Although it has been many decades, there was a time when I enjoyed watching wrestling every Saturday. Naturally, my friends (also fans) and I used to practice pile drivers and other seriously iffy maneuvers on each other. Sometimes love is like a slow dance!
So this news saddened me.
Weighing in at 250 pounds, from Moscow, Soviet UNION… introducing…. Nikolai Volkoff!
BOOOOOO!!! BOOOOOO!!! And his partner, from Tehran, Iran. Weighing in at two hundred thirty pounds… The Iron Sheik!!
BOOOOOO!!! BOOOOOO!!!
(Wave giant flags.)
Iron Sheik: Sheik, number one! Russia, number one! USA? Phooey!!!
BOOOOOO!!!
So politically correct! Thanks for the memories, and requiescat in pacem.
Vaziri was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1942 where he trained as a wrestler until moving to the U.S. in the 1960s. He was an Olympic wrestler for Iran before making his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut in 1979. Throughout his career, he faced the likes of Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan.
During his pro wrestling career, Vaziri donned curled boots and used the “Camel Clutch” as his finishing move during individual and tag team clashes in which he played the role of an anti-American heel for the WWF, which later became the WWE.
The mustachioed, barrel-chested brawler often riled up crowds with his anti-American persona and rhetoric, often alongside tag team partner Nikolai Volkoff, who played the part of a Soviet villain. Together, they won the WWF World Tag Team Championship in 1985 at the first WrestleMania, according to the biography posted on the WWE’s internet page.
He later teamed with Sgt. Slaughter as Colonal Mustafa. The Iron Sheik’s last appearance in the ring was at WrestleMania 17, the Connecticut-based WWE said.
He was tougher than nails. The biggest, strongest, toughest men in the world called him sir. He consumed that much cocaine over his life from living in pain due to injuries from his career. He did have a demon, but eventually freed himself from that. His life was amazing, an Olympic hero in Iraq although favored by Saddam Hussein initially he didn’t want to live in that brutal dictatorship and made his way to the US. He had no other marketable skill but his legit wrestling ability so he became a moderately successful professional wrestler. Moderately successful doesn’t make a career in the sports/entertainment world so he became the hated character of the Iron Sheik who helped make millions for the WWE and other wrestlers like Hulk Hogan. After a ill fated traffic stop where he was found with some drugs in his possession his wrestling career began a slow painful descent. In 2003 his daughter was murdered by her boyfriend and he fell hard. Eventually cleaned up he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, at least getting credit for his pro wrestling career. Several biopics were made of this remarkable larger than life man and his travails in life.
A great personality and one of the greatest heels ever, both in the ring and on the mic. His rise was perfectly timed with the 1979 Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis. In the interesting (if not altogether pleasant to watch) documentary, The Sheik (2014), it is pointed out how the Sheik selling Hulk Hogan in their 1984 title match played the key role in establishing Hulkamania, the linchpin of the sports-entertainment behemoth now known as WWE (it is also claimed that AWA prez Verne Gagne offered the Sheik $100,000 if he broke Hogan’s leg during the match).
I will never forget the Sheik’s patter (“I will suplex you , put you in the Camel Clutch, break your back and fuck your ass, make you humble!”) or his signature Arabian-style wrestling boots. As the 2014 doc made clear, however, he had some issues.
That should be: “Iran: number one! Russia: number one! U.S.A.: hech…p-tui!”
He was also an Olympic gold medal wrestler for Iran, and the Shah hired him as his bodyguard. He had to flee the country when the Shah was deposed, and eventually found his way to Minnesota to train in pro wrestling.
I’m not quite sure that the Sheik’s patter was quite that unfriendly in a crude but family-friendly show. So while you may be right I take your advice under “advisement”.
