SURREY resident Parmvir Singh Atwal stole the thunder at the All Star Wrestling event last Friday (December 29) at Cloverdale as he defeated the all-American Azeem the Dream much to the delight of the spectators.

Parmvir – better known as the Thunder from Jalandhar – is now the Heavy Weight Champion of ASW.

Parmvir, 37, was born in Edmonton, Alberta. His family is originally from Jalandhar in Punjab, India.

Parmvir, who runs his own electrical company, told The VOICE: “I signed up for wrestling just to do something different with my life … you know, the childhood dream to be a wrestler one day.”

So he called up ASW’s Mark Vellios and Nathan Burke.

“They brought me in and the first day I was there, they asked me if I would mind being a Punjabi character. I said ‘no problem.’ So I got all trained up in six months,” he said.

He signed up in January 2015.

“I did a different [Punjabi] character [at first] … but then the Thunder from Jalandhar was born September 22, 2016,” he added.

He debuted in Abbotsford. “It took off the first day and the crowds loved it with Punjabi music and Bhangra dancing as an entrance,” said Parmvir.

Vellios told The VOICE that the ASW runs two shows a month at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. They also have shows now and then in Abbotsford, the Sunshine Coast, Squamish, Chilliwack, Vancouver and Richmond.

He said the ASW has family-friendly sports entertainment with less violence and more theatrical-type wrestling.