Mumbai Garuda beat Haryana Hammers in Pro-Wrestling final
The Pro Wrestling League's finale was won by Mumbai. They beat Haryana to clinch the title with a 7-2 victory. The team remained unbeaten throughout the tournament, taking home the Rs.3 crore prize money. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, cricketers like Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, and boxer Vijender watched Mumbai Garuda beat Haryana Hammers to win the inaugural edition.
Pro-Wrestling League was an initiative of the Wrestling Federation of India. The league would have 6 franchise teams and would be played in six cities across North, South, East & West Zones in India. Each team would have 9 players: 6 Indian, 6 foreign (6 men, 5 women). The League would be played under PWL rules, conforming to the Wrestling Federation of India rules.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), in association with promoter Pro-Sportify, launched the Pro Wrestling League. According to the promoter, it would be the richest wrestling league offering a total of $3 million as prize money and auction price. Promoter Pro-Sportify claimed that 20 Olympic medallists and eight World championship medal winners had expressed willingness to join the PWL.
Praising the league, Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar said that the league would provide Indian wrestlers good exposure. He said that it would be a great boost when the cream of world wrestling comes to India. He added that the league would keep the focus on the sport and motivate upcoming players. However, he clarified his main focus was on the Rio Olympic games.
The New Delhi team is owned by the GMR Group, Bengaluru team by JSW Group, Punjab by CDR Group and actor Dharmendra, Uttar Pradesh by builder Lotus Greens, Haryana by Olive Global, and Mumbai team by Maverick Garducharya Industries and Mafatlal Industries
Asian countries praised WFI for coming up with an unique event like PWL and assured their wrestlers' participation in the league. President of Asian Wrestling Federation Dr. Chang complimented WFI President BS Singh and the organising committee. WFI's assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said in a release that all Asian delegates assured all support for the success of the Wrestling league.
Top world wrestlers were picked by the six teams in the newly launched Pro Wrestling League (PWL). India's Yogeshwar Dutt was bought by Haryana for Rs. 39.2 lakh, while Sushil Kumar was bagged by UP for Rs. 38.2 lakh. Founder of PWL Kartikeya Sharma said that PWL would be a game changer in the non-cricket leagues and they had some of the best wrestlers.
The Pro Wrestling League premiered on 10 December where Mumbai Garuda recorded their first win over Punjab Royals.
The Pro-Wrestling League started with a bang with a remarkable viewership of 47.56 million viewers across three channels Sony Max, Sony Pal & Sony SIX put together. The ratings indicated that the opening season of PWL outshone all other non-cricketing leagues. The organisers said that the response they were getting was indeed phenomenal for the two-week long wrestling fight.
In the second semi-final of the Pro Kabaddi League 2015, Punjab Royals came to face the Haryana Hammers at the IGI Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The two teams put up a fight but it was Haryana who prevailed and defeated Punjab in the league stage with 4-3 score. The Haryana Hammers will now challenge the unbeaten Mumbai Garudas in the final.
The final was marred by chaos and Yogeshwar Dutt and his fellow teammate Vishal Rana almost came to blows on the sidelines.
