In 2006, for the first time ever, an Indian wrestler stepped into the WWE ring. Standing 7-feet-tall and weighing in at a massive 160 kilos, he was the new goliath. Wrestlers were scared, the audience was awestruck and we Indians were incredibly proud. Dalip Singh Rana or the ‘The Great Khali' had finally arrived on to the proving grounds of the WWE. The eighth tallest wrestler in WWE's history was soon reaching for the stars. He was the new poster boy of the WWE and gave Indians and fans all over the world a new reason to watch wresting again. But did you know that Khali's roots stem from the sport of bodybuilding? This is a fact that's so unheard of, that even his Wikipedia page has no mention of it whatsoever. This piece, will aims to take you on a journey into his enigmatic bodybuilding past.
To start with, Khali was already a genetic freak. His potential was discovered by a very highly respected Indian bodybuilding guru called Dr. Randir Hastir. This was his start in the world of professional bodybuilding.
It's mentioned on a lot of forums that his bench went up to 600 pounds, during his bodybuilding days. His max bicep curl is said to be 200 lbs. That's pretty hard to believe but so are Khali's genetics.
While there's not a lot of info on the timeline of his bodybuilding career, it's speculated that he was well into the sport for over a decade before swapping it for wrestling.
A look at the images from his bodybuilding days and it's not hard to notice the hard work he put in to excel in the sport.
For those who don't know, Khali suffers from a rare condition called acromegaly. Under this condition, the pituitary gland produces more growth hormone that leads to unstoppable growth of the body. Generally, it's called gigantism.
Khali went up to the regional and domestic level competition at best and then switched to wrestling. While people think he's a genetic freak, in actuality, it's hard for people suffering from gigantism to train. The growth of certain parts of the body can quickly get out of hand, taking aesthetics for a toss but Khali, being the badass that he is, kept the grind going.
More or less, his move to WWE proved to be a mammoth success. If closely looked at, he wasn't built for the sport of bodybuilding, as wrestling embraced his size and disorder and made him supremely successful. And we're much happier for it!
