Rohit Raju

Rohit Raju (born March 20, 1980) is an American professional wrestler best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he is a former one-time Impact X Division Champion.

Before working for Impact Wrestling, he worked over 10 years on the independent circuit in promotions including Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling (XICW), Glory Pro Wrestling, and AAW Wrestling under the name Hakim Zane.

Under the ring name Hakim Zane, he debuted between 2008 and 2009.

From then on, Zane worked in matches in promotions including for the National Wrestling Alliance and several NWA affiliates.

On April 14, 2013, Zane held his first title as co-holder of the XICW Tag Team Championship with TD Thomas.

They held the tag titles until September 8, 2013 at XICW 167: Jacobs vs. Venom, where they lost the titles to challengers Sonny Scarboni and Vinnie Scarboni.

The following year, Zane won his first singles championship on April 27, 2014 at XICW 177: Jacobs vs. Shelley, where he defeated The DBA to win the XICW Midwest Heavyweight Championship.

He later lost the title on December 14 at XICW 187 Hardcore with a Heart, to former WWE Cruiserweight Shannon Moore.

The following year in 2015, Zane won the XICW Light Heavyweight Championship on January 17, 2015 at XICW Best in Detroit VIII, defeating Caleb Stills, Chris Sabin and Owen Travers in a four-way match.

Three months later on April 12 at XICW 192, Zane lost the Light Heavyweight title to Owen Travers in a two-out-of-three-falls match.

Zane later won the Midwest Heavyweight title for a second time.

His second reign began on June 5, 2016 at XICW 210 after defeating Rhino.

He went on to defend the Midwest Heavyweight title against challengers including Robbie E and Matt Cross.

His final title defense was August 7, 2016 at XICW 213, successfully defeating Cross.

He signed a contract with Impact in 2017, where he was shortly repackaged as Rohit Raju and joined Desi Hit Squad.

Rohit left Impact in 2022 and currently makes sporadic appearances for All Elite Wrestling, performing on AEW Dark and Ring of Honor.

During 2017, Zane competed for the XICW Tag Team and Midwest Heavyweight titles on several occasions, however did not succeeding either title for a second time.

On the May 11, 2017, episode of Impact!, Zane teamed with Idris Abraham in a tag match lost against Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid.

Six months later, Zane returned and wrestled in his first singles match.

During the November 30 episode of Impact!, Zane lost his debut singles match to Taiji Ishimori.

He made his final televised appearance of the year on the December 9 episode of Xplosion, losing to Eddie Edwards.

He returned for one last match during a July 13, 2018 XICW show, challenging Jimmy Jacobs for the Midwest Heavyweight title but did not succeed in winning the championship.

Zane returned the following year on the January 11, 2018, episode Impact!, teaming with Caleb Konley and Trevor Lee in a six-man tag match lost to Dezmond Xavier, Garza Jr. and Sonjay Dutt.

The following month on the February 8 episode of Impact!, Zane debuted the ring name Rohit Raju, teaming with El Hijo del Fantasma in a tag match lost against Ishimori and Matt Sydal.

On March 16 (which was taped on March 3) at Impact One Night Only: March Breakdown, Raju debuted with Gursinder Singh as the Desi Hit Squad.

During the event, they defeated Sheldon Jean and Stone Rockwell.

On the March 22 episode of Impact!, Raju challenged for the X Division Championship but lost to the reigning champion Sydal.

For the course of the year, Raju and Gursinder Singh shared the ring as teammates and as opponents.

Their final match was a singles competition during the October 11 episode of Impact! in which he defeated Gursinder Singh.

By the November 1 episode of Impact!, the Desi Hit Squad was modified with the addition of Raj Singh, replacing Gursinder Singh.

During the episode, they defeated The Beach Bums (Freddie IV and TJ Crawford).

Raju wrestled his final match of the year on the November 22 episode of Impact!, teaming with Eli Drake, Jake Crist, Katarina and Glenn Gilbertti in the Second Annual Eli Drake Gravy Train Turkey Trot match, losing to Fallah Bahh, Alisha Edwards, Kikutaro, KM and Dezmond Xavier.

The following year, Raju returned with Raj Singh on the January 3, 2019, episode of Impact! in a tag team match against Bahh and KM, which was observed an "audition" by Impact Knockout Scarlett Bordeaux.

The match concluded with the Desi Hit Squad losing to Bahh and KM. During the January 25 episode of Impact!, the Desi Hit Squad lost another tag team bout to The Rascalz (Dez and Wentz).

During the early months of 2019, Raju competed in tag matches.

On March 9 at Impact Wrestling-OVW One Night Only: Clash In The Bluegrass, Raju teamed with oVe (Dave Crist and Jake Crist), Madman Fulton in a tag match against Dustin Jackson, Melvin Maximus, Sam Thompson and Shiloh Jonze.

On August 18, 2020, during Night 1 of Emergence, Raju defeated Chris Bey to win the X Division Championship in a three-way match that also involved TJP.

On the September 15 episode of Impact!, he had Bey, TJP and Trey compete in a three-way match next week to determine who will face him for the title immediately afterwards, which Trey won but Raju quickly defeated him in his first title defense.

At Victory Road, he issued the Defeat Rohit Challenge with his X Division Championship on the line, which was answered by Willie Mack but he took the count-out loss to retain the title.

On the October 6 episode of Impact!, Raju lost to Jordynne Grace who answered his challenge, but changed the rules so that the title wasn't up for grabs.