From 150 pounds to 256 pounds: The incredible transformation of WWE wrestler Rinku Singh aka Veer Mahaan
Rinku Singh first made headlines in 2008 when he won the Million Dollar Arm reality TV show pitching contest that saw him set off for the US from Gopiganj in Uttar Pradesh. That journey saw him eventually become the first Indian to play professional baseball, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 2014 movie - Million dollar arm, featuring John Hamm (of Mad Men fame) is based on Rinku and another pitcher (Dinesh Patel's) lives and journey to the US. Rinku, who goes by the ring name of Veer Mahaan in the WWE was a guest on the latest episode of Times of India's sports podcast - Sportscast recently and talked about his life journey so far in great detail. “Talking about the Million Dollar Arm journey, it was life changing. Life changing for me, life changing for my family. I was able to build a house for my mom and dad when I was 19 years old. That was my dream growing up - to help my father retire early. He was a truck driver. I was the youngest in the family and my dream was to build a home and help my mom and dad retire and thank God I was able to do that.” Rinku said on TOI Sportscast. Rinku's life had changed overnight, but there were other glorious chapters waiting to be written. From baseball, Rinku shifted his focus to the WWE. “It was tough in the beginning. I thought being a professional athlete everything was very easy and simple, because we athletes pick up things very very easily. But as I got into the ring I realised that what a WWE superstar does in the ring, no other sport can be compared with it. I had been a professional athlete for 8 and a half years and I thought - 'man this is going to take me a long time to get.” Rinku said on TOI Sportscast.
