OT: RIP to The Iron Sheik
Per the official Twitter account of the ultimate poster. RIP Bubba.
The Camel Clutch!
In honor:
Fackin bull****!
RIP Sheiky baby!
Go watch the Iron Sheik documentary on Amazon Prime. Does a good job of the good and the bad of the guy, including a deep dive on his real history in Iran before coming to the US. Got to meet him as a youth when he came to my dad's office during a stop over in Detroit. My dad was a chiropractor in the metro Detroit area and one of his first gigs out of med school was to be the "state sanctioned doctor" at old Cobo Hall / Arena Big Time Wrestling nights. He ended up being George "The Animal" Steele's chiro over the years and I was lucky to see a lot of those 80s era wrestlers come through my dad's door. The Sheik was ALWAYS in kayfabe. Ready to spit on on me on a moment's notice if I "disrespected" him (I was 6-8 years old). One the truly great heels of that era of wrestling.
Both A&E WWE Legends and WWE Rivals are really good shows. There are two seasons of each of them and I have watched all of them. Of particular note is the Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels rivalry episode which is one of the better "sports" related documentaries that I have ever seen.
Oh man, Bubba! Sheik is the Legend forever! I suplex death! F*** THE GRIM REAPER AND THE HULK HOGAN!
The Grim Reaper has made him humble!
I saw him at K-Wings stadium in Kalamazoo back in the early 80s. RIP
Damn. RIP.
He gave me unsolicited workout advice at a gold's gym once. Nice guy.
Saw a documentary on him on A&E a while back. Quite the story really.
Oh - I long for the days when wrestling was real...
May the Sheik rest in peace. He brought so much excitement and entertainment into our lives.
Absolute legend, RIP 🙏
I may broken a few couch springs imitating the Sheik and Pompero Firpo diving off the top turn buckle at air conditioned Cobo Arena...
Hate to say it, but that's the wrong Sheik.
The (original) Sheik, real name Ed Farhat, was a Detroit original who wrestled mostly in the 50s-60s-70s under Big Time Wrestling at Cobo Hall, where he was also a promoter at times. He was known for bloody brutal matches, and rivalries with Bobo Brazil who was probably the biggest African American wrestling star in that era. He went on to mentor a bunch of ECW guys like Sabu (his nephew). Farhat died in 2003 and is buried in Williamston, MI. My dad took care of Farhat in his later years-- his back was an area rug of scars.
The Iron Sheik, real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, was originally a championship world class amateur wrestler and former body guard during the late years of the Shah of Iran regime. He emigrated to the USA, and became the Iron Sheik, most famous during the early 1980s in the WWF, winning the Heavyweight Championship and Tag Team Championships. He's the one who died yesterday.
Thanks for the correction. Honest Sheik mistake. At least I didn't mix him up with this " Chic" from the 70's lol...
You are 100% correct Exile. The original Sheik threw fire and spit at fans. He spit at my buddy one night at the old Civic Auditorium in downtown Grand Rapids in 1974. He was the main event against Pampero Firpo.
My cousins saw The Sheik vs Dick the Bruiser at Cobo. The Sheik threw a ball of fire at Bruiser before the match started, resulting in a chair throwing riot.
Speaking of chair throwing riots and the original Sheik, how about NFL suspended for gambling Alex Karras and Dick the Bruiser at the Lindell AC and then at the Olympia ( Sheik was on the undercard)? Good recap here:
https://sportshistorynetwork.com/wrestling/dick-the-bruiser/
Funny story about the Sheik... he was kayfabe almost all the time as a Arab Sheik crazy person from Syria... but the one time he was not in character was at church on Sundays... he was a dedicated Marionite Catholic who attended a couple different local Detroit parishes. My Lebanese neighbors once told me "the priest only knew he was The Sheik when he went to confession".
Two Iron Sheik stories.While serving in NC with my beloved Corps mid Atlantic wrestling came to town and the Iron Sheik was whipping Sgt Slaughter with a belt and a concerned fellow jarhead came to the ring to the rescue and left in cuffs🤣.
He also shook my hand and wished me merry Christmas at local gym.All early 80’s.
Little known fact he defeated Bob Backlund for the belt and lost to Hulk Hogan.Thus ending the Backlund era in wwf and beginning the Hogan era.As a side note wwf was always bush league compared to NWA
There was only one true Sheik and he resided at Cobo Arena
Watched the original Sheik on Big Time Wrestling with Lord Athol Layton on Ch.62.Big rivalry with Tex McKenzie,Bull Curry,Firpo(the wild bull of the pampas who filed his teeth).Watched Sheik and Dick the bruiser get it on at Cobo in the early 80’s.Memories.
Sad day. I grew up on wrestling and was a fan. Definitely gave me a different perspective on the Sheik after watching the documentary. He had a lot of demons, RIP Sheik.
Some of you guys have the Iron Sheik and the Sheik mixed up