The Great Khali

Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972) is an Indian retired professional wrestler and wrestling promoter better known by his ring name The Great Khali.

He is best known for his tenure in WWE where he became the first Indian-born World Heavyweight Champion in history.

Khali was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021.

When Rana was serving as a security guard in Shimla, he caught the eye of a police officer from the neighbouring State of Punjab who previously helped several employees of the Punjab Police to become international sportspersons, got him employed into the Punjab Police in 1993.

Although Rana was reluctant to leave Himachal Pradesh, his brother was also offered a job in the Punjab Police, after his arrival in Punjab's Jalandhar, he trained in local gyms to become a wrestler and soon was selected for specialised wrestling training in the United States.

He made his professional wrestling debut in 2000.

Before embarking on his professional wrestling career, he was an of Punjab Police.

He has appeared in four Hollywood films, two Bollywood films and several television shows.

Under the ring name Giant Singh he first became a professional wrestler for All Pro Wrestling (APW) in the United States, making his first appearance in October 2000 when teaming with Tony Jones against the West Side Playaz.

When Rana came to San Francisco, he signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and spent eight months there, until WCW was bought by their rival promotion, World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

As Giant Singh, he received an offer from New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) by Team 2000 leader, Masahiro Chono, along with another big man, Giant Silva.

They were the tallest tag team in professional wrestling history at an average height of 7 foot 1 inches and a combined weight of 805 pounds, teaming up for the first time at the Tokyo Dome in October when labelled as Club 7 by Chono defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kenzo Suzuki, Wataru Inoue and Yutaka Yoshie in a handicap Match when Silva pinned Tanahashi and Inoue at the same time.

Singh suffered his first loss in a tag team match at Wrestling World 2002 in January 2002 after Hiroyoshi Tenzan pinned him with a cradle.

Singh suffered another big tag defeat during March, being pinned by Manabu Nakanishi after a German suplex pin, though his most critical loss came in August at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, when after a falling out he was pinned by Silva in a singles match.

Starting in 2002, he also wrestled in the Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and the Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) until 2006, when he signed with WWE.

On 2 January 2006, Rana became the first Indian professional wrestler to be signed to a contract by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

He was assigned to their developmental federation, Deep South Wrestling, where he wrestled under his real name.

With Daivari as his manager, the unnamed Singh debuted on WWE television as a villain on 7 April episode of SmackDown!, attacking The Undertaker and leaving him defenceless during his match with Mark Henry, thus causing a no contest ruling.

The following week on SmackDown! he was introduced as The Great Khali and Daivari explained that he finally had a client who would destroy The Undertaker (after Muhammad Hassan and Mark Henry had previously failed).

Khali made his in-ring debut on 21 April episode of SmackDown!, defeating Funaki.

On 12 May episode of SmackDown!, Khali was John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL)'s hand-picked opponent against World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio (Khali had a height advantage of 21 inches and weight advantage of 250 pounds) and defeated Mysterio in a squash match.

In his match against The Undertaker at Judgment Day on 21 May, Khali defeated The Undertaker with a kick to the head after receiving some illegal help from Daivari.

Khali continued on a rampage for several weeks, winning handicap matches, beating wrestlers up in a display of power and mocking The Undertaker's signature pin and victory pose.

Khali then challenged The Undertaker to a Punjabi Prison match at The Great American Bash.

However, Khali was not medically cleared to compete in the match and was replaced by Big Show, who lost despite Khali's interference.

After he was medically cleared, Khali was challenged by The Undertaker to a Last Man Standing match at SummerSlam on 20 August.

The match was moved to the SmackDown! just prior to SummerSlam and was won by The Undertaker, giving Khali his first definite loss in WWE.

The Great Khali and Daivari were moved to the ECW brand officially when they made their ECW debuts on 31 October episode of ECW on Sci Fi, when Daivari defeated "The Reject" Shannon Moore in a very quick match.

Afterwards, Moore was manhandled by Khali.

Daivari continued his ECW winning streak over the next several weeks with The Great Khali usually following up the contest with a chokebomb on Daivari's opponent.

At December to Dismember on 3 December, Daivari got a victory over Tommy Dreamer following a roll-up.

Dreamer then chased Daivari backstage, but Khali appeared and caught Dreamer, planting him on the steel ramp with a chokebomb.

On 8 January 2007 episode of Raw, Jonathan Coachman announced that Khali had signed with Raw (without Daivari, who stayed on ECW) and would wrestle John Cena in the main event, which Khali won by disqualification after Cena took a steel chair held by Armando Estrada and hit Khali with it, though after the match he performed a chokeslam on Cena and left the ringside area, leaving Cena prone to an attack by Umaga.

On 19 February episode of Raw, Khali demanded better competition after easily defeating The Highlanders.

Four days later on SmackDown!, Khali interfered in a Falls Count Anywhere Money in the Bank qualifying match between Kane and King Booker by costing Kane the match, leading to a feud culminating in a match at WrestleMania 23, which Khali won in his first appearance at WrestleMania after slamming Kane with the Khali Bomb and choking him with a hook and chain at the end of the match.

He is the founder and head coach of India's largest professional wrestling promotion, Continental Wrestling Entertainment, founded in 2015.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the 2021 class.

Rana was born in a Rajput family to Jwala Ram and Tandi Devi in the Dhiraina village of Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district.

One of seven siblings in a poor family, Rana had to do odd jobs to help his family make ends meet.

He has acromegaly, which among other symptoms causes gigantism and chin protrusion.