Sonjay Dutt

Wrestler

Birthday April 7, 1982

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace Washington, D.C., United States

Age 41 years old

Nationality United States

Height 5 ft 8 in

Weight 186 lb

#38427 Most Popular

1982

Retesh Bhalla (born April 7, 1982) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer and manager.

He is best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action / Impact Wrestling under the ring name Sonjay Dutt.

2003

Dutt is known for his several stints in Jeff Jarrett's promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), later renamed Impact Wrestling, where he started in 2003.

Dutt got his first break wrestling in Major League Wrestling (MLW) in 2003 where he debuted the Dragon Rana on Jimmy Yang at the promotion's August 3 event, Summer Apocalypse.

Dutt would go on to win an international tournament, hosted by MLW in September 2003 to win the company's Junior Heavyweight Championship, defeating Tony Mamaluke, Eddie Colón, and Christopher Daniels.

Dutt made his debut for NWA Total Nonstop Action (TNA) on October 15, 2003, when he teamed with Eric Young to defeat Jerrelle Clark and El Fuego in a tag team match.

He began working regularly for the promotion the following year.

2004

Dutt also wrestled for the independent promotion Combat Zone Wrestling during his early years, where he captured the CZW World Junior Heavyweight Championship and won the Best of the Best tournament in 2004.

In an early 2004 MLW Junior Heavyweight Title match Dutt pinned Jack Evans to retain the title at MLW Reloaded.

In May 2004, Dutt began a Best of Three Series with Amazing Red to determine the number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship, which Red won.

Throughout the summer of 2004 Dutt participated in the America's X-Cup as a part of Team USA along with Jerry Lynn, Chris Sabin, and Elix Skipper against Team AAA (Héctor Garza, Mr. Águila, Juventud Guerrera, and Abismo Negro).

After several months, Dutt became the onscreen protégé of Sabu, with Raven using him to vicariously assault Sabu.

In addition, Dutt acted as a mouthpiece for the perpetually mute Sabu.

This angle was postponed and then dropped after Sabu was sidelined with various health problems, and in the interim Dutt made appearances with World Wrestling Entertainment, provoking rumors of an imminent contract offer.

Dutt's presence in TNA was reduced in late-2004 and early-2005 during the tenure of Dusty Rhodes as booker, but his role within the promotion was once again expanded after Rhodes resigned.

2005

Dutt won a four-way X Division match at No Surrender on July 17, 2005, to qualify for the 2005 Super X Cup.

He lost to Samoa Joe, however, in the first round of the tournament.

In September 2005, Dutt, Shark Boy, and Simon Diamond spent two weeks in India, where they visited several cities, promoting the debut of Impact! on ESPN Star Sports.

On September 28 in Bhopal, a riot broke out when 1000 fans were excluded from an event after attendance exceeded expectations.

None of the three TNA wrestlers were injured.

At Bound for Glory on October 23, Dutt defeated Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, and Alex Shelley in a four way X Division match on the pre-show.

2006

In 2006, Dutt earned a spot on Team USA in the 2006 World X Cup.

Throughout late 2006 and early 2007, Dutt was involved in the Paparazzi Championship Series, led by Kevin Nash, who insinuated throughout the PCS Challenge that Dutt was taking steroids, as a running joke, which would usually lead to the hotheaded Dutt comically losing his temper.

Although he did not win the series, it put him over with the fans.

After PCS ended, Nash took Dutt and his newfound tag team partner Jay Lethal under his wing and promised to give them an extreme makeover.

After Lethal got a new character mimicking the "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Nash attempted to get Dutt a new character as well.

All of these attempts were Kevin Nash's past gimmicks, including Oz, Vinnie Vegas, and Diesel, all of which Dutt despised.

On the April 26 episode of Impact!, Dutt and Lethal won a shot at the X Division Championship held by Chris Sabin at Sacrifice.

Dutt was unhappy at Lethal getting the pinfall, however, Dutt and Lethal started fighting with each other.

Kevin Nash came out and separated the two, but Dutt kicked him and left the ring.

On a later episode of Impact!, Dutt apologized to Nash and claimed "it was the heat of the moment".

Nash forgave Dutt but warned him not to do it again.

On June 7, Dutt introduced a new gimmick reminiscent of a Zen in which he called himself "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt.

2017

Dutt competed in the X-Division for several years, winning the Impact X Division Championship in 2017.

He also competed for Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling, where he was a former GFW NEX*GEN Champion.

2019

He also worked for WWE as a producer from 2019 to 2021.

Due to his contributions, he was inducted into the CZW Hall of Fame in 2019.

His ring name is modeled after that of famous Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.

Dutt's parents moved from India to the United States before he was born, though most of his extended family still lives in New Delhi.

He later worked for KYDA Pro wrestling for the first two years of his professional career.