Iron Sheik

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Khosrow Vaziri
Statistics
Ring name(s) The Iron Sheik
The Great Hossein Arab
Khosrow Vaziri
Col. Mustafa
Billed height 183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Billed weight 119 kg (262 lb)
Born March 15, 1943
Tehran, Iran
Trained by Verne Gagne
Debut 1972
Retired 2003

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri (born March 15, 1943) is a retired Iranian-American professional wrestler better known by his stage name The Iron Sheik. He is perhaps best known for ending the near six year World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship reign of Bob Backlund.

Contents

[edit] Career

Promoters claimed that this one time bodyguard for the Shah of Iran, Iranian Army veteran and assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic wrestling team was discovered at the 1972 Olympics by AWA promoter Verne Gagne. Although he was billed as having been a 1968 Olympic medalist, he was actually eliminated during his country’s trials. [1] He emigrated after the Olympics. People often believed his story because he wound up in Minnesota. Upon landing, he continually asked airport officials for Olympic coach Alan Rice (he didn't know English at the time), who was summoned to pick him up from the airport. He won the 1971 U.S. AAU Greco-Roman nationals at 181 pounds. Because he had yet to establish citizenship, he was ineligible for the 1972 Olympics, but ended up going to Munich as an assistant coach for the U.S. Greco-Roman team, and followed up with the same position in 1976 in Montreal.

Verne Gagne went to Munich as well, looking to recruit people into pro wrestling, most notably heavyweight boxer Duane Bobick [who turned him down], Ken Patera and 420-pound bronze medal-winning wrestler Chris Taylor. Also at the camp, which included Ric Flair, was Vaziri, who debuted as a muscular 200 pounder. He was stuck in prelims because of his size, and because of that and him being a legit amateur, was cast as a babyface. In addition, he also helped Gagne train future wrestlers, such as Ricky Steamboat and Jim Brunzell.

[edit] WWF/World Wrestling Federation: The First Stint (1979-1986)

After moving to other territories, Vaziri was turned into a heel and would do a few things that would complete his signature look. First, he grew a handlebar mustache, added wrestling boots with the toe curled up (a nod to his ethnic background), and shaved his head bald. In addition to adding the Persian clubs and challenging wrestlers to do as many or more swings than him as part of his gimmick (a sport in his native Iran), he would also change his ring name. Now known as The Great Hossein Arab , he won his first title, the Canadian Tag Team Championship, with partner the Texas Outlaw. He caught the eye of the WWF where he debuted in 1979 and won the first-ever Battle Royal in Madison Square Garden, earning him a title shot at then-champion Bob Backlund, who pinned him later that night in a 30-minute battle. He later feuded with Chief Jay Strongbow and Bruno Sammartino before leaving in 1980.

He would resurface as The Iron Sheik, and in the NWA territories. Playing off of real-life political matters (notably the Iran hostage crisis) and the animosity Americans had for the country of Iran, he moved on to the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic territories, capturing the Mid-Atlantic title from Jim Brunzell before moving to Georgia Championship Wrestling where he had notable matches with Dusty Rhodes, Dick Murdoch and Tommy Rich, and traded the National TV title with Ron Garvin.

Vaziri would return to the WWF in 1983 as the Iron Sheik and challenged Backlund once again, defeating him on December 26, 1983 for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship.

During his title reign, Vaziri held memorable bouts against Backlund, Chief Jay Strongbow, Pat Patterson, and Tito Santana before dropping the belt just four weeks later to Hulk Hogan. The WWF's owner Vince McMahon, Jr. had wanted to take the WWF in a different direction as part of his plan to turn the WWF from a regional promotion into a national one. Part of his plan involved taking the title off of Backlund (who McMahon felt was too bland) and put it on the charismatic Hogan, who had left the AWA to wrestle for McMahon, in the process making an enemy of the AWA's owner Verne Gagne. Gagne reportedly offered the Sheik $100,000 to break Hogan's leg during the match and take the belt back to the AWA, but he refused the offer and informed Hogan, Pat Patterson, and both Vince McMahon Sr. and his son, current WWE owner Vince McMahon Jr., of the offer after the match. After engaging in a bitter feud with Sgt. Slaughter, to whom he would eventually lose a "Boot Camp Rules" match, the Iron Sheik would go on to team with Nikolai Volkoff as the "Foreign Legion", and under the management of "Classy" Freddie Blassie, won the WWF Tag Team Championship defeating the US Express at WrestleMania I.

He was eventually fired from the WWF in 1987 after he was arrested whilst travelling with fellow wrestler Jim Duggan on the New Jersey Turnpike. This came as a huge shock at the time to a public where many were still under the impression that the two were enemies, and led to national headlines. The WWF even acknowledged the incident happened on TV, and announced the Sheik had been fired before showing his last match, a six-man tag team match with Nikolai Volkoff and Butch Reed against 3 jobbers. Duggan was charged with possession of marijuana and drinking alcohol while driving, and received a conditional discharge, while Sheik was charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine, and received one year probation for the incident.

[edit] WCW, AWA, and WWC (1987)

In 1987, the Iron Sheik competed in Dallas' World Class Championship Wrestling. He stayed with that organization for only a few months, followed by brief stints with the AWA, where he attacked Sgt. Slaughter during a match and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council. In addition to re-igniting his feud with Slaughter and teaming with Col. Debeers, his main opponent during this time period was Tony Atlas, who he feuded with in both WCCW and WWC.

[edit] NWA & WCW (1989-1990)

In 1989, he had a short stint in the National Wrestling Alliance, when he feuded with Sting over the NWA World Television Championship. However, his age had caught up with him and he didn't have the workrate he once did or what WCW official were expecting. He was turned into a jobber, but he couldn't fill that role to the bookers' expectations, either. About half a year into his stint with the company, despite having a multi-year contract, he was sent home with pay.

[edit] World Wresting Federation: The Second Stint (1991-1992)

He returned to the WWF again in 1991 as Col. Mustafa and was aligned with former enemy Sgt. Slaughter (though it was rarely acknowledged on-camera that Mustafa was in fact the Iron Sheik). Along with General Adnan, the three played Iraqis (or, in Slaughter's case, an Iraqi sympathizer) during the first Gulf War and feuded with Hulk Hogan. Following Slaughter's face turn after SummerSlam 1991, he teamed with General Adnan until the middle of 1992, when he left the promotion again. The Sheik has said that he does not like Adnan and did not like teaming with him due to political animosities between their native countries.

[edit] Wrestling Tours (1994)

The Iron Sheik wrestled independently afterwards, and went on a wrestling tour to Nigeria in 1994, promoted by Chris Adams and co-sponsored by Pepsi, and featuring former WWF stars Jimmy Snuka, Greg Valentine, Demolition Ax and World Class wrestler/owner Kevin Von Erich.

In 1994, the Sheik tried his hand at strong style professional wrestling in the UWFi in Japan. He lost by tap-out to Yoji Anjoh in about 5:30 (the in-ring action of the UWFi, though tailored to resemble an actual competitive bout, was in fact made up of predetermined outcomes).

[edit] Independent Promotions (97-03), Brief WWF Return (2001), & Retirement (2003)

In 2001, at WrestleMania X-Seven The Iron Sheik was the victor of the Gimmick Battle Royal a match between several other popular wrestlers from the 1980s and 90s. Rather than being booed for winning, he was cheered as a fan favorite. Reportedly, bookers selected the Iron Sheik to be the winner because Battle Royal eliminations occur when a wrestler is ejected over the top rope, and the Sheik was the only wrestler in the match who was physically unable to do the move. He went on to wrestle in various independent promotions to age 60, and is now retired.

On May 5, 2003 Iron Sheik's daughter, Marissa Jeanne Vaziri age 27, was found strangled to death, in her apartment. Marissa's live-in boyfriend, Charles Warren Reynolds, 38, confessed to the crime and was charged with murder.(http://www.wsbtv.com/news/2182493/detail.html) Sheik has said he cried in anger when Reynolds was sentenced to life in prison, because he cannot get his revenge on him.

In 2005, the Iron Sheik was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his old rival, Sgt. Slaughter.

[edit] Media appearances

In a November 2004 shoot interview with Dan Mirade of the Millennium Wrestling Federation, the Sheik revealed that he was formerly illiterate and that his wife took advantage of this by stealing one of his royalty checks from WWE worth about $18,000 USD. The Sheik, Mirade and Dr. Brad Von Johnson were hit by a drunk driver after MWF Iron Sheik Appreciation Night on August 5th, 2005 in Blackstone, MA. After the three were released from the hospital, the Sheik went on a drug induced tirade at Logan Airport and was removed from the car by five state troopers. On an August 2005 MWF Xtra television interview, the Sheik and Mirade went back in forth over the happenings that night. The Sheik was outraged that Dr. Von Johnson did not buy him cigarettes and a bottle of Gatorade, and claims he was not paid even though the MWF had paperwork stating otherwise. The Sheik and Mirade have made peace with each other and Mirade has helped line up several lucrative appearances for him.

In a June 1, 2006 interview with wrestling website In Your Head ([2]), the Sheik was asked about allegations that he held someone hostage in a car. He angrily responded with a profanity laced tirade, mentioning he was a 5-time AAU wrestling champion and is an American citizen (and has been for a number of years), and telling Jack and OneInchBiceps to "take a fucking walk" before hanging up. The show ended shortly after this. The interview is still archived in their audio archives on www.inyourheadonline.com.

The Sheik has become a regular (or "friend of the show" as they like to call it) on the Kidd Chris show on Philadelphia's 94.1 FREE FM WYSP and one of the running gags is a recording from an interview that The Sheik did with show personality "Open" Mike of The Sheik spouting off his "Pleasure for me..." phrase. In another segment constantly played between the two, "Open" Mike simply asks Sheik if he knows where Natalee Holloway is, where Sheik simply replies "Natalee Holloway?" And the interview ends right there. Both segments are very popular with the show's listeners. [3], though the website no longer mentions him on the friend list.

The Iron Sheik made an appearance on The Jerry Springer Show. He was introduced under his stage name, The Iron Sheik. During the segment, he came out wearing his trademark pointy boots. The audience broke out numerous times into spontaneous chants of "Sheik! Sheik! Sheik!".

He once cut liners for the Opie and Anthony show. He also mispronounced "Opie" as "Opium."

[edit] Trivia

During the mid-1980s, he made a pass at WWE Women's Champion Wendi Richter, but was turned down. In retaliation, he told everyone in the locker room she was a lesbian.

WWE 24/7 chose the Iron Sheik as their featured Hall of Fame wrestler for October 2005. Selections from the video-on-demand service included a biography on his life and career, an episode of All-Star Wrestling in which the Sheik assaulted Bob Backlund with his "Persian clubs," singles matches against Sgt. Slaughter and Tito Santana, and his Tag Team Title victory with Nikolai Volkoff at WrestleMania. Volkoff and the Sheik were good friends in real-life until their friendship reportedly ended over $2.

Despite his heel (villain/antagonist) status for most of his professional career, The Iron Sheik has, in later years, often spoken kindly of "smart" fans, whom he refers to as "intelligent wrestling fans" — apparently a Sheik transliteration from wrestling slang into proper English of the wrestling term "smark".

[edit] The B. Brian Blair Conflict (kayfabe)

The Sheik has displayed hatred towards former wrestler B. Brian Blair, once a member of the tag team the The Killer Bees with partner Jim Brunzell. During an interview conducted in 2004 with Dan Mirade (Sheik repeatedly mispronounced Dan's name as "Maloney") of the Boston, Massachusetts based Millennium Wrestling Federation, the Sheik was asked about his appearance at WrestleMania III, where he teamed with Nikolai Volkoff against the Killer Bees. When offering his recollections about the event, Iron Sheik expressed very high praise towards Brunzell (whom he also helped train for pro wrestling) for his athletic and high-jumping prowess, but displayed contempt and hatred towards Blair, referring to him as "another faggot son of a bitch", "a no good low life", "punk little gay" and a "fag", comparing him with Michael Jackson and Hulk Hogan, and expressing his desire to break Blair's back, sodomize him, and make him humble.

The tirade continued with The Sheik using a string of obscenities and violent analogies to describe his hatred for Blair, claiming he did not sodomize Blair out of professionalism and respect for his sport and "for the God and Jesus and Mr. McMahon". In addition, he claims the intervention of one Jim Duggan, who entered the ring brandishing a 2X4, was critical. Whether he intended to literally sodimize Blair or was using the observation as a crude metaphor is open to speculation.

The Sheik has cited no specific incident to account for his intense hatred of Blair. When asked directly, he responded, "Because he's a faggot!"

In the spring of 2006, his situation with Brian Blair was not resolved, as indicated by another outburst about Blair from an autograph signing. At a recent convention in New York City, Sheik went off on another tirade about Brian Blair, claiming Blair "sucks Hulk Hogan's penis", as well as ripping up a Photoshopped picture of him and Blair together.

Recently, in an appearance on Dan Le Batard's radio show, the Sheik announced that he has mended fences with Blair after a phone conversation where Blair apologized for his actions and let him know that the Sheik was, indeed, a legend.[citation needed] Sheik also ended hostilities against Hogan as well.

In December of 2006 Iron Shiek was a guest on the Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show, on a segment called Light Rock & Classic Talk Show with Greg and Chris. He was a round table guest along with B. Brian Blair, who was being portrayed by one of the show's hosts Eric Zane, though this was unknown to the Shiek, who was under the assumption that the real Blair was one of the guests of the show. Shiek was accused of stealing "Blair's" twinkie during an event in Cleveland. Shiek followed by asking what a twinkie was, because English was his second language. "Blair" responded that it is a delicious sponge cake with cream filling.

Regardless, Sheik continues to have intense personal dislikes for many other stars of the '80s, such as Andre the Giant, Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Hart, and the Ultimate Warrior. Sheik also has intense personal dislike for Saddam Hussein and praised President Bush for sending troops to Iraq in 2003 "to get even with him".[citation needed] However, in an appearance on Dan Le Batard's radio show, Sheik expressed sympathy for the American troops and would like them to come home as soon as possible.


[edit] Finishing Moves

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • International Association of Wrestling
  • IAW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IAW Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Brian Costello
  • Regional
  • PWI ranked him # 134 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.
The Iron Shiek as the WWF Champion.
The Iron Shiek as the WWF Champion.
  • Most Underrated Wrestler in 1980
  • Other Titles
  • Can-Am Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • New Zealand British Commonwealth Championship (1 time)
  • World Maccabiah Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • WWS Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with The Sheik

[edit] Further reading

  • Flair, Ric & Greenberg, Keith Elliot. Ric Flair: To be the Man. New York: Pocket Books, 2004.
  • Meltzer, Dave. The Wrestling Observer's Who's Who in Pro Wrestling. Turlock: Pro Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 1986.
  • "Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 1980s" WWE Home Video, 2005.

[edit] External links

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