Sanjay Rana

The man who became Great Khali

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The Man Who Became Khali

The Man Who Became Khali

Sanjay Rana, Ratlam 457333 

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‘I was a common man and a common man isn’t allowed to dream big . . . but then, there are those rare moments when one of these ill-fated lives manages to rise from mediocrity like a phoenix from the ashes’

His formative years were nothing but full of turbulence. From leaving his schooling to working as a daily-wage labourer, Dalip Singh Rana had seen it all at a very young age. He was often the subject of ridicule and was poked fun at due to his enormous girth.

However, even under such harsh circumstances, a determined Dalip relentlessly pursued his goal of wrestling for India. Such was his passion that he did what no Indian had done so far – enter the internationally acclaimed WWE arena!

My Fight with Destiny is the story of a man who not only triumphed over wrestling superstars like The Undertaker and went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship but also of a man who conquered his inner demons and physical anomalies.

An inspirational, emotional and no-holds-barred account of a life less ordinary-of a village simpleton who went on to become an international icon.

With Daivari as his manager, the unnamed Singh debuted on WWE television as a villain on 7 April episode of SmackDown!, attacking The Undertaker and leaving him defenceless during his match with Mark Henry, thus causing a no contest ruling.[20] The following week on SmackDown! he was introduced as The Great Khali and Daivari explained that he finally had a client who would destroy The Undertaker (after Muhammad Hassan and Mark Henry had previously failed).[21] Khali made his in-ring debut on 21 April episode of SmackDown!, defeating Funaki.[22]

On 12 May episode of SmackDown!, Khali was John Bradshaw Layfield's hand-picked opponent against World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio (Khali had a height advantage of 21 inches and a weight advantage of 250 pounds) and defeated Mysterio in a squash match.[23] In his match against The Undertaker at Judgment Day on 21 May, Khali defeated The Undertaker with a kick to the head after receiving some illegal help from Daivari.[24][25] Khali continued on a rampage for several weeks, winning handicap matches,[26] beating wrestlers up in a display of power[27][28] and mocking The Undertaker's signature pin and victory pose.[29]

Khali then challenged The Undertaker to a Punjabi Prison match at The Great American Bash.[30] However, Khali was not medically cleared to compete in the match and was instead replaced by Big Show, who lost the match despite Khali's interference. After he was medically cleared, Khali was challenged by The Undertaker to a Last Man Standing match at SummerSlam on 20 August.[31] The match was moved to the SmackDown! just prior to SummerSlam and was won by The Undertaker, thus giving Khali his first definite loss in WWE.[32]

The Great Khali and Daivari were moved to the ECW brand officially when they made their ECW debuts on 31 October episode of ECW on Sci Fi, when Daivari defeated "The Reject" Shannon Moore in a very quick match.[33] Afterwards, Moore was manhandled by Khali.[33] Daivari continued his ECW winning streak over the next several weeks with The Great Khali usually following up the contest with a chokebomb on Daivari's opponent. At December to Dismember on 3 December, Daivari got a victory over Tommy Dreamer following a roll-up.[34] Dreamer then chased Daivari backstage, but Khali appeared and caught Dreamer, planting him on the steel ramp with a chokebomb.

This is the story of how Dalip Singh Rana turned into THE GREAT KHALI!

Rana was born to Jwala Ram and his wife Tandi Devi in a Punjabi Hindu family of the Dhiraina village of Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district.[10][11][3]

Being one of the seven siblings of a poor family, he had to do odd jobs to make ends meet and suffers from acromegaly, which among other effects causes gigantism and chin protrusion.[12] When Rana was serving as a security guard in Shimla, he caught the eye of a police officer from the neighbouring State of Punjab that—having previously helped several employees of Punjab Police to become international sportspersons—got him inducted into the Punjab Police in 1993,[13] and (though Rana was reluctant to leave Himachal Pradesh, his brother was also offered a job in the Punjab Police) once he landed in Punjab's Jalandhar, Rana trained in the local gyms to become a wrestler and soon he got selected for specialised wrestling training in the United States.

All Pro Wrestling (2000–2001)Under the ring name Giant Singh he first became a professional wrestler for All Pro Wrestling (APW) in the United States, making his first appearance in October 2000 when teaming with Tony Jones against the West Side Playaz.[1]

World Championship Wrestling (2001)When Rana came to San Francisco, he signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and spent eight months there, until WCW was bought by their rival promotion, World Wrestling Federation (WWF).[15]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2001–2002)As Giant Singh, he received an offer from New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) by Team 2000 leader, Masahiro Chono, along with another big man, Giant Silva.[1] They were the tallest tag team in professional wrestling history at an average height of 7 foot 2½ inches and a combined weight of 805 pounds, teaming up for the first time at the Tokyo Dome in October when labelled as Club 7 by Chono defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenzo Suzuki, Wataru Inoue and Yutaka Yoshie in a handicap Match when Silva pinned Tanahashi and Inoue at the same time.[16] Singh suffered his first loss in a tag team match at Wrestling World 2002 in January 2002 after Hiroyoshi Tenzan pinned him with a cradle.[17] Singh suffered another big tag defeat during March, being pinned by Manabu Nakanishi after a German suplex pin, though his most critical loss came in August at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, when after a falling out he was pinned by Silva in a singles match.[1]

Various promotions (2002–2006)Starting in 2002, he also wrestled in the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and the Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) until 2006, when he signed with WWE.[18]

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWEUndefeated streak (2006–2007)On 2 January 2006, Rana became the first Indian professional wrestler to be signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[19] He was assigned to their developmental federation, Deep South Wrestling,[1] where he wrestled under his real name.[7]

On 3 October, daredevil Johnny Knoxville aired an interview with Khali and his translator on his website, jackassworld.com, but when Knoxville asked about Khali's "taliwacker" he became upset and threatened to tip the interview table onto Knoxville.[54] Khali later invited Knoxville to attend 13 October episode of Raw, where Knoxville was attacked by Khali, WWE Diva Beth Phoenix and Hornswoggle. Khali then took on a more fun persona and became a fan favourite when he and Ranjin Singh hosted the weekly Khali Kiss Cam, where Singh would summon ostensibly random women from the audience to kiss Khali. In May 2009, The Great Khali feuded with Dolph Ziggler, winning by disqualification after Ziggler attacked him with a steel chair.[55] As a result, Khali began coming out to the ring during and after Ziggler's matches, in attempt to gain revenge and to stop Ziggler from cheating.[56][57] Over the next few weeks, Khali lost to Ziggler by countout and disqualification after Ziggler made it look like Khali hit him with a steel chair.[58][59] At The Bash on 28 June, Khali lost to Ziggler by pinfall after Kane returned and attacked Khali.[60] It was later revealed that Ranjin Singh was Khali's brother, while the feud with Kane resulted in matches at SummerSlam on 23 August and Breaking Point on 13 September, both of which Khali lost.[61][62]

Khali required knee surgery and Kane assaulted him with the ring steps during a match so Khali could have time off.[63] Whilst injured, Khali made a surprise appearance alongside Ranjin Singh, Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon on 2 November episode of Raw as a judge for the Raw's Got Talent segment, in which he hit Chavo Guerrero with a chop.[64][65] Khali made his official return on 14 December episode of Raw, teaming with Christian and Kane to defeat Ezekiel Jackson, Vladimir Kozlov and William Regal.

On 2 April episode of SmackDown it was announced that Khali would take time off to spend time with his family and regroup his thoughts back in India, but he made an appearance as Khaluber (Khali dressed as MacGruber) on 19 April Raw by teaming up with special guest host Will Forte (as MacGruber) in a handicap match against Vladimir Kozlov which they won by intentional countout.[66][67] As part of the 2010 WWE supplemental draft, Khali and Ranjin Singh were both drafted back to the Raw brand.[68] After returning from his hiatus the previous month, Khali was announced by John Cena to be a part of his team along with Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Edge, John Morrison and R-Truth to face The Nexus at SummerSlam on 15 August, but on 9 August episode of Raw he was assaulted and injured by The Nexus, thus removing him from the match. Following the attack, Khali took another hiatus to compete in Big Boss, in which he was the runner up on.

Khali made his return at the 2011 Royal Rumble, but was eliminated shortly by Mason Ryan. On 14 March episode of Raw, after Khali defeated The Miz by disqualification, Miz assaulted Khali with a steel chair, injuring him. Khali won an interbrand dark match battle royal at WrestleMania XXVII on 3 April.[69] On 26 April, Khali was drafted back to SmackDown as part of the 2011 supplemental draft. Khali returned on 29 April episode of SmackDown, talking backstage with Jinder Mahal, who made his WWE debut that night. On 2 May episode of Raw, Khali dressed up as the Tooth Fairy at The Rock's birthday party. On 6 May episode of SmackDown, Mahal—unimpressed by how Khali and Ranjin Singh have been partaking in childish activities instead of winning matches—confronted Singh about his mismanagement of Khali. Mahal then interrupted a Khali Kiss Cam segment the following week on SmackDown, slapping Khali twice. On 20 May episode of SmackDown, Mahal interrupted Khali's match against Jey Uso, which led to Khali leaving the ring to confront Mahal, who then slapped Khali again, which made Khali re-enter the ring, defeat Jey Uso and then assault Jimmy Uso after the match.

On 27 May episode of SmackDown, after being defeated by Kane, Mahal came out and shoved Ranjin Singh and then Khali used his Vise Grip on Singh, thus forming an alliance with Mahal and acting as Mahal's bodyguard, assaulting Mahal's opponent's after his matches. On 1 July edition of SmackDown, Ranjin Singh revealed that Mahal was their brother-in-law and that if Khali did not obey Mahal, then he would divorce Khali's sister and put his family back into poverty. On 9 September episode of SmackDown, Khali and Mahal went against WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom (Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston) in a losing effort after Khali pushed Mahal, allowing Kingston to hit his finishing move onto Mahal and after the match he walked away from Mahal, thus endinng their alliance.[70] On 23 September episode of SmackDown, Khali defeated Mahal. On 30 September episode of SmackDown, Khali was defeated by World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry, who after the match "fractured" Khali's fibula with a steel chair.