The Great Khali isn’t looking back at his WWE comedy run as a creative decision. He’s accusing WWE of intentionally trying to kill his character after the company believed he was planning to leave.
While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Khali claimed WWE moved him away from being a dominant monster after the company started believing he had one foot out the door. In Khali’s version, that is when the serious presentation disappeared and the comedy started.
“When I was serious, then I came into comedy. I think when I said I didn’t want to work more with WWE, after WWE found out, they were thinking, ‘Khali wants to leave, he wants to leave, he wants to leave.’ So then they made me comedy.”
Van Vliet asked if he meant WWE turned him into a comedy wrestler, and Khali doubled down. He said the point was to damage the character fans first knew him for.
“Comedy wrestler, because they wanted to kill my character. That’s true. When I started wrestling, all of India watched wrestling. Every kid, woman, man, youngster, old person — a billion people watched wrestling. So they were thinking, ‘He wants to leave.’ So they made me comedy.”
That is the accusation at the center of it. Khali believes WWE knew how much power he had with Indian fans, saw that he might leave, and tried to take the aura away from him before he walked out. Khali later admitted he really did want to leave because he wanted to focus on his own ventures.
“Yeah, I just wanted to leave. Yeah, I wanted to do my own things.”
The Punjabi Playboy run, according to Khali, was part of that same pattern. He said WWE tried to keep him by offering more money, but once they still believed he wanted out, the character went in a direction he clearly hated.
“After three years, I wanted to say I wanted to leave. So they tried to pay me more. I said, ‘Okay then.’ But they were thinking, ‘Oh, he wants to leave.’ So then they tried to kill my character. They wanted to kill my character.”
What WWE couldn’t kill, Khali said, was his support in India. No matter what comedy material was put on television, he said Indian fans understood him and kept backing him.
“Indian people love me. You can try to kill my character, maybe you try to trash me, but your own fans, your own family, your own circle, they love you. They understood.”
Even the Tooth Fairy segment with The Rock got pulled into the same argument. Khali said that moment felt like another example of WWE pushing him into something that hurt the character. When asked if he believed that was also WWE trying to kill the character, Khali agreed.
“Oh man, that was so bad. I felt like they were trying to kill my character. Yeah. They said, ‘Put this.’ Okay, but it was too much for me. I think maybe a couple more years, but they just tried to kill the character.”
Khali also brought up his movie work as another possible reason things got tense. He said WWE first allowed him to do Get Smart, then changed course and tried to block it.
“My agent got me the Get Smart movie. WWE first said yes, he can work. Then later they said, ‘No, you can’t go.’ My agent said, ‘You already gave permission.’ They first said yes, then they said no. I wanted to work movies and I wanted to work wrestling. Maybe that’s why.”
The WWE Hall of Famer stopped short of blaming Vince McMahon directly, saying Vince was always good to him and that someone around him may have been involved.
“I’m just asking Vince McMahon, maybe somebody around him. I don’t understand. Vince McMahon is a nice guy. He never said no, never said anything.”
Khali’s point is pretty clear. He doesn’t believe WWE accidentally turned him into a comedy act. He believes the company thought he was leaving and tried to kill the monster character before he could take that aura with him. WWE may have changed the presentation, but Khali says Indian fans never stopped seeing him as their guy.
Do you think WWE tried to kill The Great Khali’s character, or was the comedy run just a creative change? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
