For the first time ever, an Abbotsford product is set to perform on the grand stage of World Wrestling Entertainment’s WrestleMania.
It was announced on Monday (April 1) that W.J. Mouat grad Sunny Dhinsa – aka: Akam of the Authors of Pain – will be participating in a six-man Philadelphia Street Fight during night two of WWE WrestleMania XL on Sunday (April 7).
WrestleMania XL occurs on Saturday (April 6) and Sunday at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. A crowd of 60,000-plus is expected per day.
Dhinsa will be teaming with his allies Rezar and Karrion Kross to battle the trio of Bobby Lashley, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. The Philadelphia Street Fight stipulation essentially means there are no rules.
⚠️WRESTLEMANIA ANNOUNCEMENT⚠️@WWE pic.twitter.com/IyRWZlIcbo
— Nick Aldis (@RealNickAldis) April 1, 2024
He returned on-screen to WWE at the Friday Night Smackdown show at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena back on Jan. 5, 2024.
Dhinsa initially signed with WWE back in 2014 after a storied amateur wrestling career at Mouat and at Simon Fraser University.
He was the Canadian national freestyle wrestling champion from 2011 to 2013 in the heavyweight division. He also won a gold medal at the 2009 Canada Summer Games and a silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games. He failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and had a good chance to make the 2016 Summer Olympics team but opted to go pro.
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Dhinsa spent four years in WWE developmental and captured the NXT tag titles with Rezar in 2017. The duo were then called up to the main roster in April 2018 and captured the WWE tag team titles that November.
The pair were then released from their contracts in September 2020 before resigning again for this current run.
This marks the second consecutive year that a B.C. performer has been on WrestleMania, as Victoria’s Chelsea Green had a match last year. It’s possible that Green is on the card again this year.
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