Rinku Singh has had his career transformed overnight after winning the Million Dollar Arm competition. He has transcended his career by being a professional wrestler in WWE. Here's his incredible journey.
If dreams do come true, one must be inspired by the incredible journey of Rinku Singh. From a small village in Gopiganj, Lucknow, it all began in the form of a baseball pitcher before it was transcended into professional wrestling in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Also known by his ring-name Veer Mahan, he is the second Indian-born wrestler after The Great Khali to rule WWE. As fans wonder to know more about him, here is his incredible journey to stardom.
Early life
In a family of nine siblings, Rinku played cricket and threw a javelin as a kid, while he also won a national medal in the latter as a junior competitor.
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Million Dollar Arm
It is a talent scouting competition organised by the United States of America (USA)-based Major League Baseball (MLB). Organised in India too, the competition was to hunt the fastest throwing pitcher. With more than 37,000 cnadidated participating, Rinku won the contest, clocking a speed of about 140 km/h, while he was rewarded with a cash-prize of $100,000.
Baseball career
Although his family was sceptical about him going to the USA, Rinku travelled to the country, training under Tom House. Besides, he watched the game regularly and also learned to speak English. As he clocked a speed of 148 km/h after training, he was offered a contract by Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the first India to be offered an MLB contract, alongside Dinesh Patel.
He played his first professional baseball game in 2009, also becoming the first Indian to do so in the country. Although he played in a Pirates' Gulf Coast League affiliate until then, he moved to Canberra Cavalry of the Australian Baseball League in 2010-11. Since then, he has moved across in the US, playing for a number of sides, but never played the MLB actually, while he also struggled with injuries for three seasons.
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Movie
Although he never made it to Hollywood, a movie based on his life with the title Million Dollar Arm was released in 2014. Suraj Sharma played his role.
WWE
After nearly eight years in baseball, he decided to transcend his career into professional wrestling. In 2018, he participated in the WWE tryout in Dubai and was instantly offered a contract the same month. After training briefly for four months, he made his in-ring debut at the development territory NXT's live event.
After a year, he made his NXT debut with fellow Indian wrestler Saurav Gurjar in the form of a tag-team faction Indus Sher. A year later, he was promoted to the main roster, while since this year, he has been competing on Monday Night RAW under the ring name of Veer Mahan, making his return on the night after WrestleMania 38.
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Becoming vegetarian
Rinku revealed that he became a vegetarian after one day, he saw people chasing a chicken in Bhadohi. He also chanted Hanuman Chalisa before a baseball game and listened to Eminem's Not Afraid before pitching.