Wrestling Legend's 'Anti-American' Image Was Created In Minnesota
Foreign-style heels are a time-honored tradition in pro wrestling, and the Iron Sheik, whose legal name was Khosrow Vaziri, became one of the most recognizable of all.
After winning an Amateur Athletic Union Greco-Roman wrestling tournament in 1971 & serving as a US Olympic team assistant coach in 1972 & 1976 Vaziri transitioned to full-time pro wrestling. Trained by Verne Gagne, promoter of the Minneapolis based American Wrestling Association, the idea for the Iron Sheik came from Verne's wife.
Vaziri drew loosely on his Iranian heritage to build a caricature of a Middle East villain. He wore a thick mustache, boots with curled toes, and kaffiyeh, Middle Eastern head scarves — which are not generally worn in Iran.
At the height of his infamy, in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, he often stomped into the ring waving an Iranian flag emblazoned with the face of Ayatollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, to take on stereotypically American wrestlers.
The Sheik's signature move was the Camel Clutch, in which he sat on an opponent's back, locked his fingers beneath the other wrestler's chin and pulled up. His unfortunate opponent's spine seemed to bend like a drawn bow.
In 1983 the Sheik defeated Bob Backlund to win the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE) championship. But his time with the title was short. About a month later, on Jan. 23, 1984, he lost against Hulk Hogan in front of a sold-out MSG crowd. It was the first of Hogan's six WWE championships and the beginning of Hulkamania.
The defeat continued to sting even decades later, the Sheik, very much in character, told WWE in an interview in 2014. "Hulk Hogan, only thing he had was luck," he said. "I have one bad night, I lost my belt." Sgt. Slaughter was a regular opponent for the Sheik, who lost an infamously brutal Boot Camp match to him at MSG later in 1984.
The next year the Sheik teamed with Nikolai Volkoff, a heel supposedly wrestling for the USSR (he was actually from Croatia), and went on to win the World Tag Team Championship at the inaugural Wrestlemania.
The Sheik also dialed up his kayfabe anti-American rhetoric. He often snatched the mic from an announcer and shouted "Iran No. 1! Russia No. 1!" Then he would glare at the audience, shout "USA!" and spit on the ground. The audience reaction could be so vicious that despite his ring ferociousness, the Sheik sometimes feared for his safety.
During the 1980s the Sheik started using drugs and drinking heavily. In 1987 he and 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan - a babyface, as good-guy wrestlers are known - were arrested on the New Jersey Turnpike after officers found cocaine and marijuana in their car.
The Sheik (rebranded as Colonel Mustafa) allied with former rival turned traitor Sgt. Slaughter in 1991, and managed another wrestler, the Sultan, in 1997. But his career dried up as his drug use escalated. He struggled with substance abuse for a long time but as reported in 2013 he was managing to stay off drugs aside an occasional beer.
In 2005 the Iron Sheik was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Vaziri died in his sleep early Wednesday morning at his home in Fayetteville, Ga. He was either 81 (according to his passport) or 80 (according to him). The death was confirmed by his managers, Page and Jian Magen, who said they did not know the cause.
Khosrow Vaziri RIP
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