Who is Veer Mahaan? Incredible journey to WWE | Rinku Singh Rajput, 2022

What comes to mind when you hear about WWE Indian Wrestlers? The Great Khali? Of course, a sub inspector reached a level where he is known internationally. He became so popular and made India proud. Although before Khali, Gama Singh and Tiger Ali were part of the WWE Franchise, they never became as popular as Khali. What if I told you that WWE has signed another wrestler from India? He is Veer Mahan. Veer Mahaan is the ring name of Rinku Singh Rajput.

Let’s dedicate this post to Veer Mahan. And let me take you through his journey.

Veer Mahaan’s Early Life

Rinku Singh Rajput was born in a small village in the state of Uttar Pradesh called Gopiganj, Bhadohi. He was born on 8th Aug, 1988(34 years old) His family was poor, and his father drove a truck. He was one of 7 brothers and sisters who all lived in a one-room house with their parents. He was the youngest of all the siblings. Rinku Singh was interested in javelin and cricket as a child. He was left handed javelin thrower in his teenage.

One show came into his life when he was a teenager, and that changed everything for him. The Million Dollar Arm Show was organized in 2008. And the prize money was 1 million dollars. The show was about baseball. The creator of this show was looking for someone who could throw the fastest and most accurate baseball. Rinku Singh had never heard of baseball or the number of zeroes in a million dollars, but he dared to take the challenge. He took the train from Lucknow to Delhi while having just 20 RS in his pocket.

Rinku Singh’s Professional Baseball Journey

I don’t know if he won because of luck or because he worked hard to change his life, but he did. There were 37,000 people who entered the contest. He threw the baseball at 87 miles per hour, which is crazy fast. After winning the show, he went to Los Angeles and trained for baseball there. Tom House, the coach, taught him how to play. He learned how to play the game and also English.

He was signed to play baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he had no idea. Everyone thought it was a publicity stunt because Rinku didn’t know how to play baseball at all. He didn’t know how to speak English and didn’t even know what a strike out was.

But he studied the game, and he picked it up and got used to it very quickly according to his coach. He got better by working out, studying the game every minute, and playing. He hadn’t seen his parents in years because he was following his dream and rarely talked to them on the phone. They had no idea what he was doing.

He began to do well at his game. He won his first professional baseball game in America. In 11 games, he had a record of 1-2 and an ERA(earned run average) of 5.84. Singh also played baseball for Australia’s team, the Canberra Cavalry. During his career, he also met President Barack Obama. After a few good years, he got injury and missed a lot of games. He played baseball for eight years. During his career, a movie was made by Walt Disney based on his inspirational story, and then he had different plans.

Film : Million Dollar Arm

Walt Disney produced a movie called Million Dollar Arm based on the true stories of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel’s success story. Suraj Sharma(Indian Actor) played the role of Rinku Singh in the movie. This movie was a success at the box office.

WWE Journey: Rinku Singh to Veer Mahaan 

After the success in baseball, he didn’t stop; he wanted to tell his story to the world. He took the path of WWE. He trained really hard for WWE.

His journey started on the 14th of January, 2018. Rinku Singh signed a contract with WWE. On May 31st, 2018, he made his debut in NXT live event, but he lost that match. He struggled initially, but in 2020, he made his televised debut along with Saurav Gurjar(another Indian wrestler, wwe) and manager Malcolm Bivens. They defeated Ever-Rise in their debut match. 

At the Superstar Spectacle on January 22, 2021, Rinku and Saurav joined forces with Drew Mclntyre to beat Jinder Mahal and the Bollywood Boyz in a 6-man tag-team match.
He changed his ring name to Veer Mahaan and stayed with Raw Brand. He didn’t show up on Raw for months. On the April 4, 2022 episode of Raw, Mahaan finally came back to TV. He fought Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik.

After a few days, on September 24, Veer Mahaan and Saurav worked together again at an NXT live event and beat Chase and Bodhi. Veer Mahaan has also fought with Roman Reigns and won. Veer Mahaan is the main roaster for WrestleMania Raw right now, but he doesn’t get to be on TV very often.

Veer Mahaan’s Bio

Age : 34 years

Height: 6 foot 4 inches

Weight: 275 pounds or 124.7 Kilogram

He appear in the Ring having Tripund tilak on his forehead, Rudraksh necklace around his neck and tattoo of Shree Ram on his arm. And a tattoo of “माँ ” (Mother) on his chest with long hairs.

His journey from village boy to professional baseball player, to being the subject of a film, to becoming a WWE wrestler is an inspiration to all of us. 

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Resources : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinku_Singh_(baseball), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojm2iwSmRoU, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGGZ1uG_hQk

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