Wrestling With Stereotypes
November 1st, 2007
Contrary to popular belief, the Indian guy is actually the one
doing the lifting, courtesy of WWE.
[Blogger: S.I.] Pro wrestling is the abject shame of many otherwise civilized, upstanding members of society. I know this because I watch every now and then (OK, almost every week, but I fast forward with my DVR), and every time you think they’ve hit bottom, next week, they’re out there with shovels.
Take tonight’s episode of WWE “Raw,” which airs on USA Network. A couple prominent wrestlers, Shawn Michaels and Triple H, were cutting a promo for their group, Degeneration X. As DX went on, a number of wrestlers showed up, wanting to join. Among them: Punjabi powerhouse Dalip Singh Rana, better known as The Great Khali. Perhaps you saw him in Adam Sandler’s remake of “The Longest Yard.” He was the biggest and baddest inmate of all.
In retrospect, I don’t know what I was hoping would (or wouldn’t) happen. Did I really expect them to avoid the lame Indian accent? Shame on me. But, even in this moment of defeat, more good may have come from it than bad.
Initially, HHH did literally one of the worst Indian accents I’ve ever heard. I mean, atrocious. He sounded more like he’d suffered serious head trauma than he did Indian (and, because he is a pro wrestler, this may be true).
I awaited the typical chuckle that the seemingly dimwitted crowd typically emits. Like most people, when they think someone’s funny, they titter regardless of what he says. Add to it the mental state of the typical wrestling fan, and you have the lowest common denominator—someone who will laugh at practically anything. I braced my ears. And to my delight, the laughter never came. The lack of sound lasted so long that HHH had to move on. And I smiled.
For the first time, wrestling fans had impressed me. Or, they at least hadn’t undermined my fast-fading faith in humanity another level. Easily goaded into chanting “Gay,” “Fag,” booing the benevolent, lauding human flesh meeting the steel of chairs and the wood and plastic of tables, verbally salivating at the scantest hint of a woman’s flesh, and often appeased by the actions of wrongdoers, jingoists, and xenophobes—these people didn’t laugh. A couple mitigating factors: this was in LA, not the rural
The other source of my shred of joy? HHH referred to Khali’s translator, Ranjan Singh, by name. And he actually pronounced it correctly. Not “Ron-john.” No big deal, you say? Probably. But, considering that they claim Khali hails from “the jungles of
But at the end of the day, I’d say we just won two. A couple stereotypes debunked, including mine.
If you watch wrestling, that is. Which I don’t.
Tags: Assimilation Issues, The Great Khali, TV, Wrestling (Pro and Other)
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November 1st, 2007 at 10:25 pm
wrestling has always portrayed all minority groups negatively, from minorities to women to gays. as long as their audience revolves around teenage males, they’ll have no reason to change
November 1st, 2007 at 11:02 pm
the jungles of punjab line really pisses me off though. and the fact that his first manager was an Arab-imitator. they don’t bother with any research.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:33 pm
dont expect a repeat performance of intelligence or tolerance from the fans though, were lucky we got even that much.
and khali is awful.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:45 am
Tiger Ali Singh was an Indian wrestler before Khali, and before him was Tiger Jeet Singh. They were probably heckled too.
Another current desi wrestler is Sonjoy Datt (his spelling not mine).