Brian Solomon Talks ‘Blood And Fire’
Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestling’s Original Sheik is the greatest pro wrestling biography.
During this year’s WWE Hall of Fame ceremony, it was surreal to see The Undertaker walking around the ring, pontificating like a televangelist.
Sure, “The Deadman” has been more open in front of the camera in recent years, giving interviews to seemingly every media outlet that asks, but this was in front of a WWE crowd. Most of these people grew up wondering if he truly was the Grim Reeper. After nearly 30 years of maintaining his mysterious aura, personifying the last bastion of kayfabe, Undertaker finally introduced his fans to Mark Calaway, the performer behind the act.
Ed Farhat never did. The man who portrayed The Sheik, and ultimately blurred the line until they were one in the same, refused to break character even on his own night to be honored. In 1998, FMW presented the legend with a retirement ceremony filled with dignitaries giving him bouquets and a trophy. Perhaps because of the media surrounding the ring, The Sheik resisted peeling back the curtain. Instead, the 70-year-old warrior of yesteryear, who could barely walk, screamed gibberish, swinging his sword and causing a ruckus.
“Some people may find that ridiculous, but I find something impressive about that. He never broke,” Brian Solomon, contributor to Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Inside the Ropes, told The Wrestling Estate. “You know what? Andy Kaufman never broke. There are people that never break. That’s what makes them so fascinating.”
Sabu inherited his uncle’s penchant for maintaining kayfabe, going so far as to refuse to break character to induct The Sheik in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007. Vince McMahon was livid, according to Solomon, who worked for WWE Magazine from 2000-2007. That’s why Rob Van Dam joined Sabu on stage to induct their trainer.
Brian Solomon, who hosts the Shut Up and Wrestle podcast, shares that anecdote and many more in his new book – Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestling’s Original Sheik – available online and in bookstores today. For its unprecedented coverage and gripping storytelling, the ECW Press publication is the best biography of a pro wrestler.
You can buy the masterpiece here.
The following interview has been edited and condensed for your reading pleasure. To hear the entire interview, listen to Solomon’s appearance on Corrigan’s Corner.
Are you surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the book?
Brian Solomon: “At first, I was hesitant. I had this idea that the original Sheik, Ed Farhat, never had a book written about him. There’s nobody at his level in wrestling that never had a book about them. I thought, I need to do this. But the guy hasn’t been in his prime for 50 years, and he’s been dead for 20 years. I’m so glad ECW Press actually got behind it. They had just done the Andre the Giant book before this one.
I’ve been working nonstop for the past three years to raise awareness about The Sheik and the book. It seems to be working because I’ve gotten responses from people who never got to see him wrestle or never even heard of him. They’re so interested in the person and his story that they want to read the book, and that’s very cool to me.”
Was there a certain moment or something you came across that inspired you to realize The Sheik never had a treatment of his career done?
Brian Solomon: “The last wrestling book I wrote was called Pro Wrestling FAQ. It was just a general reference book about wrestling history. I was doing profiles of different major stars and one of them was The Sheik. I knew about him from old wrestling magazines and from seeing ‘I Like To Hurt People,’ an amazing movie. I didn’t know a whole ton about his career. I became so fascinated by The Sheik and in Detroit wrestling in general. It’s a territory that has also been forgotten. For a moment in time, it was one of, if not the most successful territory in the country.
The more time goes by, the majority of people under the age of 50, 90% of them, if you say to them the ‘wrestling sheik,’ they’re going to think of the Iron Sheik. Honestly, if you look at the history, there’s no comparison. No offense to him, he got huge cultural cache thanks to Vince McMahon and the marketing machine. He’s an icon of our childhood. But he’s nowhere near as big of a star, as big of a draw, as big of a heavy hitter in the business as Ed Farhat. That was another wrong I wanted to right by writing this book.
There’s a reason people call him the Original Sheik. No, he’s not the actual original sheik – there were wrestling sheiks before him. I talk about that in the book. But he called himself the Original Sheik to differentiate himself from the Iron Sheik. It’s important for people to know why he’s so important to the business.”
Considering that you would really be starting from scratch, was that daunting for you? And when you realized the Farhat family weren’t willing to contribute, did you consider that the book may not get done?
Brian Solomon: “I knew it was going to be tough, but if I knew how hard it was going to be, I might have thought twice about doing it (laughs). I don’t regret it. But he never gave an interview and he never talked to anybody publicly. Everything had to be second hand. The family had been planning their own book for years, which would’ve been a way for them to kind of profit off his story. That even started during Sheik’s own lifetime, but it never came to be. I think they expected to be compensated, say as if we were making a movie.
It just doesn’t really work that way, unfortunately. I’m barely being compensated, no offense to ECW Press. That’s the nature of the business today. I’m getting maybe what I can make as a school teacher in six weeks. Teaching is my day job.
Read more: 20 Best Wrestling Books Of Last 20 Years
So, I had to really go it alone. There were stories of a book that had been planned years ago, and I even kept hearing stories that there were tapes Sheik had made and notes he had taken. My belief is that those don’t exist. It’s sort of like Al Capone’s vault for me. It never happened, so I really had to build everything up and work around the things that were lacking. I did a ton of research to find out things about the real human being. I’m glad to be writing this book in the time period I am. If not, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I had Ancestry.com at my disposal. I had Newspapers.com at my disposal. I had the National Hall of Records at my disposal for things like death certificates and military records.
Also, talking to whoever is left. It’s not just that The Sheik is gone – his whole circle is gone. There are very few people I would consider to be true peers of The Sheik that are still around. Terry Funk was a goldmine of information. So was Fred Curry and Kevin Sullivan. But these are people who are a lot younger than him. They’re from the generation that came after him. The people that were closest to him are gone. There’s no way to talk to Bobo Brazil, ‘Wild’ Bull Curry or Pampero Firpo.
I also talked to ‘Killer’ Tim Brooks right before he passed. That was a great one because he worked closely with Sheik, who got him his start. Les Thatcher, another one that was very helpful who worked a lot with The Sheik. But again, significantly younger than he was. If Sheik were alive today, he’d be 96 years old. A lot of times, it felt like archaeology. I was piecing this thing together and I’m proud of the finished product.”
The only thing I didn’t like about the book is when you addressed how a character like The Sheik wouldn’t be accepted in today’s P.C. culture, but that we should still revere it for the time frame it existed. Was that something ECW Press had you include or something you did on your own?
Brian Solomon: “Now when you say you didn’t like it, is that because you don’t agree with that or you don’t think I should’ve even bothered to address it?”
The latter.
Brian Solomon: “I understand what you mean. At the end of the book in a chapter on The Sheik’s legacy, I do address the fact of how would he be viewed today. He was a Catholic American playing a Muslim Arab in a very stereotypical way that’s designed to generate heat and make White Christian fans hate him. In writing this book in 2022, I didn’t want to make the book about that at all. The reason is because it was never an issue during his career. Not even one time. Not a single instance of protest or anyone being upset. The closest thing I could find was Bruno Sammartino did apparently feel it was a little distasteful.
It’s here!! Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestling’s Original Sheik, the book that began as an idea in my head three years ago, has arrived at my doorstep! In the immortal words of George McFly, when you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything!🩸🔥 pic.twitter.com/MlEVV6GSdc
— Brian R. Solomon (@BrianRSolomon) March 31, 2022
So, I didn’t want to do this retroactive history thing where it’s not the case. But I did feel that for me to not even mention it would be irresponsible. Let’s say you are an Arab American reading the book, and you’re going ‘obviously this guy doesn’t give a damn about what Sheik did and he thinks it’s cool for this guy to make fun of my heritage.’ For that reason, I wanted to at least bring it up and say ‘this is why I think this was okay. This is why The Sheik shouldn’t be canceled’ or whatever you want to say.
I partly learned that method from teaching high school kids. I would show a movie to them and if it was from a director who was, as they say, problematic, if I didn’t bring it up, they would bring it up. Let’s say I’m showing you ‘Annie Hall’ because it’s one of the greatest movies ever made and Woody Allen is a genius. Now, they’re saying, ‘wait a minute, didn’t he do something?’ or ‘wasn’t there a thing?’ So, if I don’t mention it, I feel like I’m doing them a disservice. I can mention it and say, ‘Yes, he was accused of certain things and may have done certain things. In my view, this film is still worth watching because of its artistic merit.’ Boom, get it out of the way and move on.
That’s what I felt like I had to do with this book, just at the end. It’s a chapter where we’re talking about his legacy. I didn’t bring it up when talking about his career. But it needed to be addressed and explained. Look, this is why this kind of close-minded thinking is bad in my view because all this rich wrestling history would never have existed if we thought that way back then. And maybe, just maybe, we need to loosen up a little bit today and have a little more fun with wrestling.”
I agree wholeheartedly. We’re missing these over-the-top characters today and that’s why I got into wrestling in the first place.
Brian Solomon: “Right. You know, another reason I mentioned that stuff about Sheik’s character is because I feel we lost something as fans, as a business and as a culture. It doesn’t make me happy to say this, but if somebody tried to do Sheik’s character today, it would be considered a joke. People wouldn’t be scared, they’d laugh. Our culture is different, the fan base is different, attitudes are different. That’s very sad. We’ve lost a sense of wonder and belief. Certainly, the business today doesn’t make it easy for us to believe. They throw it in our face and created this environment.
It’s a weird time amongst fans and the wrestling business when a heel isn’t allowed to make people angry. It has to be this ironic thing, where it’s like ‘this guy is doing a great performance. He really makes me want to see him get beat.’ It’s very self-aware, like ‘oh, isn’t that clever?’ But the minute where it’s like ‘whoa, wait a minute, what did you just say?’ It’s like, that’s what he’s supposed to do. He’s actually doing his job. Once a heel makes people mad, they’ve crossed the line and have to apologize. It’s a bizarre byproduct of the death of kayfabe.”
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