language program) to reveal that Kevin Owens would be challenging him for the WWE Championship on the two house shows. Mahal defending against a heel would seem to indicate that he’ll be presented as a complete babyface in the country.

The shows will take place at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on December 8th and 9th. Mahal, the Singh Brothers, and Owens will be appearing at them despite it being a Raw-branded tour. Others who have been advertised for the events are Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, The Miz, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.

Before going to India, the Raw roster will be in Abu Dhabi for a show on December 7th. Mahal, the Singh Brothers, and Owens haven’t been advertised for that event.

While plans could change, WWE announcing that Mahal will be defending his title against Owens in India could mean that his reign is planned to last through at least those shows. The next SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view will be Clash of Champions on December 17th, and we should find out what Mahal’s direction for November’s dual-branded Survivor Series PPV is in the coming weeks.

WWE officially set to tour India in December

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Additional notes added by Bryan Rose

As was reported a few weeks back in the Observer, it is now official that WWE will be running two December shows at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, India.

Tickets for the shows on December 8th and 9th are now on sale in India, priced from $26 U.S. to $535 U.S.

They will be Raw-brand house shows featuring Jinder Mahal. The names listed for the shows are Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, and Mahal as the top stars along with Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, The Miz, Sasha Banks, and Bayley.

It had been speculated that WWE would be touring the country sometime before the end of the year. WWE has had its eye on the Indian market for much of 2017, producing a new weekly program in Hindi exclusive to the country as well as putting the WWE title on Mahal, who has been champion since May.