After being signed to take part in the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, The Bollywood Boyz filled multiple roles in the WWE.
They were perhaps best known for their time as managers for Jinder Mahal during his WWE Title reign. In the ring, they were mainstays on 205 Live.
On June 26, WWE released the brothers from their contracts,
Speaking to Sean Waltman on Pro Wrestling 4 Life, Samir & Sunil Singh discussed their departure from WWE.
"When we both got the call, we went to train at the local gym on our days off and literally, we both got the call that we were fired as we were pulling up for training. We looked at each other like 'what a way to go.' Here we are on our day off to go train and we lost our jobs. At first we were like, 'Are we going to practice and train?' Fuck it, let's keep going," said Sunil.
Samir added, "Losing your job sucks. It sucks the wind out of you, but there was a sense of relief. I don't think we fully realized our potential. It's one thing if we had a run or went after the tag titles, but I feel like we were on the cusp of it down in 205 [Live] and we were staying ready. We worked like every week, minus a few weeks, over the last year and we were ready. There was our relief that we haven't fully realized our potential."
As the name implies, the Bollywood Boyz played on the Bollywood culture. With WWE always looking to break into new markets, especially India, the brothers seemed like a long-term fit for the promotion.
"There are so many creative ideas, as far as our schtick with the Bollywood Boyz, we have an untapped market of over a billion people and there are so many vignettes we could have done. We were pitching and pitching. We had patience and were like 'it's gonna happen,' but sure enough, now, it'll happen outside of WWE. We're excited. We're stoked. We were always trying to maximize the minutes we were getting. You can't stop talent from rising to the top. Three weeks ago, we were at the PC before TV and talking to Shawn Michaels. Shawn was having a conversation with us, and this is him just spitballing, and he's like, 'sometimes it's okay to step away, go get better and over elsewhere, and make them realize they dropped the ball.' That's where we're at now. It's time for us to really shine," said Sunil. "We told creative, to bring us in every week from Vancouver regardless if we were being used or not. We'll fly in just to do a promo, a vignette, get booked last minute, just make the most of anything we get. That was the mindset we had. The days we were showing up TV and weren't doing anything, We were like, 'bring us down no matter what. Give us a seven-minute segment and we'll be ready to go.' The days we were showing up to TV and not doing anything, across the street, they got the new PC ready to go and we got our boots and got in the ring. [TJ Wilson and Natalya Neidhart] have a school in Tampa, we'd drive to Tampa and work with them. We would stay ready."
Samir followed up, giving his take on the gimmick.
"We never stopped pitching. You have that fine line of being annoying and being creative and ready. We knew that fine line and every now and then we'd be like, 'Hey, what about this? No, okay, we're booked and we'll wrestle.' Showing up and being booked is a big thing instead of showing up and waiting around. Staying motivated is something you have to work on. Showing up and not doing anything but going to the gym, having a good mental attitude, staying in ring shape, and then flying across the country and not wrestling. It's hard, but we did it. On paper, a Bollywood Boyz gimmick had never been done. There have never been two Indian actors played on wrestling TV. We always felt like it was tailor-made for WWE TV, so we don't feel bad because we pitched and pitched. We had ideas for days. When we got the call, it was kind of out of nowhere with NXT India potentially happening or the India shows happening or going international. I felt our work was there and we were very well-liked and we're proud of that. We got over with the locker room. It has to be something that we didn't have control over," said Samir.
It is unknown where the Bollywood Boyz will end up next, but they believe they are ready to become superstars.
"When the news came, we were ready for that break now. Our first five years in WWE, we played different parts but now is our time to shine and we're ready. The characters and gimmicks are there. There's a huge market waiting. We're ready for a run. We're ready to become major stars. I think we're on the cusp of becoming major stars," said Samir.
Sunil closed by saying, "We have some ideas that we're going to fine-tune. It's all about reinventing yourself, but we're not going to steer away too much from what we're doing. It's what brought us to the dance."
Elsewhere during the interview, Samir & Sunil discussed their time with Jinder and working with Randy Orton.
You can find their full comments by clicking here.
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