During this week’s episode of Dynamite, former Dallas Mavericks draft pick Satnam Singh made his wrestling debut when he attacked Samoa Joe due to being aligned with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Since then, fans on social media have somewhat unfavorably been comparing 7 ft 2 Indian to The Great Khali and Giant Gonzalez and wondering why AEW would be booking someone so inexperienced on television. However, wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, who is known for being in contact with Tony Khan, has reported the decision comes from the promotion wanting to book a prominent angle for Discovery-owned channel Eurosport India after Discovery and WarnerMedia merged.
The Indian market has long been known as an underutilized market for wrestling promotions. And WWE has previously said that the country is its biggest market globally in terms of television viewership, claiming 350 million unique viewers annually. Additionally, merchandise sales are said to be significant, with wrestling being only second to cricket in terms of popularity. The issue has always been monetizing, but the fans are there in numbers for WWE, and clearly, AEW wants to take a share with their own star.
Whether Singh is the right person for the spot remains to be seen. But he is getting the opportunity due to being a major star in the country due to being the first Indian drafted to the NBA, despite not actually playing in the league. Singh initially looked to get into professional wrestling back in 2017 and worked out at the WWE Performance Center but would continue playing basketball. He then signed for AEW on September 23, 2021, in what could turn out to be a major coup, and has been in training since then.
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