Rest Easy, Sheiky Baby

He will be remembered as a trailblazer who broke barriers and entertained millions with his larger-than-life personality, abrasiveness and warped sense of humor.

He even created Hulkamania.

The Iron Sheik passed away today, and the wrestling world will now be without yet another legend. The Sheik’s time came years before I ever became a fan, but I actually became aware of him early on, as I grew up playing games like Acclaimed’s Legends of Wrestling II. However, from what I have picked up over the years, the man was real talent. He had a level of natural strength few could match. That’s not to say Sheiky Baby was above steroids, but given the way he incorporated the Persian Club Challenge into his act, it’s safe to say the man had good genes.

He also had an affinity for amateur wrestling. Back when MMA legend Chael Sonnen was making regular “in-character” appearances on Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, he crashed an interview to gush over their affinity for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling and to take a stand against the Olympic Committee back when they were considering discontinuing the sport.

For all he accomplished in the ring, it’s easy to forget the Iron Sheik was an AAU gold medalist in Greco-Roman. He was about as legitimate of an athlete as a professional wrestler could be when he broke into the business.

RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER 😢 pic.twitter.com/Cr6CC9pXSO
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023

He took his act all over the United States and eventually became a naturalized American citizen. Soon, he found his way into the WWF, used his unique blend of charisma, presence and athleticism to become the top heel in the “territory” and eventually won the WWF champion. He then became the launching pad to Hulkamania, but if Sheik was to be believed, it almost didn’t happen. AWA promoter Verne Gagne allegdly offered the Iron Sheik $100,000 to shoot on Hulk Hogan, break his leg and literally cut the momentum of Hulkamania off at the knees. Greg Gagne has disputed this himself, but given Greg’s athletic tendencies to stretch the truth and jump to conclusions, I’m going to choose to believe Sheiky Baby. He went on to put Hogan over, kicking off the first of a few mainstream boom periods to come for the business where everyone involved prospered.

By positioning himself as a foreign heel opposite of Hogan’s Pro-USA character, The Iron Sheik became a red hot heel the likes of which had not been seen before on that scale. Unfortunately, his body broke down on him shortly after working with Hogan, but thankfully, this did not stop Jim Herd and WCW from offering him big money in 1989, so it’s not as if he left wrestling empty handed.

He became the subject of some of wrestling’s wildest road stories. There’s the one where he and Jim Duggan got pulled over with reefer in the car in 1987. There’s also the one where he, Sid Vicious and Dutch Mantell tore up a bar down south.

For as popular as he was in wrestling, The Iron Sheik’s larger-than-life personality really began to manifest itself after his wrestling career. He teamed up with Super Agent Eric Simms who got him in with The Howard Stern Show where he became a running meme on the show for years before memes were even a thing. One of my favorite Stern moments is actually when Howard received a “prank call” from “The Macho Man.” Of course, it was a terrible Savage impression, but an irate Sheiky Baby leaned into it and delivered some awesome radio in the process. His performances in these “shoot interview” settings, like some of what he did with Sean Oliver and Kayfabe Commentaries, along with his Twitter account, cemented his status as an internet icon.

No, The Iron Sheik did not run his own Twitter account. And yes, things got out of hand after a while with his managers attempting to charge people to have “The Iron Sheik” roast their friends on Twitter. All that said, I’m just happy the man got a second life in the spotlight as an internet icon. The Sheik’s newfound popularity helped spawn his documentary, “The Sheik,” which is criminally underrated and well worth a watch for those who haven’t seen it. It’s a detailed look into the man behind the character, like pretty much any other wrestling doc, but hits differently for it being the story of Khosrow Ali Vaziri, The Iron Sheik.

He MADE Hulkamania.

He was 81.

He will be missed.

Rest easy, Sheiky Baby.