On Tuesday, WWE presented the WWE Superstar Spectacular, it’s first true major production designed for their fans in India, a territory that WWE has long sought to set up an NXT brand in. The event featured many names who have been through WWE’s NXT system, including Jeet Rama (debuted in NXT in 2015) and the tag team Indus Sher (Rinku & Saurav), as well as WWE Superstars with Indian heritage, such as former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal and The Bollywood Boyz (Sunil & Samir Singh). But they also featured some new faces for the WWE Universe, such as giants Giant Zanjeer and Dilsher Shanky, as well as high flyer Guru Raaj. But in women’s action, it was Sareena Sandhu who represented India on the card, teaming with Charlotte Flair against WWE Superstars Sasha Banks & Natalya. But unlike the other new Indian recruits, Sareena is actually a product of the US indie circuit, and has been for several years.
What a win for @MsCharlotteWWE and Sareena Sandhu! #WWESuperstarSpectacle pic.twitter.com/Gn7BSkiKHy
— WWE (@WWE) January 26, 2021
Hailing from San Pablo, California, in 2020 she became the first Indian-American woman to sign with the WWE, but she had made her pro wrestling debut five years earlier in the vibrant West Coast indie scene, debuting in the summer of 2015 with California’s Big Time Wrestling (BTW) as Samara. Over the next year, she would work around California, competing for the likes of East Bay Pro Wrestling (the same promotion that produced GCW’s newest star, Juicy Finau), Gold Rush Pro, Vendetta Pro, and FIST Combat to name a few.
By 2017, she expanded deeper, working with Hoodslam and California Lucha Libre, and that November made her SHIMMER debut, in a dark match at SHIMMER 96, after also debuting with RISE Wrestling earlier that year (where she faced IMPACT’s Rosemary). She started 2018 with a tour of Japan in February with DDT Pro and Tokyo Joshi Pro, highlighted with a match against joshi star Yuka Sakazaki (who has since become one of the popular joshi talents appearing with AEW). Upon returning from Japan, she made her debut for IMPACT Wrestling at the IMPACT/BTW special One Night Only: Cali Combat, where she had an IMPACT Knockouts Championship match against then-KO champion Allie.
That spring, she made her debut for Beyond Wrestling and their sister company, Women’s Wrestling Revolution (WWR), where she became a regular, where she faced Ashley Vox in singles action, as well as part of the intergender tag team Punjabi Pride with Robo The Punjabi Lion. She continued to work the West Coast as well, including All Pro Wrestling (APW), where she feuded with current NXT Superstar Shotzi Blackheart.
With California going into lockdown, her 2020 was shutdown – until she signed with WWE late in the year. On Tuesday, she made her official WWE debut, rebranded as Sareena Sandhu, and got to share the ring with some of WWE’s biggest women’s Superstars, hopefully, a sign that WWE sees a big and bright future for her, not just as an ambassador for WWE India, but for the global brand itself. Best of luck to Sareena Sandhu going forward!
To enter the ring with Superstars like @MsCharlotteWWE, @itsBayleyWWE, and @NatbyNature is an intimidating but there is no doubt Sareena Sandhu is part of the future of this ground-breaking women’s division! #WWESuperstarSpectacle @WWEIndia pic.twitter.com/3PcVi5a2lV
— Triple H (@TripleH) January 26, 2021
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