The Great Khali discusses transition from feared WWE giant to comedy act
The Great Khali discussed his transition from a serious in-ring performer to comedic moniker in WWE. He believed his decision to leave after a few years led to Vince McMahon’s decision on his presentation towards the end of his WWE run.
Khali talked about the timeline leading up to his WWE exit and McMahon’s portrayal of him from a feared giant to comedy wrestler on the Insight Podcast with Chris Van Vliet. He recalled his impact and influence on audiences worldwide especially drawing eyeballs from India on WWE with his presence.
“I just say I didn’t want to work more WWE, you know, after WWE found out, he was thinking ‘yeah, Khali wants to leave, he wants to leave, he wants to leave.’ So then he made me like a comedy wrestler because he wants to kill my character. That’s true.”
“When I started wrestling (in) WWE all Indians watched wrestling every kid, woman, man, youngster, old, every (one), billion people watched wrestling.”
Khali was introduced as a feared giant and marked his WWE debut by attacking The Undertaker on an edition of SmackDown in 2006. By the end of his run with the company, he had taken on the Punjabi Playboy moniker. Despite having his last match in the company in 2014 after his contract expired, he made a special appearance at the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.
Rosanne Raphael is a wrestling writer with over three and a half years of experience covering all things related to the industry. From a kindergarten teacher to PR Associate to turning her lifelong passion for the industry into a career, Rosanne is currently writing for F4W Online where she focuses on wrestling news, analysis, and storytelling.
Rosanne previously contributed to Sportskeeda as an Assistant Content Manager.
When not consumed by wrestling, Rosanne is a musician and an aspiring artist.