Wrestling league to restart next year

The Wrestling Federation of India has announced the restart of its Pro Wrestling League from January 2026. The league was discontinued in 2019 because of Covid and issues of non-payment to several wrestlers and vendors.

The new rights holders Ono Media and WFI have assured that those issues will not hinder the restart of the league.

Former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was the chief guest at the press meet, said a few issues played a part in the discontinuance. “As a former president I can tell you that the last rights holders, led by Kartikeya Sharma, did a fantastic job. Covid hurt the league and a few other issues in the last few years stopped us from restarting it,” he said.

The current WFI chief Sanjay Singh assured that no such issues will crop up when the league restarts. “We have all the rights and we will ensure no such delays in payment or any such issues will stop this league,” the WFI president said.

The CEO of the league, Akhil Gupta, confirmed that the venue will be Delhi. “We have a very small window this time and so it will be held in Delhi but we are hoping that we will take it to multiple venues next year,” he said.

He also confirmed that the league will have six franchise owners who will pick five men and four women wrestlers across nine weight categories.