It is hard enough to become a pioneer for your country in one sport. To do so in two takes a level of skill, dedication and adaptability that very few athletes can achieve. Satnam Singh Bhamara, originally from Punjab and currently based in the US, is among those select few. After making history for India as the first Indian-born player to be drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2015, Singh continued his trailblazing journey when he joined All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as its first Indian professional wrestler in 2021. From the next big thing in Indian, perhaps Asian, basketball, Singh transitioned into the next big wrestling superstar from India. All this before he turns 28 this December.
“When you receive great opportunities as a young person, you’ve got to work hard and focus, you’ve got to make the most of them,” says Singh, speaking to My Kolkata over video call, recalling the best advice he has got in his life so far. Standing at 7ft 4in, Singh is approximately 50cm taller than the average Indian male. And yet, like most Indian men, Singh’s first goal in life was directly influenced by his father. Having noticed his son’s exceptional height (Singh was 5ft 9in by the time he was nine years old!), Singh’s father introduced him to basketball by installing a makeshift hoop in the middle of a wheat farm. Soon enough, one of Singh’s father’s friends spotted the youngster and helped him join the Ludhiana Basketball Academy. From there Singh secured a full scholarship to learn basketball in the US, changing his life overnight. From the tiny village of Baloke in Punjab, which has a little more than a thousand residents (about 100 times less than Singh’s present following on Instagram), a 14-year-old Singh found himself in Bradenton, Florida.
‘I had opened a door for Indian basketball players to dream big and make it to the NBA’
“It was a very big challenge moving to the US. The lifestyle was harder than basketball. I knew no English and spent five years picking up the language. At the same time, I felt that the move was good for me. Initially, all I’d do was follow and copy my coaches,” says Singh, for whom years of training in the US reached a culmination in June 2015 at the annual NBA draft. “My agent called me and told me that we were going to New York. I knew that I was on the verge of realising a lifelong dream. I was extremely nervous on the day and was sweating throughout. The first 30 picks went by, then 40 and then 50. My name wasn’t there. And then, out of nowhere, I saw a camera coming towards me. Someone else came along with a Dallas Mavericks hat. At that point, I told myself: ‘You’ve made it, Satnam!’ I knew that I had opened a door for Indian basketball players to dream big and make it to the NBA. I had proved that the impossible was possible,” narrates Singh in a voice that grows more cavernous as he gets more emotional. Singh’s official entry into the NBA was a national event back home, with countless Indians celebrating the historic occasion, including one Amitabh Bachchan. Within a year, Netflix had made a documentary about it, too, called One in a Billion.
Following the fanfare of his draft, Singh’s NBA career failed to take off, be it with the Mavericks or with the Texas Legends (in the NBA’s minor league). A move to Canada and the National Basketball League did not pay dividends either. Even though Singh was rising up the ranks at an impressive speed for the Indian national team, his spell in North America struggled to get going. “It was very stressful. I was sitting on the sidelines and not getting enough [game] time. I kept practising but didn’t get enough chances to show what I could do,” admits Singh. Having denied a trial with WWE in 2016-17 — “I didn’t want to give up on basketball so soon after making my country proud” — Singh reconsidered his options: “I told my manager that my time was being wasted. Everything was getting darker, and I sensed that if I took one more step in that darkness, I wouldn’t know where I was going.” Enter the bright lights of professional wrestling.
‘It was a huge change for me, as basketball and wrestling are completely different’
After a day at WWE’s Performance Centre, Singh was recruited by the company’s emerging challenger, the Florida-based AEW in 2021. “It was a huge change for me, as basketball and wrestling are completely different,” says Singh, before adding: “In basketball, you have to be lean and run around everywhere. Professional wrestling is more about having a bigger body, more power and looking good on camera.” From idolising the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, Singh went to rubbing shoulders with his wrestling icons such as Adam Copeland, Sting and Mark Henry. But it was with Paul Wight (also known by his ring name of The Big Show) that Singh struck up his closest bond. “Paul is really nice and friendly. I enjoy spending time with him and learning from him. Like me, he also used to play basketball before joining wrestling. We also have similar body types, which means that the moves he can do are things I can attempt, too,” says Singh, who wants to wrestle Wight in the near future and dreams of working out with Dwayne Johsnon (ring name The Rock).
At AEW, Singh is being slowly integrated into a key role on the main roster. His TV debut in 2022 made an instant impact and Singh loves being a part of “a big family that travels together and does events every week”. As compared to basketball, where Singh was largely judged by the cold reality of numbers, professional wrestling’s parameters mean that Singh has more room to establish a connection with his audience and build an on-screen persona. Singh’s biggest goal is to “become champion in AEW”, even as he trains extra hard to avoid injuries to his knees and lower back, the most vulnerable areas for someone of his stature.
‘I want to beat everyone and make my fellow Indians proud’
Singh wants to win a championship in AEW and make more history as an Indian athlete in the US
Singh, who will soon be in India for a few weeks, wants to be a part of Bigg Boss at some point, because “if the Great Khali can do it, why not me?!” For Singh’s wrestling fans back home (who get to watch Singh live at AEW shows on Eurosport India), Singh’s message is to “keep believing and keep pushing” and to “take charge of things in whatever you want to do in life”. For those who still miss seeing Singh on the court, he says: “I’m always there to help Indian basketball in whatever way I can, be it sharing my knowledge or being involved in other capacities. But I can’t play basketball anymore. My body has changed completely.”
Singh’s basketball journey had effectively ended in 2019, when he failed a drug test while preparing for the South Asian Games with the national team. Singh has called that a “mistake” in the past, having apparently consumed over-the-counter supplements without being aware of the banned substance(s) in them. To what extent Singh feels he was hard done by remains a mystery, something Singh sidesteps by shifting his focus to wrestling. “I want to beat everyone and make my fellow Indians proud,” says Singh, before signing off. The promise that seemed destined to be fulfilled on the court now awaits its completion in the ring. From basketball then to professional wrestling now, Satnam Singh Bhamara intends to stand out by standing tall.
AEW Dynamite #2350 will be LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 6.30am IST on Thursday, December 14. AEW Collision #2327 will be LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 6.30am IST on Sunday, 17th December. The Eurosport channel can now be streamed on the Discovery+ app.
