Kerala Championship Wrestling becomes first company to hold pro wrestling events in South Indian state of Kerala
Pro wrestling’s expansion into South India is a really awesome sight to see.
Recently, we covered the “first pro wrestling company in the South Indian state of Kerala.” That story garnered a lot of feedback, and even some outrage, from pro wrestling fans in Kerala. That feedback all centered around, in summary, what it means for a pro wrestling company to be “the first” in a certain area. In 2019, this wouldn’t have been a discussion that could even be had about pro wrestling in Kerala. But in 2021, the pro wrestling industry is booming in the South Indian state.
KCW wrestler Yaeger Antony
So what was the controversy all about? In August 2020, Rancor Fighters announced their intentions to launch the first pro wrestling company in Kerala. Kerala Championship Wrestling wasn’t far behind, making their intentions known and filing paperwork to establish KCW as an official wrestling business in August of 2020 as well. While Rancor Fighters has introduced the first pro wrestling title in Kerala and held a press conference to introduce their company and training facility, the new company is still yet to hold its first live pro wrestling show or taping. KCW, on the other hand, recently held Kerala’s first ever live pro wrestling event.
KCW Wrestler Jaddayu
So here’s where things get even more complicated. All the while, before Rancor Fighters or KCW even announced their intentions to establish companies, a backyard wrestling group known as All Action Wrestling Empire established itself in Kerala and held what can be considered the first pro-style wrestling match that we’re aware of in Kerala. While most outlets don’t consider backyard wrestling to necessarily be “pro” wrestling, our outlook here at WrestleMap on that topic is a little different. We cover pro wrestling, and it’s growth and development, from around the entire world. In many places, such as Kerala prior to late 2020, pro wrestling training isn’t something that’s readily available. In those areas, groups that organize pro-style wrestling matches, even without having completed pro wrestling training, would still fall into the general idea of what we consider to be pro or pro-style wrestling. Once the rings, training facilities and qualified trainers become more readily available in an area, then our consideration of what would be considered pro wrestling moves more toward professionally trained wrestlers holding shows in front of live crowds, most times in a venue of some sort. A glance at AAWE’s Instagram page shows that they may be moving toward holding live events as well.
KCW is looking to add female talent to their ranks and is offering free training for interested wrestlers
Just for clarity’s sake, we’ll lay out what we consider to be the firsts of pro wrestling in Kerala. The first pro style wrestling organization was AAWE although they were considered a backyard wrestling federation at the time. The first pro wrestling company to announce their existence is Rancor Fighters. The first active pro wrestling company in Kerala is Kerala Championship Wrestling.
KCW became the first active pro wrestling company in Kerala by producing pro wrestling matches after being registered as a pro wrestling company. They also became the first pro wrestling organization in the South Indian state to hold live pro wrestling shows in venues and in front of live crowds.
The poster for Kerala’s first live wrestling show
To date, KCW has held two live shows. The first being on December 26, 2020 at the Mall of Travancore in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, which will go down in the record books as the first live pro wrestling event in Kerala history. They have also held event tapings with limited crowds at their headquarters in Varkala. Their second live event took place on April 2, 2021 at Invincible Sports Club in Vettakada.
We had a chance to speak with KCW founder and captain, Syed Ali Nazimuddin, about Kerala’s first active pro wrestling promotion. One thing that Syed emphasized was KCW’s desire to create a wrestling product that Indian wrestling fans could relate to. Rather than trying to imitate American wrestling, which Syed felt a lot of Indian wrestling companies do, KCW is striving to create characters and stories that will resonate with their fans. One example of this is KCW wrestler Kaaliyan. Kaaliyan’s look and in ring move set is partially based on the Kerala-based art form of theyyam. Syed also noted that the new company is using aspects of Hindu mythology to build some of the company’s stories and characters.
Syed mentioned that KCW is offering free pro wrestling training to any interested party that’s above 18 years of age. There are no other requirements other than being of age. He also mentioned that this is something that KCW has offered since their establishment and will continue to offer for the time being.
When closing out our conversation, we mentioned to Syed that we had gotten some responses from supporters of KCW that felt upset that we were ignoring the new company’s achievement of running the first live pro wrestling events in Kerala. Syed told us that he felt that this was the result of the strong bonds that KCW’s wrestlers and fans feel for the company, as he goes out of his way to make sure that everyone involved, whether they’re a fan or a wrestler, is treated like family. With those strong bonds and relationships and the great support that is being shown for KCW in its infancy, the sky is the limit for Kerala’s first active pro wrestling company.
