Why Is The Great Khali Back In WWE?

At WWE Battleground, the momentous return of The Great Khali allowed WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to defeat Randy Orton and survive the first Punjabi Prison Match in nearly a decade.

Following the show, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that Khali was asked to return to WWE to help Mahal get more over with fans in India. The feeling among some organization officials is that Mahal isn’t very popular with fans in the country and Khali would help him in that regard.

Meltzer also speculated that Mahal’s push isn’t working with Indian fans since there hasn’t been a noticeable increase in revenue. With Khali aligning himself with Mahal, the belief is that their partnership could help increase merchandise revenue and WWE Network subscriptions in India.

You can expect to see Khali regularly since he is now listed by WWE.com as a current Superstar. According to Meltzer, Khali is back with WWE “for the time being.”

Prior to WWE Battleground, Khali had not appeared in WWE since 2014. His prior contract with the company expired in November 2014 and the company chose not to sign him to a new deal, so he left.