WWE Releases The Great Khali

The Great Khali's career in World Wrestling Entertainment appears to be over. On Thursday night, fans noticed that his WWE.com profile was moved to their Alumni section. There was no official "future endeavors" post on WWE.com on Thursday although it could happen on Friday. A report from F4WOnline.com noted that "there had been talk around wrestling for the last week that such a move was imminent." It's a move that makes a lot of sense from both sides whether it was WWE releasing him or his contract expiring and they chose not to renew it. From WWE's point of view, Khali probably makes a lot of money as an eight year employee that is a former World Champion, but he really doesn't work a lot or appear on television with any regularity. They're trying to save money, so there's no point in keeping around a 42 year old guy like that. In Khali's case, it's probably a situation where he realizes he's having a tough time traveling every week while having matches probably takes a toll on his body. It looks like he's in pain just walking. You can see he has a significant limp that wasn't always there. Guys that are 7'1" and 350 pounds don't usually have long careers just because of the physical toll that the wrestling business can take on them. A lot of people laugh when they think of Khali, but he does deserve credit for lasting as long as he did. Here's a photo of the WWE.com Alumni section where Khali's profile now sits with the likes of Giant Gonzalez, Gillberg, the Gobbledy Gooker and Goldberg. Quite the eclectic group huh?

When Khali signed in January of 2006 he became the first Indian wrestler in WWE history. It's the second biggest country in the world in terms of population, so it was smart for WWE to bring him in to try to make an impact in that market. They recently signed a big television deal there and the presence of Khali probably helped them secure that. Perhaps he will move back to India although he became an American citizen in February of this year, so he could stay in America too. Khali feuded with a lot of big names in WWE history like The Undertaker and John Cena. He actually beat Undertaker clean in a match, which is very rare. He also became the World Champion in 2007. A lot of fans didn't like it because we know he's not a very good performer, but we also know Vince McMahon favored big guys so it was expected to win it at least once. It makes sense that WWE would part ways with Khali. He's not contributing anything, so it's best to move on. Thanks for the memories, Khali.