Great Khali's Popularity

by Jack Windham
November 24, 2008

It seems that WWE is making all of the right moves as they try to build the Great Khali's popularity.

Great Khali's Popularity

Wrestling fans who are unaware of the business side of things are completely puzzled by WWE's desire to keep the Great Khali around.

In the majority of arenas that the Great Khali steps into in the United States, he gets showered by thousands of wrestling fans for his inability to wrestle.

While he'll never put on a 5 star match, the Great Khali does have value to WWE because of his international popularity.

With his monster heel schtick running on empty now, WWE is experimenting with turning the Great Khali into a babyface.

Nicely Played

Thus far, the writers have done a superb job of building up the Great Khali's popularity.

Since he's been a heel for so long, management had to do a few things to establish him with the fans.

First, they had him doing weekly segments where he's kissing unattractive women.

For most of us, these skits became lame and repetitive really fast. However, WWE did that to enable the casual fans to understand that he's becoming a babyface.

Those skits (and a feud against MVP) weren't enough, though. WWE knew they had to align him with some popular stars to make his babyface turn even more concrete.

Popularity Contest

Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio, and Cryme Tyme are among the most popular performers in the entire wrestling industry.

What better place for the Great Khali to be than as the fifth member of their tag team at the Survivor Series?

At the end of the night, the Great Khali stood side by side with Rey Mysterio and Shawn Michaels.

He was showered with cheers now because of the association.

What's Next?

The next logical step for the Great Khali would be for them to put the Punjabi Playboy into an upper level feud against a heel that can generate heat.

Chris Jericho and Randy Orton are two of the best heels in the business right now. An eventual feud would help the Great Khali, but for now, he's not ready for that.

On a slightly lower level, WWE can throw the Great Khali into feuds with either JBL or John Morrison.

Closing Thoughts

Personally, I think the Great Khali would be better off as a heel, but from a business standpoint, I'll tolerate the babyface turn since it makes sense for WWE.