Bhupinder Gujjar is a rising star in Impact Wrestling who holds ambitions to become Indian World Champion.
We started asking Bhupinder about his love of wrestling origins in the business? He said, ‘I first started as a body builder and kick-boxer, after that I wanted to do something unique with my body and this turned out to be professional wrestling. Only we don’t have many options back home, so it was very limited.’
Then I learned about The Great Khali’s school so I moved here for around six months and had my basic training there. Then I moved to Canada in 2018 and Scott D’Amore became my coach in Windsor, Ontario.’
Bhupinder’s star is rising in Impact Wrestling.
Breaking into the business
‘I always wanted to be a professional wrestler but because of the lack of opportunities I had to think of different ways to break in. Here you can just go to wrestling school and start training, over there that’s very expensive and limited. What we tend to do is all the different sports so that we can stay in shape then when we get an opportunity for a try out comes, then we can start learning.’
‘Things are changing, there’s more opportunities appearing and more wrestling schools. I was lucky, I moved here and I got to go to the best school. When I was about five or six I started watching TNA and saw the six-sided ring, it was very different and it caught my attention. Then I started to understand the psychology behind wrestling and thought, I want to do this – but it’s on the other side of the world, so I need to figure out how to get there.’
Bhupinder Gujjar spears John Skyler out his boots.
The first future champion from India
As Bhupinder has expressed a desire to be the first Indian World Champion, we asked how he’d book this dream scenario. Bhupinder said, ‘I’m still far from that goal, but I’m working towards it. Right now I’m just under the best learning tree, I also have Tommy Dreamer who I can go to for advice anytime, and Scott D’Amore. Everyone’s so cool and open backstage. My main goal is to have a match with Josh Alexander and I want to be the first Indian Impact World Champion.’
We that asked Bhupinder, apart from the current champ, who else would be a dream match for him in Impact if he could headline Bound for Glory with them? Bhupinder told us, ‘Eddie Edwards and Rich Swann. Rich Swann has such a unique wrestling style, I mean he’s flying all over the ring. While Eddie is just totally different and just has his own thing. So now, I want to take on Rich and Eddie.’
Bhupinder Gujjar isn’t finished with Moose.
Current feud and Impact as a home in wrestling
Bhupinder recently went to war with the former World Champion and self-styled “Wrestling God” Moose. We asked him how he feels about such a career-changing program? Bhupinder told us, ‘I’m very proud because I really liked that match, I’m learning a lot and after wrestling Moose, if I have to wrestle him again I now know how he moves and what I need to do to win. I mean, he’s a big guy, so he’s a tree and I need to chop him down.’
As Impact Wrestling is one of the biggest and most prominent wrestling promotions in the world, we asked Bhupinder how has it been as a home to him? He said, ‘Lots of Impact wrestlers came to Scott’s school, either to work with him or work on themselves, so I was always just connected to them. That school has made me the wrestler I am today, so Impact is the only place that gave me the chance to show what I’ve got. They built me from zero to hero, they believed in me and gave me the opportunities, so it became like my family. Yeah, Impact is home for me.’
Bhupinder is well on his way to championship gold.
X-Division Championship goals
We were curious to know if Bhupinder had any ambition to go after the X-Division Championship before going after the World Heavyweight Championship. He then said, ‘Yes, right now I’ve thought about it, I think my style works, I like to do X-Division matches too. I was in a six-way match for it, and I like the way the X-Division matches move. I think it would challenge my, I watch and think, can I do that? That way I can learn more and more, so yeah, I want to test myself and go for the X-Division Championship.’
Finally, Bhupinder talked about his identity as a wrestler and his hopes for the future saying, ‘I don’t want to just be known as the Indian wrestler. I want people to look at me and see the whole package as a wrestler, who just happens to be from India.’
You can watch Bhupinder Gujjar on Impact Wrestling on Axs TV on Thursday nights at 8/7c and 8:30 on YouTube via Impact’s Ultimate Insider’s service.
