Today we received news that a national treasure has passed away. Wrestling legend The Iron Sheik, real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vazairi passed away at the age of 81. The news was confirmed via the Sheiks own twitter account.
RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER 😢 pic.twitter.com/Cr6CC9pXSO
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023
Here are the images from the post:
The Iron Sheik was born in Damghan, Iran. He was an amateur wrestler, who competed for a spot on Iran’s wrestling team for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. He did win the Amateur Athletic Union Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship in 1971 at 180.5 pounds. He also worked as a bodyguard for Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Sheik moved to the United States and became an assistant coach for two United States Olympic wrestling teams in the 70’s (1972 and 1976). The Sheik married his wife Caryl in 1976 and has been married since having 3 children.
Wrestling Life
The Iron Sheik was recruited by promoter Verne Gagne to train at his wrestling camp. He was in the same wrestling class as Ric Flair. He got his break with Gange in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). He eventually became a trainer at the school and taught others such as Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and “Jumping” Jim Brunzell. Eventually Sheiky baby was told to become a heel and with that The Iron Sheik that we all knew was born. He shaved his head, grew the mustache and donned the curly toed boots.
In 1979, he made his way east from Minnesota to New York City to work for the WWE. He won the first ever Battle Royal in Madison Square Garden but was only there for a cup of coffee before leaving in 1980 to head to Jim Crockett Promotions. He was in North Carolina for a year where he wrestled the likes of Jim Brunzell, Ricky Steamboat, Blackjack Mulligan and Dusty Rhodes. It was in Jim Crockett Promotions where he adopted the moniker The Iron Sheik and the character was fully born. He wrestled in Mid-South, Championship Wrestling from Florida and Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1981-1983 before returning to the WWF.
The Sheik began a feud with WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund and had injured Backlund’s neck. On December 26, 1983 at Madison Square Garden, The Iron Sheik won gold after applying the Camel Clutch on Backlund and his manager throwing in the towel. His title reign would not last long as that January the wrestling world would change. The Immortal Hulk Hogan would replace the injured Backlund, beat the Sheik and Hulkamania was born. Sheik had said that Verne Gagne had offered him $100,000 to break Hogans leg in the match and for him to return to the AWA with the WWF Title, but the Sheik went along with the story and stayed in the WWF.
In the WWF, Sheik had some great battles with Sgt. Slaughter. It was all that is holy in wrestling the United States babyface Sgt. Slaughter (I mean hell, he was even a G.I. Joe) versus the mean nasty foreigner. He was a character in one of my favorite cartoons as a little kid, Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. When I started collecting LJN figures again, he was the second figure I bought after Macho Man. He eventually teamed with Nikolai Volkoff and they became Tag Team Champions. What an amazing heel tag team, Volkoff would come out singing the USSR National Anthem, The Sheik would say Russia number 1, Iran number 1 American and then hock a loogie. Great heel heat from the crowds with that.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for The Iron Sheik as in 1987, when kayfabe was huge, him and Hacksaw Jim Duggan who was his on-screen rival at the time were pulled over by the New Jersey State Police. Duggan was high from Marijuana and The Sheik was high on cocaine. The “enemies” getting arrested together and it on the news ended their feud and Sheik was released from the WWF. His departure while significant, was short lived as he returned early in 1988 but left again by mid year as there was no push for him.
The Sheik toiled in WCW for a bit before his return to WWF as Colonel Mustafa where he was aligned with an now evil Iraqi sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter as he feuded with Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. He wrestled independently from 1992 on with sporadic appearances at WWF events throughout the years. He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 2005. The Iron Sheik even had a crowdsourced documentary done about his live titled The Sheik which was released in 2014. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it for you.
The Iron Sheik was a larger than life character in all he did, from wrestling to his tweets which are some of the all time classics! We want to share our condolences with his family and the world lost a legend today. What is your favorite memory of the Iron Sheik? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on our Twitter account. Stay tuned to Culture Splat for more wrestling content coming your way.
