The fifth season of Pro Wrestling League (PWL), India’s premier professional wrestling competition, has announced that the Sony Sports Network will be the official broadcast partner for the highly anticipated 2026 season. The league returns in January 2026 after a seven-year hiatus, reimagined with a refreshed vision, strong athlete-first principles, and a renewed commitment to showcasing elite wrestling talent to a global audience. Six teams will compete in the competition to decide a national level winner. On this occasion, The Statesman had the opportunity to sit down exclusively with the CEO of PWL, Mr Akhil Gupta.
How is the new season of PWL getting better?
The new season of PWL is very interesting from a broadcasting point of view as well, because we have introduced new rules to make it more exciting.
The first rule is the Toss rule. Earlier, with the toss, one team could eliminate one bout. Because of this, the marquee player of the opposing team used to get eliminated.
So now onwards, the toss will still be there, but there will be no blocking of any weight category. Instead, we have made it more interesting by allowing the winning captain of the toss to decide the order of the bouts. This is the first change. The second change is in the game rules.
Earlier, it was the 3–1–3 rule, which means a three-minute bout, then a one-and-a-half-minute break, and then another three-minute bout. Now, the order will remain the same, but the last one minute will be known as the power minute, similar to a power play in cricket. Whatever is scored in that last one minute will be doubled.
So, till the very end, you do not know who is winning. This will make the game very exciting and will also test the stamina of the athletes. These are the two changes that will make PWL better.
The promoter group is very solid, with very passionate young minds, and they have been working day and night to make it bigger and better.
How are foreign players being integrated into the Indian ecosystem of wrestling?
Foreign players are a very important part of PWL because when foreign players come to Indian soil, it helps our Indian wrestlers gain exposure and understand the mindset of international athletes. At the same time, foreign players are also very excited to be in India right now.
Sasaki is one of the players coming from Japan, and she has been bought by Haryana Thunders for 60 lakhs. There has been a lot of excitement among the team owners regarding foreign players, and we are making sure that we provide an environment in which foreign players feel very comfortable.
Our aim is to make India a global hub for wrestling, and this is the first step towards that goal. We believe we will be able to integrate foreign players very well, and to be very honest, we are not doing much beyond that because the foreign players themselves are already very interested and very excited about this opportunity.
Being player centric comes with difficulties of sponsors. How are you managing that?
Being player-centric comes with difficulties in securing sponsors…I completely agree. We are setting up the commercial side, but our primary focus remains on the players, because we want to see “Jana Gana Mana”, the Indian national anthem, on the Olympic podium, and we are working towards that goal. Securing sponsors is a challenge, but we have packaged the entire concept of PWL as a very lucrative opportunity for sponsors as well. Campa has already been onboarded as a sponsor, and we are planning to bring in more sponsors very soon.
We are very positive about this side of the business because wrestling is a major mainstream sport. Many sponsors from industries like steel and cement are very interested in coming on board because they want to show, first, their support for the game as an Olympic sport, and second, their association with a sport that represents strength and stamina. Sponsors connected to energy, strength, and stamina are extremely excited to be part of this journey.
Any new plans for rearing talent that could potentially represent India at the global stage?
Yes, we have put a lot of things in place to nurture new talent. One of the rules we introduced for the auction is that every franchise must pick one player from the emerging category, which is Category C. What does this result in? All franchise owners have picked a Category C player, whether they play or not. They will get exposure at the national level.
They will be sharing rooms and dressing rooms with foreign players and with Indian stars like Antim Aman. What happens then is that they start developing the mindset of international athletes. This helps us nurture talent right from the very first level.
If a new under-19 or under-17 player is picked by a franchise, they share the dressing room with senior players, they absorb the environment, gain new perspectives, and understand the professional mindset. So, if we truly want to do well at the Olympics, we must nurture talent from the very beginning.
Wrestling is inherently a part of Indian grassroots. How is PWL representing that?
Wrestling is inherently a part of Indian grassroots culture. We have been engaging with many akharas. We have visited more than 100 akharas to date, and we are trying to understand how PWL can support them. We are inviting them to the stadium to become a part of PWL, and we are interviewing them.
We are understanding the pain points of akharas and how kushti or wrestling can become a mainstream sport. This investment will pay off in many battles in the future, because once the infrastructure is in place, half the battle is already won.
The Pro Wrestling League has confirmed the coaching benches for all six franchises ahead of its fifth season, assembling a high-profile line-up of Olympic veterans, national team coaches, and internationally certified specialists as the league readies its return in 2026. With franchises reinforcing their technical leadership following record-breaking player auctions, the appointments underline PWL’s emphasis on structured preparation, competitive balance, and athlete development across men’s and women’s categories.