Bhangra and the pedigree night

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 11 

The mobile cameras were out at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and so were the dance moves by some in the aisles amid occasional abusive chants. This was the supposed night where ‘The Modern Day Maharaja’ Jinder Mahal was to give a big performance in front of his Punjabi-speaking followers. Instead, the script went awry.

Triple H, the icon, who had more backers amongst the young crowd, ground out a take-down after taking some ‘punishment’ from the Maharaja. Once the biggest match of the night was over it was time for bhangra and some big praise from the past master to the new king. “He has earned my respect and India you are in good hands,” he said of Jinder. 

In turn, Jinder touched his feet. Then the bhangra beats rang out loud and the two shook a leg or two alongside The Singh Brothers. Then the script took another turn. Out came the move — The Pedigree — which ended the big contest.

The Pedigree, Triple H’s signature move where he twists his opponent’s arms behind his back and then he drops them with full force, head on to the floor, was applied on the helpless Singh Brothers.

In between, the crowd showed their support by chanting CM Punk’s name again and again. Punk left the WWE years ago. Others were baiting Jinder with AJ Styles chants. Jinder lost his championship to Styles a month ago.

But the worst of the crowd ire was reserved for Enzo Amore and Elias. Both mocked the Indians and got the abuse from the crowd.

Theatrics on display

The six-man match-up that had the The Shield team of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose versus Samoa Joe, Sheamus and Cesaro was full of theatrics. At one point Roman was prone on the mat trying to swim towards Seth to tag him but the crowd was still chanting in favour of The Shield.

“You know it is scripted, I know it is scripted, but I still enjoy it,” Rohit Mishra, who had travelled all the way from Pune to witness the live event. “It is just like they do it in the movies, but here they do it live,” added the 23-year-old, who claimed he has been hooked to the WWE fights since he was three.

For others like Arsh Bharadwaj the love grew after watching, reading and prasticing all the famous chants.

The 17-year-old, who is from Rohtak, was chanting for most part in an American accent. “I have picked up the accent from watching them on the YouTube. This thing grows on while you start to read and research about the stars. I am a life line fan.”

For 37-year-old software professional Snehendu Chakraborty the chance to witness Triple H in real was a big lure. “I am from that generation when WWE started to show its match ups in the early 90s. Triple H was a big star then, he is a big star now. He got the biggest cheers when he entered. It was a chance I wasn’t going to miss,” he said.