In 1997, WWE pulled out all the stops for their newest acquisition, hosting a press conference at Toronto’s SkyDome, fast-tracking him past established stars and positioning him as the next breakout sensation. Within months, Tiger Ali Singh had defeated Owen Hart for the Kuwait Cup and seemed destined for championship gold. But something went terribly wrong behind the scenes… and it would cost WWE $7M and quietly bury a once-promising career.
WWE invested millions in Tiger Ali Singh, aiming to make him their next international superstar, before it all unraveled behind the scenes. Photo Credit: NRI Press, WWE.
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Wrestling Royalty: Why WWE Bet Everything on Tiger Ali Singh
Tiger Ali Singh’s father, Tiger Jeet Singh, strikes his opponent Giant Baba in an undated photo, heightening the legend of the Singh family. Photo Credit: WWE.
In WWE history, second-generation wrestlers have often been seen as sure bets.
They are talents who come pre-packaged with wrestling instincts, family legacy, and name recognition. From the very beginning, this seemed to be the case with Tiger Ali Singh. His bloodline was wrestling royalty, and WWE clearly took notice.
Tiger Ali Singh’s father, Tiger Jeet Singh, was a trailblazer in every sense. As the first major Indo-Canadian wrestling star, he forged an international career at a time when few could.
Tiger Jeet Singh rose to fame primarily in Japan, competing with enormous success in top promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In a career that spanned over two decades, he became a household name among Japanese fans, known for his wild brawling style and unforgettable persona.
Tiger Jeet Singh’s resume included battles with some of wrestling’s most iconic figures. He twice challenged Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship, took on Gene Kiniski for the NWA World Title, and made history by becoming the first professional wrestler in Japan to defeat sumo icon Wajima Hiroshi in a wrestling ring.
In 1997, Tiger Jeet Singh even made a brief return to the then WWF spotlight when he accompanied and managed his son at the UK-exclusive pay-per-view “One Night Only.”
With such pedigree and support, it seemed almost inevitable that Tiger Ali Singh would follow in his father’s footsteps and achieve wrestling superstardom.
With a legacy that rich and the WWE machine behind him, success felt not just likely but guaranteed. Or so it seemed.
SkyDome Press Conference: WWE’s Massive Tiger Ali Singh Investment
Tiger Ali Singh speaks at a press conference held by WWE at the Toronto Skydome to announce Singh’s signing and upcoming debut with the company. Photo Credit: WWE.
As the son of an international wrestling icon and a polished performer in his own right, Tiger Ali Singh was positioned as a future star almost immediately.
The company didn’t just sign him quietly. They made a spectacle out of it.
WWE hosted a press conference in Singh’s hometown of Toronto, at the iconic SkyDome, to formally announce his arrival.
This was a statement of intent. By staging the event at one of Canada’s most recognizable venues, WWE sent a strong message to fans and the industry alike and that was that Tiger Ali Singh was someone to watch.
The visual impact and media coverage helped create early buzz, and Singh’s pedigree as a second-generation wrestler only amplified the intrigue.
WWE soon followed up on the hype by slotting Singh into a high-profile international event. During a tour of Kuwait City, he competed in and won the 1997 WWE Kuwait Cup Tournament. This wasn’t just any victory. Singh defeated Owen Hart, one of the most respected and technically gifted wrestlers of the era, in the tournament final.
In the eyes of fans and insiders, this win signaled that Singh wasn’t just being tested. He was being fast-tracked.
"They felt very confident that Tiger [Ali Singh] was going to help them break in, at that time, into the UK market and attract that Indian fan base.”
Snow continued, “I remember talking to Jim Ross and I was being very frank and I go, your reasoning is ridiculous. I go, ‘Tiger is okay, he’s not great.’ But, your thought process of, ‘Well, he’s Indian so the Indian population will come to see him,’ I go, ‘That’s not how this works.’
“You can be of any particular race, creed or religion. If you’re not good, they’re not going to pay to see you."
Owen Hart Victory Peak: When Tiger Ali Singh’s WWE Dream Died
Tiger Ali Singh wrestling in New York during his initial WWE push on August 30, 1997, before backstage politics and character changes derailed his career trajectory. Photo Credit: WWE.
By April 1997, Singh had debuted on Monday Night Raw and participated in WWE’s tour of the United Kingdom.
The company’s investment in his image and momentum seemed thorough and deliberate. They were checking all the right boxes to establish him as a legitimate contender, including building his presence overseas, pairing him with legendary opponents, and giving him valuable screen time.
But despite this strong launch, Singh’s push began to stall almost as quickly as it started. His victory over Owen Hart would go down as the peak of his WWE career.
After that, Singh struggled to maintain relevance on an increasingly crowded roster filled with loud personalities, edgy gimmicks, and future megastars. WWE’s creative direction was rapidly evolving during the Attitude Era, and unfortunately, Singh didn’t seem to fit the mold.
Not long after his initial debut, he quietly disappeared from WWE programming.
Whether due to creative uncertainty, performance concerns, or fan response, the company had clearly cooled on their once-prized prospect. Singh had gone from "next big thing" to afterthought in a matter of months.
Still, his story wasn’t over. In November 1997, WWE gave him another shot. This time, he was repackaged with a completely different character.
Singh’s Return: Tiger Ali Singh’s Character Gimmick Disaster
Tiger Ali Singh enters with manservant Babu during his controversial wealthy heir gimmick that failed to connect with Attitude Era WWE audiences. Photo Credit: WWE.
In an attempt to revitalize his stalled momentum, WWE repackaged Tiger Ali Singh in late 1997 with a new character.
This time, he was presented as a wealthy, arrogant, and elitist heir to a massive fortune, presumably inherited from his father’s international wrestling fame and business ventures. The character leaned heavily into cultural stereotypes, painting Singh as an over-the-top caricature of a rich, entitled Asiatic aristocrat.
To drive the gimmick home, Singh was paired with a manservant named Babu, who accompanied him to the ring and played the role of a subservient assistant.
One of the more controversial elements of the character was Singh’s tendency to pay audience members to perform degrading or humiliating stunts. This included everything from eating food off the floor to impersonating animals, essentially mocking the working class for entertainment.
In a 1998 Q&A with Slam Wrestling, Singh defended the character, suggesting that it wasn’t too far removed from reality.
"I do come from a very wealthy background and very rich culture, and we really do have servants.”
Attitude Era Reject: Why Fans Never Embraced Tiger Ali Singh
Tiger Ali Singh on WWE Monday Night Raw during the Attitude Era when his aristocratic character struggled against edgier programming and lukewarm crowd reactions. Photo Credit: WWE.
Despite Singh’s real-life parallels to the gimmick, the character never resonated with fans. The crowd reaction was lukewarm at best, and the act was often viewed as a tired rehash rather than a fresh persona.
WWE’s creative direction was shifting toward edgier, reality-based characters during the Attitude Era, and Singh’s gimmick felt outdated and forced by comparison.
Even his Royal Rumble appearance ended in disappointment, as he was unceremoniously eliminated by Mabel with little fanfare. One of his few notable victories came against a young Edge, but it wasn’t enough to change his trajectory.
As time went on, meaningful wins became rare.
WWE had once hoped Singh would be a marquee star. Now, he was struggling just to stay relevant.
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WWE’s Last Desperate Tiger Ali Singh Fix
Tiger Ali Singh managed tag team Lo Down with D’Lo Brown and Chaz in WWE’s final attempt to salvage his career before his ultimate release. Photo Credit: WWE.
After the perceived failure of his "wealthy aristocrat" gimmick, WWE sent Tiger Ali Singh to Puerto Rico in hopes of refining his in-ring abilities and giving him a fresh start.
The company still held out some hope that Singh could fulfill the potential they had once seen in him.
Away from the main roster spotlight, Singh worked matches with a focus on improvement, an opportunity to rebuild his confidence and reconnect with the fundamentals of pro wrestling.
By late 2000, WWE brought him back to television in a new, lower-profile role. He was no longer a wrestler, but as a manager.
Tiger Ali Singh was paired with the tag team Lo Down, made up of D’Lo Brown and Chaz (formerly Headbanger Mosh). The group was given a rebranded gimmick that played loosely on Singh’s character, with the team adopting vaguely “foreign” attire and being portrayed as disgruntled outsiders who believed they were victims of racial and cultural discrimination.
Singh served as their mouthpiece, guiding their frustration into heelish aggression in the ring.
Unfortunately, the Lo Down faction never gained traction with fans or management. Their presentation was muddled and lacked a clear identity, and the pairing with Singh failed to elevate either party.
At a time when WWE’s roster was packed with compelling characters and explosive rivalries, Lo Down quickly got lost in the shuffle.
Contract Termination: How WWE Abandoned Tiger Ali Singh Completely
Tiger Ali Singh during his peak WWE years before injuries, backstage politics, and creative failures led to his 2002 contract termination and lawsuit. Photo Credit: WWE.
The timing didn’t help Tiger Ali Singh either when it came to finding his identity within the company.
Amid this massive shake-up, undercard acts like Lo Down were pushed aside. Singh and the tag team were quietly sent to the International Wrestling Association (IWA) in Puerto Rico, where they continued to perform away from the WWE audience’s eyes.
That quiet exit marked the end of Tiger Ali Singh’s WWE career.
Despite early fanfare and multiple attempts at reinvention, Singh’s time with the company ultimately ended not with a bang, but with a fizzle, and his final appearances were forgotten by many fans, his potential never fully realized.
"I was groomed my whole life to follow in my famous father’s footsteps (the legendary Tiger Jeet Singh) and enter the world of wrestling. Imagine working your whole life towards a goal and you finally reach that goal… you get signed to a massive contract with the legendary Vince McMahon and the WWF/WWE. This is what all wrestlers dream about! And then within five years, you suffer a career-ending injury and suddenly your whole life changes."
Puerto Rico Nightmare: Tiger Ali Singh’s Career-Ending Injuries
Tiger Ali Singh in a promotional photo before his WWE departure. He later wrestled independently in Puerto Rico, where career-ending concussions would ultimately bring his in-ring career to a close. Photo Credit: WWE.
After his quiet departure from WWE, Tiger Ali Singh continued wrestling in Puerto Rico, one of the few remaining territories that offered consistent work outside the now-dominant WWE.
Singh joined the International Wrestling Association (IWA), where he finally found some in-ring success.
During his time there, Singh captured the IWA Tag Team Championship twice – an achievement that, while modest compared to his WWE aspirations, offered a brief resurgence in his career.
However, that success came at a steep cost. Within just nine months, Singh suffered three concussions while competing in Puerto Rico. The most serious occurred during a match held outdoors in unsafe, rain-soaked conditions.
On The Amin Dhillon Show, Singh later claimed that WWE officials pressured him to wrestle that day, warning that refusal could result in the termination of his contract.
Reluctantly, he went through with the match only to suffer a devastating fall on the slick surface, rendering him unconscious.
What made the situation even more traumatic for Singh was the environment in which it occurred. He recalled being haunted by memories of Bruiser Brody’s infamous 1988 murder in Puerto Rico, fearing he too might become another forgotten casualty in a foreign ring.
Singh claimed that after his fall, he felt abandoned and helpless, left to suffer without proper medical attention or support.
Tiger Ali Singh returned home to Toronto with severe head trauma and lasting emotional scars. He said the injuries and lack of support from WWE drove him into a deep depression, ultimately leading to two attempts to end his life during his recovery.
While he was still convalescing, WWE sent him his official termination papers, effectively severing ties with a man who once symbolized their hopes of international expansion and second-generation superstardom.
Tiger Ali Singh’s departure from WWE wasn’t just an exit from a company. It was the end of a dream, marred by injury, mental health struggles, and a sense of betrayal that would define his outlook on the wrestling industry for years to come.
$7 Million Lawsuit: Tiger Ali Singh’s Final WWE Battle
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt and Tiger Ali Singh during legal proceedings for Singh’s $7 million discrimination and injury lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment. Photo Credit: WWE.
In the wake of his career-ending injury and abrupt release, Tiger Ali Singh filed a $7 million lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment, a bold and public challenge to the company that had once championed him as a future star.
Central to Singh’s legal claim was the allegation that WWE had coerced him into wrestling in dangerous, rain-soaked conditions while working a match in Puerto Rico, ultimately resulting in the severe concussion that derailed his career.
In his court filings, Tiger Ali Singh also accused fellow WWE talent of engaging in repeated racial harassment.
He claimed that some wrestlers called him slurs like "taxi driver" and recounted a particularly degrading incident in 1999 when someone allegedly stuffed cigarette butts and trash into his turban – a humiliating prank, or "rib," that reflected a toxic backstage culture.
WWE responded with firm legal resistance. Company attorney Jerry McDevitt argued that WWE bore no liability for Singh’s injuries, as they had occurred while he was performing for an external organization, the IWA in Puerto Rico.
McDevitt also pointed to contractual clauses that allowed WWE to terminate performers following injury, a common provision in wrestling contracts that often leaves injured talent with little recourse.
Tiger Ali Singh and WWE eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Once recovered, Singh returned to the ring briefly, wrestling for a time on the independent circuit.
However, he would never again approach the visibility or opportunity that WWE once offered him. In recent years, he has shifted his focus toward philanthropy. He and his father established the charity, The Tiger Jeet Foundation, to use their celebrity to create awareness and support underserved children and families.
Tiger Ali Singh’s story is one of extremes, from being publicly touted as WWE’s next international star to quietly exiting the industry under a cloud of injury, controversy, and unfulfilled promise.
Though his name is unlikely to grace the WWE Hall of Fame, his journey remains a cautionary tale about what can happen when high expectations collide with backstage politics, health crises, and a brutal industry culture.
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Matt Roberts is a lifelong wrestling fan from the UK. He remembers the golden era with joy and has a particular fondness for terrible gimmicks. If you were a garbage man or a tie-dye-wearing guitarist during the '90s, Matt was undoubtedly a fan! He can be reached on Twitter @24MattRoberts.
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