10 Most Extreme Rules In WWE History
3. The Punjabi Prison Match
The Punjabi Prison is a lovely one-two combination punch of stupid. Why exactly the WWE felt that it would be appropriate to have a giant two-cage structure made entirely of bamboo for an Indian wrestler’s signature bout is baffling… as if Punjabi convicts live in giant cages in the jungle having bananas smuggled to them by friendly anthropomorphic Disney monkeys. Talk about casual racism.
The structure of the Punjabi Prison itself is key to determining how the match was supposed to go. The ring was surrounded by one cage with four doors, and a much larger cage with no doors surrounded that. The idea was that a wrestler would ask for one of the doors to be opened and have one minute to leave via that door. If he was unable to do so, the door would be closed and padlocked, leaving only three doors remaining. Once the first cage was escaped, the second cage would then have to be escaped to win.
Of course, a participant can just climb to the top of the first cage, and leap to near the top of the second cage: which is exactly what Batista (never the world’s most agile of men) did fairly easily to win the second iteration of the match. In doing so, he beat the Great Khali, who was beginning to climb the second cage while Batista was still trapped in the first. Fans in attendance could barely see any of this, of course: there were two massive yellow cages in the way.
Given that the antagonist in both Punjabi Prison matches to date was a seven-foot pituitary giant, it does seem strange that they were thrown into a match which relied upon their ability to climb tall bamboo cages. Neither the Big Show nor the Great Khali could have found that easy or comfortable.
It’s especially peculiar that this was designed to be the Great Khali’s signature match: I mean, you don’t order satay chicken if you’re allergic to peanuts, let alone tell everyone it’s your favourite.