Kolkata, March 13 (IANS) A 14-year-old boy died here when a rope got entangled around his neck, while he was emulating a stunt associated with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)– a global entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling shows that are aired on television, the boy’s relatives said on Thursday.
Agnidev Dutta, a student of class nine, purportedly choked to death at his Salt Lake residence on Wednesday night when he attempted what a relative claimed to be a karate stunt displayed in the WWE shows.
“He was watching the WWE and aping a karate move. He had climbed a chair and tied one end of the belt to the window. His mother had gone to the toilet at that time. When she came back, she saw him lying on the floor with the rope tied in a knot around his neck,” said the relative.
“He was very fond of the WWE. So he was emulating the move. He was rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead,” the relative added.
The WWE condoled the teenager’s death, but claimed that “tying a rope or anything around one’s neck doesn’t relate to anything seen on WWE programming”.
In a statement, WWE senior vice president (marketing and communications), Brian Flinn, said that Agnidev “could not have been imitating a WWE manoeuvre”.
“While WWE offers its condolences to Agnidev Dutta’s family, he could not have been imitating a WWE manoeuvre because tying a rope or anything around one’s neck doesn’t relate to anything seen on WWE programming,” Flinn said in the emailed statement.
WWE is a privately controlled entertainment company holding around 320 televised and non-televised events annually with its broadcast reaching about 36 million viewers in over 150 countries. It often includes stunts that carry the risk of injury if not performed properly.