There are no shortcuts to success, says Kane
MUMBAI: One has seen hard core wrestlers; one has seen these wrestlers turn entertainers and the picture frame was complete when on Thursday one's
saw in flesh and blood the hard core entertainer-wrestler, Kane, from WWE.
Kane, called the 'The Big Red Machine', is on a promotional tour in the country for Ten Sports. He is a former WWE champion, two-time Intercontinental champ and nine-time World Tag Champ and Hardcore champion.
Kane told the media, "There are no shortcuts to success. To be a successful wrestler one should avoid taking shortcuts and go through conventional channels. I have always told people to go the right way, better to get trained, come through the conventional channels. Many aspiring wrestlers try to make their way by getting into street-style fighting, I don't like that."
On the Indian giant in WWE, 'The Great Khali', Kane said,"he's awesome. Much of the popularity of WWE in India is due to him."
WWE is labelled as fake wrestling but that doesn't worry Kane who says, "WWE is entertainment. But it's also physical and people underestimate that. We are there to make others smile." That was the bottom line.
The wrestler, who once trained to be a teacher but never taught, met Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who teamed up with his half-brother The Undertaker in the film, 'Khilaidyon Ka Khiladi.
"Even after being a star he (Akshay) still does his own stunts, it's remarkable," Kane said. "The difference is that I drink protein shake and he drinks mango shake," Kane joked.
Brought memories of our all-time great wrestler-turned-entertainer (in ring and later on celluloid), Dara Singh. For Dara wrestling was a hobby from childhood.
"I used to see muscled wrestlers in my village and as a kid I aspired to be like them. Later, I got a chance to go to Singapore, not as a wrestler but for another career opportunity. Freestyle wrestling was very popular there. Other Indian, people from Punjab urged me to take it up saying I had a body for it. It was then that I took up professional wrestling. I stayed there for three years and trained myself. Then in other countries - the west, the middle east over four years or so, I came to be recognised as an international wrestler."
His wrestling career brought Dara in contact with the finest in the world. Just like Gama pehelwan of the 30s who conquered.
In the 50s and 60s, Tamasha Wrestling was a rage in Mumbai and some other metros. Peter Patel, one of the organisers would rustle up wrestlers from god knows where. Anglo-Indian hulks proliferated in those days and they were roped in for the bouts at Worli's Vallabhai Patel Stadium.
The walls of the stadium compound and those of the cemetery and crematorium opposite Marine Lines would be plastered with pictures of the hulks and the wrestling greats from Dara Singh, his brother Randhawa, legend King Kong, Pakistani Aslam and others having fancy names like Flash Gordon, Ali Reza Bei, Andre Cotula, Kid Zamboa, Baron Von Hekzi, Tiger Ray Holden and the Russian Bear- George Szybisco.
The one who captured Indians' imagination was Sydney-born King Kong. His real name was Emile Czaja. He was 182 kg and started his professional career in India in 1937.
He got the name "King Kong" after playing the part of King Kong in an Indian movie. His bouts with arch-rival was Sheik Ali were famous as also with Dara Singh. Dara once lifted King Kong, spun him him again and again in the air and then threw him out of the ring. When he came back the referee Wong Bok Lee gave King Kong a drop-kick! Shades of WWE.
King Kong died in Singapore in a car crash in 1970 on his way to a wrestling match. Canadian Flash Gordon made up the triumvirate with Dara and King Kong.
As in WWE the spectators knew this was make-believe wrestling yet they enjoyed. How adults and kids alike can enjoy such bouts could be a subject for psychological study. The media was there and it lapped it up with a pinch of cynicism. An ice-cream candy during the interval maybe did the trick.
There would be PR journalists would hype up the bouts. What Aslam would do, would Dara use the drop-kick, or the aeroplane throw? There would be doubles bout between Dara and Randhawa and Pakistani opponents.
I once crept low near the ring to see what the impact of the blow was and I found that the wrestler was hitting his opponent's thigh with the inside of his forehand, which is not as painful as the whole arm. One wrestler even winked at me.
The better wrestlers from abroad were sought after for stunts. One from Poland, Goldstein even did stunts in Hindi film Jungle Ka Jawahar with all-time great stunt queen Fearless Nadia.
Indeed those were the golden days of Tamasha Wrestling. Everything wasn't hunky dory though. There was exploitation. There were injuries, there was penury. The last days of King Kong in Hong Kong are shrouded in melancholy.
Far removed from the ribaldry of WWE. As Evans disclosed on Thursday when asked about injuries,"I have had my share, torn biceps, broken knees, back injuries.
Entertainment, even for tamasha wrestlers, comes at a price. Remember that when you laugh you guts out seeing their antics in the ring.
timesofindia
