The Bollywood Boyz are a Canadian professional wrestling tag team composed of brothers Gurvinder "Gurv" Sihra (born November 13, 1984) and Harvinder "Harv" Sihra (born November 2, 1987). They are best known for their time in WWE, where Gurvinder and Harvinder performed under the ring names Sunil Singh and Samir Singh, respectively.
| The Bollywood Boyz | |
|---|---|
 Sunil (left) and Samir (right) in November 2017 | |
| Statistics | |
| Members | Gurvinder "Gurv" Sihra / Sunil Singh Harvinder "Harv" Sihra / Samir Singh |
| Name(s) | The Bollywood Boyz The Bollywood Lions The Bollywood Brothers The Sihra Brothers The Singh Brothers |
| Billed heights | Sunil: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Samir: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
| Combined billed weight | 303 lb (137 kg) |
| Hometown | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada |
| Billed from | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada Punjab, India |
| Debut | October 2005 (Sunil) May 2006 (Samir) |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Trainer | Rip Rogers Harley Race Hart Dungeon Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling |
They made their main roster debut on SmackDown in April 2017, repackaged as The Singh Brothers and the managers of Jinder Mahal. They managed Mahal to his reign as WWE Champion and continued to accompany him until 2019, when the duo began wrestling on 205 Live. In October 2020, they returned to using The Bollywood Boyz team name and gimmick.
Professional wrestling career
editEarly career (2005–2015)
editGurv began training in 2004 with Rip Rogers at Ohio Valley Wrestling, Harley Race, and in the Hart Dungeon.[1][2] Gurv debuted in Ohio Valley Wrestling in October 2005, and Harv followed suit.[1][2] The brothers wrestled for a short time as singles wrestlers: Harv as "Bollywood Don" and Gurv as "Golden Lion".[2] As a tag team, The Bollywood Boyz (originally The Bollywood Lions)[2] won the ECCW Tag Team Championship five times between 2011 and 2015. Early in their careers, the brothers also wrestled on Tony Condello's "Death Tour" of Manitoba, a tour known for its rough conditions.[1][2]
In 2011, The Bollywood Boyz wrestled in India as part of the TNA-sponsored Ring Ka King promotion.[3] On December 19, 2011, they took part of a tournament to crown the inaugural RKK Tag Team Champions defeating The Mumbai Cats (Leopard and Puma) in the quarterfinals.[4] The following night they were eliminated from the tournament by RDX (Sir Brutus Magnus and Sonjay Dutt) in the semifinals.[5] On January 22, 2012, The Bollywood Boyz defeated RDX (Abyss and Scott Steiner) to become the RKK Tag Team Champions.[6] On April 23, 2012, they vacated the championships after the promotion closed.
On July 24, 2015, The Bollywood Boyz made their debut for Jeff Jarrett's promotion Global Force Wrestling (GFW), where they participated in a tournament to crown the inaugural GFW Tag Team Champions. They defeated The Akbars (Ali and Omar) in the quarterfinals of the tournament.[7] On October 23, 2015, at Global Force Wrestling's TV tapings, The Bollywood Boyz defeated Reno Scum to become the first ever GFW Tag Team Champions.[8]
WWE (2016-2021)
editNXT and 205 Live (2016–2017)
editOn June 13, 2016, Gurv and Harv were announced as participants in WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament.[9] On June 23, both Sihras were eliminated from the tournament in their first round matches, with Gurv losing to Noam Dar and Harv losing to Drew Gulak. The Bollywood Boyz debuted in the WWE developmental territory NXT at the September 15 tapings. They also took part in the second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic; however, they were eliminated by The Authors of Pain in the first round.[10] On the premiere episode of 205 Live in November 2016, The Bollywood Boyz defeated Tony Nese and Drew Gulak in their debut tag team match.[11]
Managing Jinder Mahal (2017–2019)
edit
On the April 18, 2017, episode of SmackDown Live, they made their main roster debut as The Singh Brothers; Gurv was renamed Sunil Singh, while Harv was renamed Samir Singh. They interfered in a six-pack challenge match to determine the number one contender for Randy Orton's WWE Championship at Backlash, helping Jinder Mahal win the match, turning heel in the process.[12] During Mahal's reign as champion, they usually interfered during his title defences.[13][14][15] On the January 16, 2018, episode of SmackDown Live, Samir suffered a torn ACL during a ringside brawl with Bobby Roode. On April 16, The Singh Brothers moved to Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up alongside Jinder Mahal. On the October 15 episode of Raw, Samir returned after his injury to unite with his brother and Mahal. Sunil and Samir wrestled their first match on the January 1, 2019, episode of Raw when they teamed up with Mahal to defeat Heath Slater and Rhyno, in a 2-on-3 handicap match.
Return to 205 Live and 24/7 Champions (2019–2021)
editDuring the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, the Singh Brothers and Jinder Mahal were drafted back to SmackDown. The following week, the Singh Brothers were drafted over to 205 Live, separating them from Mahal. Since then, they have changed their gimmicks, very similar to their previous gimmick of The Bollywood Boyz and have been competing in tag team matches regularly. On October 21, 2019, Sunil – after a distraction from Samir – pinned R-Truth backstage during Raw to win the WWE 24/7 Championship, marking the first title for either of the Singh Brothers in WWE. 10 days later at Crown Jewel, Sunil lost the title to Truth after they both were eliminated from a battle royal, but later in the evening Samir pinned Truth backstage to win the title for the first time in his own right. 18 days later, Samir lost the title backstage on an episode of Raw to Truth, who was disguised as a doctor. Since then, both brothers have regained and lost the championship at various house shows. On the October 9, 2020, edition of 205 Live, it was announced that The Singh Brothers would return to the brand, going back to The Bollywood Boyz gimmick. On June 25, 2021, they were released from their WWE contracts.[16]
All Elite Wrestling (2022-present)
editOn the October 17, 2022, episode of AEW Dark: Elevation, The Bollywood Boyz made their debut in a losing effort against the Gunn Club.[17]
Other media
editGurv and Harv, as The Singh Brothers, appear in WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20 as non-playable managers for Jinder Mahal.[18]
Personal lives
editThe brothers are originally from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.[1] They both graduated from Moscrop Secondary School.[2] Gurv graduated from Douglas College in British Columbia, where he studied criminology.[1] He has also worked in loss prevention and has a third degree black belt in Taekwondo.[1][19] He and his wife have one son, named Gurveer, who was born on December 13, 2019.[20] Harv also attended Douglas College, studying history.[19] He has also worked as a model and actor.[19] Harv appeared in the 2015 movie Brothers.[21] Both brothers appeared in the movie Russell Madness, which also starred fellow professional wrestler John Morrison.[19] Gurv and Harv are both Sikhs.[22]
Championships and accomplishments
edit- All-Star Wrestling (British Columbia)
- ASW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[23]
- King of the Island Tournament (2009) – Gurv
- CanAm Wrestling
- CanAm Tag Team Championship (1 time)[24]
- DEFY Wrestling
- Defy Tag Team Championship (1 time)[25]
- Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling
- ECCW Tag Team Championship (5 times)[26]
- NWA Pacific Northwest Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Gurv (1), Harv (1)
- NWA Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Gurv
- Global Force Wrestling
- GFW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[8]
- GFW Tag Team Championship Tournament (2015)[8]
- Hamilton Wrestling Entertainment
- HWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)[27]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Real Canadian Wrestling
- RCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)[30]
- Ring Ka King
- Thrash Wrestling
- Thrash Tag Team Championship (1 time)[32]
- WWE
- WWE 24/7 Championship (9 times) – Sunil (4), Samir (5)
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Kamchen, Richard (March 17, 2008). "Wrestling Lion Sihra never sleeps". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Beddall, Justin (September 9, 2015). "Bollywood Boyz primed for the big time". Burnaby Now. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ^ Basso, Corey (April 29, 2013). "The Bollywood Boyz get "Grilled"". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 23, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ^ "Ring Ka King #6 Results". CageMatch.
- ^ "Ring Ka King #7 Results". CageMatch.
- ^ "Ring Ka King #23 Results". CageMatch.
- ^ "GFW Amped TV Tapings results". CageMatch.
- ^ a b c Alvarez, Bryan (October 24, 2015). "New champions crowned at Global Force Wrestling TV tapings". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
- ^ "Interview of Bollywood Boyz by Renjith Ravindran for The Fan Garage". The Fan Garage. July 11, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2016.
- ^ Paglino, Nick (September 15, 2016). "Complete WWE NXT TV Taping Results for September and October *Spoilers*". WrestleZone.
- ^ "The Bollywood Boyz vs. Tony Nese & Drew Gulak: WWE 205 Live". WWE. November 29, 2016.
- ^ "WWE SmackDown LIVE results, April 18, 2017: Styles squeaks out victory over Corbin with Owens watching on". WWE. April 18, 2017.
- ^ "WWE Backlash 2017 results".
- ^ "WWE Backlash 2017 results, grades: Jinder Mahal wins title, Owens-Styles rocks". May 22, 2017.
- ^ "SummerSlam 2017 results: Jinder Mahal, Brock Lesnar retain titles - Times of India". The Times of India. August 21, 2017.
- ^ "Complete List Of Today'S Wwe Releases". PWInsider.com. June 25, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
- ^ "AEW Dark: Elevation #85".
- ^ Cole, Caitlin (December 19, 2018). "Complete WWE 2K19 Roster". Rumble Ramble. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Oliver, Greg (June 25, 2014). "Bollywood Boyz hope TigerFest leads to bigger and better things". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 22, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ^ gurvsihra_wwe. "On December 13th, 2019, my wife and I welcomed our son, Gurveer Singh Sihra into this world". Instagram.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
- ^ "The Bollywood Boyz". Global Force Wrestling. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
- ^ WWE (February 11, 2017). "The Bollywood Boyz visit a Sikh temple". WWE – via YouTube.
- ^ ASW Tag Team Championship, cagematch.net, Retrieved 2021-01-24
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 17, 2021). "CanAm Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (February 13, 2022). "Defy Wrestling Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ^ "ECCW Tag Team Championship history".
- ^ HWE Tag Team Championship, cagematch.net, Retrieved 2024-01-24
- ^ a b "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2017". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
- ^ a b "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2019 - the Internet Wrestling Database".
- ^ "RCW Showdown 2016 results".
- ^ "RKK Tag Team Championship history".
- ^ "Our new Thrash Wrestling tag team champions The Bollywood Boyz!!!". Facebook.
Further reading
edit- Hernandez, Jon (June 28, 2016). "B.C.'s 'Bollywood Boyz' slam their way to the big leagues". CBC News.
External links
edit- ECCW profile Archived August 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- Global Force Wrestling profile Archived April 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- Samir Singh on WWE.com
- Sunil Singh on WWE.com