The Great Khali

Dalip Singh Rana^[7] (born August 27, 1972) is an Indian professional wrestler, actor and powerlifter. He is better known by his ring name The Great Khali. He worked for the WWE from 2006 to 2014 and was the first Indian World Heavyweight Champion. Before he started his professional sports career, he was an officer in the Punjab state police.

The Great Khali
Birth name	Dalip Singh Rana[1][2]
Born	(1972-08-27) 27 August 1972 (age 52)[1] Dhiraina, Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, India[3]
Spouse(s)	Harminder Kaur ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	2
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Dalip Singh[4] Giant Singh[1] The Great Khali[5]
Billed height	2.16 m (7 ft 1 in)[5]
Billed weight	157.2 kg (347 lb)[5]
Billed from	Punjab, India[5]
Trained by	All Pro Wrestling[1]
Debut	7 October 2000[1][6]
Retired	April 27, 2018

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Under the ring name "Giant Singh", Dalip Singh became a pro wrestler for All Pro Wrestling in the United States. He made his first appearance in October 2000.

On May 28, 2001, Brian Ong died while training with Singh. Ong had already suffered one concussion but was told to continue training. A second concussion was deadly for him. Because Singh caused his death, Ong's family brought a lawsuit against All Pro Wrestling. APW was made to pay the Ong family over $1.3 million.^[8]

WWE (2006–2014)

On January 2, 2006, Singh started working for WWE. He was assigned to Deep South Wrestling for training. Singh first appeared on WWE television on the April 7, 2006 episode of SmackDown!. He attacked The Undertaker during his match with Mark Henry. Khali had his first WWE match on April 21, 2006 against Funaki.

In July of 2006, Khali was removed from the first ever Punjabi Prison match at The Great American Bash against the Undertaker because of elevated liver enzymes. On August 4, he returned to SmackDown!. On August 29, it was reported that Khali would be out of action for several months due to surgery on both knees.

In 2007, Khali was feuding with Kane, leading to a match at WrestleMania 23 which Khali lost. In July he feuded with Batista before The Great American Bash. The two were scheduled for a match on PPV on Sunday, July 22, 2007. However, World Heavyweight Champion Edge had to give up the title because of a pectoral injury. Khali won the championship in a 20-man battle royal at the July 17 taping of SmackDown!, becoming the first Indian World Champion in WWE. He then went on to defend his title successfully against Kane and Batista at the Great American Bash.

By late 2007 and 2008, Khali had a manager/translator accompany him to the ring by the name of Ranjin Singh.

On April 1, 2021, Khali was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.^[9]

Championships and accomplishments

Khali as the World Heavyweight Champion

• Continental Wrestling Entertainment
  • CWE Heavyweight Championship (2 times)^[10][11]
• New Japan Pro-Wrestling
  • Teisen Hall Six-Man Tournament (2002) – with Masahiro Chono and Giant Silva^[12]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 83 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2008^[13]
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Overrated (2007)^[14]
  • Worst Gimmick (2008)^[14]
• World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
  • World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[15]
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2021)^[16]
  • 7-man Royal Rumble (2007)^[a]
  • Slammy Award (1 time)
    • "Damn!" Moment of the Year (2008) Khali hosts the Kiss Cam on SmackDown!, 7 November^[17]

1. A seven-man Royal Rumble match took place on the January 22, 2007 episode of Raw. However instead of entrants coming out every 90 seconds, Raw's Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman called each entrant out when he wanted to. Khali won by last eliminating John Cena.

Filmography

In 2005, Singh starred in the movie The Longest Yard as Turley, one of the prison's inmates. On March 16, 2007, Singh starred in the 2007 remake of Get Smart, a movie based on the 1960s classic TV show, alongside The Rock.^[18]

Personal information

He married Harminder Kaur on February 27, 2002.^[7]