Rohit Raju is enjoying his run as X Division Champion but eventually sees himself evolving just like Eric Young was able to do in his own career.
Rohit was one of this week’s guests on the IMPACT Press Pass call and he was asked by WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about the potential for building his brand to a point where he could play one role instead of separate ones on TV and on the indies. Rohit Raju is also known as Hakim Zane on the independent scene, a more serious character that is a big contrast from his sneaky, conniving heel fans have seen on IMPACT Wrestling. Rohit cited Eric Young as a blueprint for how he can evolve from a comedic character to a more serious one, adding that right now he’s enjoying working as a classic heel and the reaction is showing it’s working.
“I would like to evolve. I use Eric Young as a perfect example for that. Look at how he started, getting slapped around in Team Canada, similar to me getting slapped around in the Desi Hit Squad. And then it went from an aloof, goofy, funny character to the stone-cold killer he is now. If anyone sees my stuff outside of IMPACT, that is what that has evolved into. Here, I enjoy being Rohit Raju. Obviously, it has garnered me a lot of attention. Outside of my [wrestling] brand I do a lot of workout videos and I’ve helped people with workout plans, which is one of my biggest passions, fitness and getting people into shape,” Raju said, “and sometimes it helps get more eyes on the indies as well. I get to use ‘Rohit’ a lot more, which is really cool. For the longest time, people weren’t really interested because nothing was happening with ‘Rohit’ but now, ‘Rohit’ is on top of the world, which is fantastic.
“But I would like to evolve the character of Rohit, I was saying earlier that it is about reinventing yourself, so I would love to be that ‘chip on your shoulder’, bitter, angry individual that is out for blood. I enjoy being that as well because it comes from a place that is real. That bitterness that’s inside, that anger that’s inside, even some of that jealousy that’s inside, that comes from a real place. So, being able to evolve into that is something I would like to do. As of right now, I am enjoying being who ‘Rohit Raju’ is, because if you look online I get cussed out almost every Tuesday on Twitter by somebody’s fans and I think that’s hilarious,” Raju proclaimed. “You and I have talked before and one of my favorite things is being an ‘old school’ character. I enjoy getting that heat, so that is something that I am enjoying in the moment, but yes, always, I would like to evolve into something more serious and more dangerous and more deadly. That’s just professional wrestling, you’ve got to keep on going and keep moving forward.”
Check out the full media call with Rohit Raju and Deonna Purrazzo below:
Related: Hakim Zane Finding Success Playing Dual Roles, Getting A Bigger Spotlight As Rohit Raju
