Former World Champion Explains Why India Is A Perfect Market For Professional Wrestling

The WWE recently put their WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt on Jinder Mahal, a man who was a jobber for much of his career before suddenly catapulting into the main event on SmackDown Live. The main line of thought was that the WWE was catering to India, where they had recently begun to expand their WWE Shop items, the WWE Network, and upcoming live events.

In a recent podcast, Ryback spoke poorly of India, insulting the entire country while saying that it was stupid for the WWE to even care about promoting their brand there since it was a poor country and the people with money didn’t care about “fake fighting.”

Wrestling Inc. recently interviewed current GFW Global Champion Alberto Del Rio before the recent Impact Wrestling TV tapings in India and asked him about the comments made by Ryback. While Alberto said that he liked Ryback as a superstar and didn’t want to speak disrespectfully of Ryback, he felt the comments were “stupid.”

Alberto Del Rio, who will battle for the Impact Wrestling Championship at Slammiversary, compared India to his own home country of Mexico. Del Rio, who wrestles as Alberto El Patron in Impact Wrestling, said the people in Mexico don’t have much money and are living in a third-world country as well. However, despite their lack of funds, they supported the wrestling industry because people will spend their money on entertainment.

Alberto Del Rio is the son of Dos Caras, a man considered one of the greatest heavyweight wrestlers to ever compete in Mexico. During his heyday, professional wrestling was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Mexico, just as it is today

Despite the lack of money and the poor living conditions, professional wrestling shows routinely sell out in Mexico and is always a popular form of entertainment in the country. Comic books and movies were created around the characters of Mexican wrestling, including Dos Caras himself. Del Rio’s uncle was the legendary Mil Mascaras, one of the first masked Luchadores to gain popularity in the United States.

“We might not have a lot of money like countries – like Germany, or United States or Spain, but we work hard every single day, to get the things that we like, and to spend money on the things that we like. So, India is a big market.”

The comments follow Ryback making many disparaging comments about India on his podcast. Ryback shared stories about traveling to India for the WWE and troubles he had while there. Ryback claims he heard merchandise sales there are not good and that no one in India has the money to spend on the WWE.

Ryback insulted the Indian laws, claiming that he, Kofi Kingston, and Dolph Ziggler were once abducted in India and held for a ransom of WWE tickets and autographs. He said he went to a tri-level mall and feared for his life because there were 12,000 to 14,000 people there trying to get to him.

Ryback concluded that he doesn’t like going to places like India because the rules there are not the same as other parts of the world. Ryback finished by saying “eff them” about the entire country of India.

Alberto Del Rio laughed about the comments, but he was blunt in his assessment of what Ryback had to say about India.

“His comment is completely stupid. Me, I’m a third generation wrestler. A guy who has seen it all, accomplished it all everywhere. I’m telling you this – India is the perfect market for pro wrestling, because there is a lot of passion and love for the sport. This is my second time in India, and I can feel and see how passionate the Indian fans are for pro wrestling.”

Alberto Del Rio is currently in India with Impact Wrestling, and the company taped a large number of shows there. The WWE is heading to India later this year for some live events but has no television shows lined up to broadcast from the country at this time.

[Featured Image by WWE]