All language subtitles for 10 Biography WWE Legends (2021) TV series M4uHD

[dramatic music]

- Introducing the challenger,

the Iron Sheik.

- Wrestling fans believe that

the Iron Sheik was
every despicable thing

that he presented himself
to be.

- One of the perfect bad guys
or heels in wrestling.

- And everybody wanted
to come and see him,

hoping that he’d get beat up.

- The Iron Sheik!

Iran! Iran! Iran!

- His work was believable.

The way he talked
was believable.

He was very easy to hate.

- Oh, look at that.

Oh, he’s gonna break his back.

- The whole package of
being a wrestler in that era

was pretty dark.

- The use of cocaine
was prevalent.

- He was developing
a very serious drug problem.

- Instead of
battling opponents,

they are fighting drug charges.

- This is undoubtedly
the most painful part

of the Iron Sheik story.

- He screamed,
he howled, he cried.

♪ ♪

- I cried for her so much.
I miss her so much.

[crowd booing]

- Sheik gave them maybe
the highest element of a heel.

- The biggest box office
attraction

that the industry
had really ever seen.

- Capacity crowd on
the case of the Iron Sheik.

[crowd shouting, chanting]

- People were throwing stuff
at him, you know.

That’s how much heat--that
people just didn’t like him.

- Sheik now going to work.
- Oh!

- It was easy to not like him.
He was so different.

- The Sheik loved being hated.

- The Hulk’s gotta
come out of it.

If not, it’s over.

- Oh! Oh!
- OK!

- USA.
[hawks, spits]

- Indeed,
the Camel Clutch applied

and I’m sure
that’s all she wrote.

- Khosrow did the right thing
at the right time

and became larger than life.

♪ ♪

[soft resonant music]

♪ ♪

- Iron Sheik not wasting
any time going to work

on that back area.

Look at the pain
Backlund’s in.

- He’s now going for
the Camel Clutch.

Backlund not so good!

Arnold Skaaland
threw something in the ring!

- The new world champion,

the Iron Sheik!

♪ ♪

- Khosrow Vaziri
was born in Damghan,

which was a town
about 215 miles

outside of Tehran, Iran.

[soft determined music]

After the family lived in
the country for a few years,

they made a decision to move
to the city, Tehran.

And what the parents did

was they opened up
a wrestling gym.

♪ ♪

- Wrestling in Iran
was like religion.

If you knew how to wrestle,

that got you in places.

- Wrestling is [speaks Farsi],
as they would call it in Farsi.

Iranian men love to wrestle.

And they’re pretty badass
at it and good at it.

- He achieved success
very quickly.

I mean, he was just so driven.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Khosrow Vaziri was,
legitimately,

the Iranian army champion,
which is saying a lot

in a country where everyone is
mad for amateur wrestling.

- After the army,
Khosrow had a very sweet job.

He was given a job as
an assistant cameraman

at Iranian National
Television.

And he worked directly
for the Shah’s cousin.

- At the time that
the Shah was in power,

the Sheik, who was
literally a lethal weapon,

was handpicked by the Shah
of Iran and his family

to protect him.

- Later on,
you’d hear stories about

the Iron Sheik used to be
a bodyguard for the Shah

and everyone thought
it was wrestling hype.

It wasn’t wrestling hype.
It was legit.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Above all,

the one guy you can say was

the pinnacle of athletics
and wrestling

was Gholamreza Takhti.

He was a multi-time
Olympic champion gold medalist

and was the pride and joy
of the Iranian people.

♪ ♪

So just like all the Iranians
growing up,

the Sheik idolized Takhti.

- The Sheik really
looked up to Takhti

because Takhti was
the kind of wrestler,

the kind of athlete,

the kind of human being
he wanted to be.

And at a certain stage,

Takhti began mentoring
a young Khosrow Vaziri.

- He was his mentor,
he was his idol,

and the Sheik just wanted
to be exactly like him.

There was no one else.
He had his sights set.

Takhti was the man
and Sheik was gonna be

the one to follow
in his footsteps.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- The problem with Takhti was

he was not that deferential
to the Shah.

And the Shah was
an absolute ruler.

- The Shah was
a brutal dictator.

And Takhti was kind of
a man of the people,

a very progressive figure.

- One day, there was
a massive soccer match.

And the Shah of Iran was
sitting in the stands.

And the fans started to
get really disgruntled

and boo him.

And Takhti entered the arena

and everyone started
cheering him.

- Now in addition to that,
Takhti was not afraid

to speak out about flaws he saw
in the Iranian government.

And ultimately, I believe

that led to Takhti’s undoing.

- The death of Takhti
is still one of

the country of Iran’s
most unsolved mysteries.

Some people said that
he was killed

for opposing the government,

while others said that
he had committed suicide.

- This seemed very curious
to a young Khosrow Vaziri

because he knew Takhti and
Takhti was not a man

to take his own life

and became convinced
that Takhti was not

the victim of suicide,
he was the victim of homicide.

And he drew the conclusion,

if the government
can kill Takhti,

who knows
what can happen to me.

♪ ♪

- Here’s a cat that was
a bodyguard for the Shah,

that if he hadn’t have
gotten out of there,

they’d have killed him, man,
chopped him up to pieces.

- At that time,
Khosrow had been

Princess Farah’s bodyguard
in the royal palace.

And he fled.

And he only knew
two words in English,

which were "Alan" and "rice."

And when he landed at
Minneapolis Saint Paul

International Airport,

he just kept saying
"Alan Rice, Alan Rice,"

’cause no one at the airport
spoke Farsi.

And Alan Rice was
eventually reached.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- At the Pan American Games,

Khos had met Alan Rice.

Alan Rice was an American
Olympic wrestler

and later the coach of
the US Olympic wrestling team.

Alan Rice had made it clear

that he would love for
Khos to come to the US

and train with
the Minnesota Wrestling Club.

- Mr. Alan Rice was quite
a life saver to Khos

in the fact that
he took him under his wing.

He treated him like
his own son.

♪ ♪

- He was so skilled
and so knowledgeable

that Alan Rice,
when he became the coach

of the US Olympic team,

he asked Khos
to be his assistant coach.

And in 1972 and 1976,

Khosrow Vaziri was
an assistant coach

to the US Olympic team.

And this led to his early
character in pro wrestling.

Everyone thought he started out
as the Iron Sheik.

No, he started out as,
basically, an All-American

who would come to the ring
with a singlet

with the Olympic rings
around it.

And he was depicted as
an American hero.

He had the Iranian accent,

he had a full head of hair;

very different character
than we saw later on.

♪ ♪

- What a suplex!

- Devastating suplex.

- Oh, well done job
by the Sheik.

- Sheik now going to work.

- Iran number one!
Iran number one!

[soft serious music]

♪ ♪

- Alan Rice was the head of

the US Amateur Wrestling
in Minnesota.

And he was the one that
met Khosrow Vaziri,

better known as the Iron Sheik.

My father Verne
was the sponsor

for the 1972
Olympic wrestling team.

So that’s how him and
Alan Rice got together.

And Alan is the one that
eventually asked Verne

if he would take Khosrow

and turn him into
a professional wrestler.

- At that time,
Minneapolis was Verne Gagne’s

AWA headquarters.

He controlled wrestling

all the way from Chicago
to the West Coast.

- It was in an old barn
out in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

It was pretty--

[chuckles]
It was rough looking.

- Verne Gagne was a little bit
on the thrifty side.

They trained in this old barn

under really trying
circumstances.

Apparently, it was freezing
in the wintertime.

- You know,
Verne was not big on

any kind of personal comforts.

- You guys get
back in the ring.

Come on, come on,
dig, dig, dig, dig!

- It was six days a week.

And it was like almost
six hours a day.

- Verne Gagne would beat you
and work you like a dog

and stretch you
and make you scream in the ring

and make you work on his farm.

- The guys that had been
amateur wrestlers

would come in and they could do
a really hard workout

that Verne would
put them through.

But the other guys,

he would just completely
destroy them.

- Two hundred and...thirty.

- That’s kind of how
Verne weeded out

those who didn’t belong there.

- He had
such high expectations

that only the toughest
and the strongest

and the most athletic
got through his program.

- Remember, falling is basic.
You gotta know how to fall.

If you don’t know how to fall,
you’re gonna get hurt.

And if you’re hurt,
you can’t wrestle.

And if you can’t wrestle,
you don’t eat.

It’s that simple.

- My father actually turned out
133 wrestlers

throughout his career.

And only 1% didn’t make it
as a main eventer.

- And this was
a really blue chip class.

Ric Flair was in the class,

Jumping Jim Brunzell.

- We got Ken Patera
from the Olympics

and then Greg and then Khosrow.

- Drop kick by Gagne.

- Uh-oh, hang on,
they’re outside the ring.

- Well, look at that.

- Flair chopping TA to down.

- Ric Flair is in
the conversation

for greatest of all time,

alongside the Iron Sheik.

It’s an incredible lineup.

[gentle piano music]

- Well, he was a natural,
as far as stamina.

He was in great shape.

The hardest thing
that Khosrow had to learn

about pro wrestling was

the fact that he had been
indoctrinated so long

by the amateur wrestling
and rules.

It was hard to, you know,
teach somebody a new trick.

- Dive over the arm.
Dive over it.

- If you made it through
the 14 weeks of training camp,

you earned the right to become
a professional wrestler.

And then Verne would
come to you personally

and tell you
whether you made it or not.

- From that class,
the Sheik got a job,

his first job in America,
as a professional wrestler.

But not just
a professional wrestler,

he had to be the referee first
and he had to drive the truck.

- Myself and Khosrow, we were
the two that were picked to--

we had to drive
the ring truck around.

- It was hard for him at first

because he had to
travel around

to all the small matches
around the Midwest.

He had to learn
the whole business.

And you know,
he’s starting out in his--

probably his mid-30s.

- I mean, this was a man
that was coming from

being the bodyguard
of the Shah of Iran

to now living
this simpler life

and started from scratch.

He wasn’t the Iron Sheik then.

I mean, this was just
Khosrow Vaziri.

[soft emotional music]

♪ ♪

- Khosrow Vaziri realized
he wasn’t going back to Iran.

And he was enjoying
the life of an American.

♪ ♪

So he’s living in Minnesota.

Why not go out with
a nice, sweet-natured,

pretty Scandinavian girl?
And that’s how he met his wife.

- I met my future husband
on a nice summer evening.

And we just hit it off
immediately

like we’d known each other
forever.

- He was living in Minnesota
and he had met his wife.

And so every Saturday night,

as soon as
we were done wrestling,

he would drive to Minnesota,

no matter where we were,
to visit Caryl

and then would come back
for the Monday show.

- Khos doesn’t
do anything halfway.

We saw each other,
if he was in town, every night.

He was quite intense.

We had Marissa
in August, 1976.

And it was an easy birth

compared to the later ones
that I had.

- He loved his wife
and his family.

And he did everything he could

to be Khosrow Vaziri for them.

[determined music]

♪ ♪

- My understanding is that
when the Sheik

first started
professional wrestling,

it was more about
his history as an athlete,

his Olympic wrestling.

He wore a singlet.
He had hair.

He was handsome.
He was in shape.

But he wasn’t
getting anywhere.

He wasn’t getting
where he wanted to go.

- When the Sheik
broke into wrestling,

there was no character.

And his entire game
was very dry.

- You know, my mother,
we were having dinner.

And that’s when she said,

"A good name for you
would be ’The Iron Sheik.’"

- The Iron Sheik
completely changed

his physical appearance.

And he became the Iron Sheik.

And it was almost this symbol,
this foreign menace

that was what so many Americans
feared at the time.

- Right now.
it’s all one way,

The Sheik is definitely
carrying it to him.

- As he developed and
personality came out of him,

all of a sudden,
the light went on

and he was the Iron Sheik.

- Introducing the challenger,
the Iron Sheik!

- Some 60 Americans
are now beginning

their sixth day of captivity

inside the US Embassy
in Tehran.

- The Iranian students
took Americans hostage

at the American embassy.

Lasted for 444 days.

It was broadcast nightly
on television.

- This flag was
burned Tuesday evening

outside the embassy’s gates.

- When we had conflict
with Iran,

all of a sudden that became,
"Well, here’s a heel."

And the rest, you know,
as they say, is history.

- The Iron Sheik,
along with Freddie Blassie,

and they are thick as thieves.

- All of a sudden, he was
the Iron Sheik from Tehran.

And he brought a lot of heat.

- The Iron Sheik!

Iran! Iran! Iran!

- And everybody wanted
to come and see him

and hoping that
he’d get beat up. [chuckles]

- "Iran number one,"
that’s what he would say.

- Iran number one! Iran!

- He wanted to
find an antagonist

to the American protagonist.

What better antagonist
than an Iranian?

- Bunch of stupid
American here.

They are terrible.

They are sick people.
[audience shouting]

- When the Iron Sheik realized

everybody is against
this country,

he ramped it up by 11

and realized that
this could make him

the biggest villain
in wrestling.

Between the accent
and the look...

- [speaking Farsi]

- And the way he looked down
on the audience and spit.

- Oh, disgusting!

- And the physicality
of the way

he brutalized opponents.

- Ramming down across the back.

- Every territory
in the United States

wanted the Iron Sheik
to be their top bad guy.

- USA.
[hawks, spits]

- He would say,
"Iran number one. America."

[hawks, spits]

He acted like
he was spitting on America.

And he just--
he knew how to press buttons.

- Now in the ring,
we have the Iron Sheik.

[crowd booing]

- Every single night,
you could turn on the news

and you saw Americans
being paraded blindfolded

by Iranian militants.

- This morning for the first
time since the hostages

were put under lock and key,

one of the captives,
blindfolded,

was brought out into the open.

- So there was not a lot
of love for the Iranian people

in the United States
at the time.

Sadly, there was also a lot of
racism completely unwarranted.

- Back then, they used to
call you "effing Iranian."

That was the thing.

They call you "effing Iranian,"
they beat you up.

- We were made fun of.

We were even tied to a tree
once at school.

- If you said "I’m Iranian"
or "I was born in Iran,"

you were basically saying,
"I’m a hostage taker

"and I support
what Iran has done

to your American people."

- So for anyone growing up
at that time who was Iranian,

seeing the Sheik on TV
was thrilling.

- Here is the winner,
the Iron Sheik.

- Though hated and
though used as a heel,

it allowed them to have
something to cheer for.

- Very, very painful hold.

He’s really pulling back
on that man’s skin.

- What made the Sheik
such a good villain?

I think it’s real simple.

What you see is what you get.

- He understood the politics
of the moment very well.

[crowd chanting]
USA! USA!

- Oh, USA.

- In the fans’ eyes,
they thought

he was best friends
with the Ayatollah.

And in their mind,
they could just envision

the Iron Sheik
and the Ayatollah

having drinks
at the end of the day, right,

and spitting on
the American flag.

All of those things
helped to solidify

his image of one of
the perfect villains,

bad guys,
or heels in wrestling.

- So someone sitting at home
is going, "Yeah, you know what?

"That guy,
he’s probably still working

for those people over there."

And the Iron Sheik played up
to everyone’s internal fears

of that foreign menace.

- Wrestling fans believed that
the Iron Sheik

was every despicable thing

that he presented himself
to be.

[crowd booing]

- One of the rather unusual
methods

that you use
in your training is

the use of some sort of
Persian clubs.

Correct?
- Exactly.

Jamilla, leave me alone.
Leave me alone.

[speaking Farsi]

- Now that is very difficult.

- He had these things called
the Persian clubs

which looked like two enormous
bowling pins or something.

He picked those
two Persian clubs up

and he just started
twirling them over his head

just so gracefully.

It was as if they weighed
ten pounds at the most.

- Lifts those 75-pound clubs

and begins to twirl them about.

- Not to use
this term lightly,

but unbelievable strength.

Because he could pick ’em up
and twirl ’em

like you would
a knife and a fork.

- He’s trying to work ’em.

I would think it’s quite easy
to get hurt with those clubs,

Bruno, if you don’t know
what you’re doing.

- A lot of big, strong,
powerful men couldn’t do ’em.

But the Sheik, man,
he could use those clubs

like nobody’s business.

- None of us could do it.
We all tried.

The damn things were so heavy.
And I tried a couple of times,

I thought I was gonna
break my wrist.

- I used to watch Sheik
doing them freakin’ clubs

inside the locker room.

And then I could see him
go over there

and just start
twisting his mustache

and start slapping his chest.

- What the Iron Sheik
wanted to do was

make his character bigger.

- As you look at
the controversial foot gear.

- And the way to do that was
add little touches

to his ring attire.

- Make note of the shoes
and notice those hooks.

- These are presumably
or ostensibly decorations.

- What he would do is,
when times got tough,

he would turn his back to
the guy he was wrestling.

- He’s loading that boot up now

as we’ve seen him do
so many, many times.

- He’d more or less kick
his toe into the mat

and supposedly loaded the toe.

- Ron whips into the foot gear.

- Oh, my.

- No, I was never a victim
of the Camel Clutch,

and I’m so friggin’ glad
I wasn’t.

- Look at him now,
setting it up,

pulling the arms back.

Once he gets him,
he sets Brock’s back,

it’s give-up time.
[bell ringing]

- He’s got him. Look at him
pulling on that neck.

And that is painful.
[bell ringing]

- The Camel Clutch. Hmm.

A move that you don’t want
to be into.

- Oh, he sits back,
goodbye, that’s it.

He’s got him cinched.
This is undoubtedly it.

- The dreaded Camel Clutch.

- The only move that
I still don’t know

how you can get out of,
physically.

- It’s an extremely painful

and somewhat torturous
maneuver.

- [groans]
- He’s got him.

Look at him pulling
on that neck.

- Oh, he’s gonna break
his back!

- He just had a way of doing it
that it was so infuriating.

- Oh, my.

- And he is really raring back.
[bell ringing]

- Camel Clutch,
fans, that move hurts.

- Perhaps one of
the most sadistic men

in professional wrestling
today.

[crowd shouting]

- One of the only matches
that I actually got hurt

to the point where
I had to have stitches

was with Khosrow.

So Khosrow holds
a real dear spot in my heart.

[chuckles]

- A group of folks
in the audience

with a large American flag

in retaliation to the flag
brought in by the Iron Sheik.

- So at one point,
Jerry "The King" Lawler

painted the face of
the Ayatollah Khomeini

on the Iranian flag.

- We see the likeness
of Ayatollah Khomeini

on the colors of Iran
and the Iron Sheik.

- We were just talking
in the locker room

and I said something about,

"Hey, Sheik, you know,
I’m an artist."

I said, I would just think
that it would look great

if in the middle of that just
empty white space

of that flag,

if I did a portrait
of the Ayatollah.

And I’m telling you,
immediately his eyes went...

♪ ♪

He said, "Oh, Jerry Lawler,
make me famous with this flag."

- He is indeed one of the great

World Wrestling Entertainment
athletes.

However, again, a lot of people
do not like the Iron Sheik.

- Heat is the power
that you have

that’s measured in the way
the audience reacts to you.

Heat means they’re booing you.

Heat means that they hate you.

When you really have heat,

people are going to the arena
not only wanting you to lose,

but they themselves
want to kill you.

That’s the heat that
the Iron Sheik had.

- You people shut up.

And don’t cry USA, USA.

USA is a sick country.

- The Sheik had a sense that
you go, as a fan,

"I know this guy’s
not gonna play fair."

And that type of heat
is lasting.

- Go back to your country!

- The heat that the Sheik had,

the word I like to use
is blistering.

- Walking out to the ring,
the fans started booing him.

He didn’t even have
to do anything.

[crowd changing]
Iran sucks!

- I know what they’re saying,
but I’m not saying it.

- Capacity crowd
on the case of the Iron Sheik.

- People were throwing
stuff at him, you know.

That’s how much heat--that
people just didn’t like him.

- The Iron Sheik!

- Because he was so brash
and bold and braggadocio,

it was opposite our views,

it was easy to not like him.
He was so different.

- The Sheik loved being hated.

- Camel Clutch.
- Oh, look at that!

Oh, he’s gonna break his back!

- And loved doing
whatever he could do

to tap into you
to get you to hate him.

- Got to release that.

Oh, he’s gonna break his back
right in two.

- From Iran,

the Iron Sheik.

- Ooh, devastating suplex.

- Prior to the early 1980s,

wrestling was not
a national thing.

It was divided up
into territories.

There was no one
singular base.

- The country was split up
into regional territories.

And the means of distribution
were local TV stations.

That’s prior to
cable television

and prior to Vince McMahon’s
national expansion.

- When Vince Jr. purchased WWE
from his father,

he decided that he wanted to
take that company national.

- Hello, everyone, welcome
to Championship Wrestling.

This is Vince McMahon
here at ringside

standing next to wrestling’s
living legend,

Bruno Sammartino.

- Vince McMahon came along
and had a vision

that I’m gonna go into
these local markets

and I’m gonna pay these
television stations

to be on the air.

That was the transition,
from a business perspective,

that took the WWE from
a regional northeast promotion

to a national promotion.

- So we shall return here
with the festivities beginning

in just a few moments.

- I think that
when Vince McMahon decided

to take WWE national,
he knew he wanted a product

that would penetrate
pop culture.

And he knew he wanted to show
that it was about

these over-the-top,
marketable characters.

- The ultimate in
sports entertainment,

it’s "Saturday Night’s
Main Event."

- That was the vision
that transitioned

from professional wrestling
to sports entertainment.

And Sheik was
a huge part of that.

[crowd booing]

- When Vince took over and

made the WWE what it is today,

he decided that Bob was
no longer to be the champion.

- Well, the place needed to be
shaken up.

And you had five years of
plain white milk toast.

You know,
Backlund’s a great wrestler,

but not an attraction.

- By golly, one way or another,

whether he beats me or not,

I’m gonna go in there
and fight to the last end.

- Bob was an incredible
amateur wrestler.

But Bob didn’t have
a whole lot of color.

He didn’t have a character
that was very colorful.

- Apparently,
Bob Backlund doesn’t think

that certain people
should be able to beat him.

And if he was
gonna lose a match,

he thought it was important
that he lost a match

to somebody that could
legitimately beat him.

- Introducing first,
to my left, the challenger,

the Iron Sheik.
[crowd booing]

- He knew he had
the title match.

And he didn’t know
how it was gonna end.

- Iron Sheik not wasting
any time

going to work on
that back area.

This match is underway.

- Bob came into the ring
and it was obvious to me

that he was favoring
his left arm.

- I was in the crowd
at the Garden

the night the Iron Sheik
defeated Bob Backlund.

And it was just stunning.

Because Bob Backlund had held
the WWE title for five years.

- And he rips him.
Look at the pain Backlund’s in.

- Come on! Come on! Sheik!

- You don’t think
you’re going to see the title

change hands at the Garden.
- Oh!

- Going for the roll up.
He got him with the roll up.

There’s the bridge.

Sheik now going for
the Camel Clutch.

- People bought tickets to
watch the Iron Sheik get beat.

Nothing could upset them more
than buying a ticket

to see the Iron Sheik win

the biggest match conceivable,

the WWE Championship match.

[dramatic music]

- Now he’s got it.

He hooked Backlund back.

He’s right in the center
of the ring.

- And Backlund’s
got a bad neck.

- Pull on it!
- Whoa!

- Pull on it!
- Whoa!

Backlund not so good!

Arnold Skaaland threw
something in the ring!

[yelling]

- If I’m correct,
it’s the same as a sedition.

We have a new champion in
the World Wrestling Federation.

- When the Iron Sheik
won the title,

I mean, it rocked
the wrestling world.

- Threw the towel in--
I can’t believe it.

- I’m sure Backlund
didn’t say a word.

- I was sitting
in the front row.

And they said that he won and
he put the hand in the air

and I was numb.

I was like, "No way."

- And the new World Wrestling
Entertainment

Heavyweight Champion,

the Iron Sheik!

- It’s theater and drama
at its highest.

Shakespeare would have
been proud.

- It was stunning.
Like, I kept thinking

there was gonna be
some type of reversal.

- Iran number one! Iran!

- And Sheik walked out
of there with that title.

And we basically ushered in
a new era.

[crowd booing]

- The Iron Sheik
from Tehran, Iran,

currently wears the gold.

- Sheik really had a recipe
of what makes a great heel.

- Oh, what a boot.

- There was nothing
really to like

about the Sheik in his prime.

He was a really,
really good heel.

- Everything was believable
about him.

His look was believable,

the way he talked
was believable,

and so he was
very easy to hate.

- Indeed,
the Camel Clutch applied,

and I’m sure
that’s all she wrote.

- The fans who loved
to hate him

would also love to hurt him.

- Iran number one!
Iran number one!

- They’re asking somebody
to bear the brunt of this

and actually, you know,
risk their life.

- I knew there were problems
because

I was good friends with
the Iron Sheik’s wife.

You know,
the mail would come and,

"Oh, my gosh,
there’s another death threat."

And I was like, "Oh, my God,
you gotta be kidding me."

- I mean, the guy had to be
escorted by police.

He had to go into the trunks
of cars to leave the buildings.

- The fans were really
out of control sometimes.

Sometimes he’d even be
stabbed in the arm.

- I’m sure he’s been cut.
We’ve all been cut.

That’s sort of
your baptism of fire

when somebody cut you.

- No guy had bigger
cojones than him.

He was walking around

at the height of
people hating Iranians

and walking into stadiums,

stadiums with 70,000 people
that all wanted to kill him.

I mean, you don’t have
bigger balls than that.

♪ ♪

- When the Iron Sheik won
the WWE Championship,

I think fans didn’t realize

that they were seeing
the end of an era.

♪ ♪

- If you want to make
a great hero

and you’re looking for
a new hero

to lead your company,

he has to overcome
something big.

And to beat someone like
Bob Backlund

that had been a fan favorite
for many years,

that’s not a way
to make a hero.

Because you’re beating
a hero doing that.

However, if you have an evil
menace like the Iron Sheik

come in and beat
your All-American hero

and make him
throw in the towel,

then you need
a larger-than-life hero

to come in and overtake
that nemesis.

- What happened
to Bob Backlund?

What happened to his arm?
What happened to his shoulder?

Now they’re billing
the Hulk Hogan,

the biggest American animal.

- When the Iron Sheik
won the WWE Championship,

it signaled a change in
how the business

would be presented.

The Iron Sheik was
a supervillain.

He would go on to be defeated
by a superhero, Hulk Hogan.

And the Hulkamania era
would begin.

- There he is, Hulkamania.

[crowd cheering]

- Take a look at this.

- Back here at Madison
Square Gardens,

history has just been made for
the first time in five years,

the World Heavyweight Champion,
or should I say ex-World

Heavyweight Champion,
Bob Backlund

dethroned by the Iron Sheik.

- So I’m hanging out
in this bar

after the match
at Madison Square Garden

and fans are speculating

about what might happen next.

And one guy who’s
standing at the bar says,

"I heard that Hulk Hogan
is gonna come in

and win the title."

And I look at my friend
and I go,

"Where’s this guy
getting his information?

"Hulk Hogan’s working for
Verne Gagne in Minnesota.

Never would happen
in a million years."

- Vince’s vision of
taking a company national,

he had to have a hood ornament.

He had to have a centerpiece.

- Wrestling,
when it’s at its best,

has a good guy and a bad guy.

- Place hold that,
my beautiful Iranian flag.

- To set that protagonist up,
the equal antagonist

with the equal protagonist,
Hulk versus Sheik,

it was a match made in heaven.

- You gonna bring that animal
Hulk Hogan for no reason.

Because I don’t know the guy.
I never met the guy.

- It doesn’t get
any better than that.

I mean,
that’s the perfect storyline,

the perfect reality-based
storyline.

And it wasn’t something
a writer wrote.

It was really happening.

- Verne Gagne, in particular,
was very resentful of this.

Because until very recently,

Hulk Hogan had been
working for him.

- So the story that
the Iron Sheik has told,

that Verne Gagne called him
and said, "Sheiky baby,

"do not lose the title
to Hogan.

"Go out there, break his leg,

"and bring the title back
to Minnesota.

I’ll give you $100,000."

- Now, he had trained
Khosrow Vaziri.

His wife had given Khosrow
the Iron Sheik name.

And so there was this
mentality that

the Iron Sheik owes us a favor.

- Verne got to him and said,

"If you break Hulk Hogan’s leg,
I’ll give you 100 grand."

- This is the main event.

It is for the World
Wrestling Entertainment

Heavyweight Championship.

- Well,
the reaction was insane.

I came out spinning and turning
in 20 different directions.

And got up on the apron
and I pointed at the Sheik.

The roof blew off
the building.

And I came and
I ripped the shirt off.

It was already there.

- Introducing first,
the challenger,

from Venice Beach, California,

the Incredible Hulk Hogan!

- As I’m going through this,
I’m going, "Oh, my gosh,

this is gonna be
a huge lightning bolt to ride."

- As Hulkamania definitely
has hit the Big Apple.

- Look how powerful
that Hulk Hogan is.

- Into the ropes and
he nails him right on the chin.

Look at him go,
into the corner, nobody home.

Sheik now going to work.

- The Hulk’s gotta
come out of it.

If not, it’s over for the Hulk.

- It had been so established,

the Camel Clutch
with the Iron Sheik,

that once he put it on you,
nobody got out of it.

- He’s got him.

No one has been able
to escape it.

- I knew if I broke the hold,
the place would erupt.

And it was already over.

Once I got out of
the Camel Clutch

and backed him into
the turnbuckle,

the only thing left to do
was drop the leg on him.

- Look at,
he’s powering his way up.

Hulk Hogan now stands up
with the Sheik

and rams him
into the corner turnbuckle.

And Hulk Hogan, he drops
the big leg on him.

He’s down for the count
after the leg.

One, two.
He got him!

[crowd cheering]

[bell ringing]

- You couldn’t have had
a better person

to take the strap off of Bob
and then give it to Hulk.

- It changed the wrestling
world, without a doubt.

I mean, it exploded.
It just went wild.

- You have arrived, Hulk Hogan.

- I’ve never seen anything as
beautiful as this, Mean Gene.

This belt is part yours, too.

- The fact that he had to
lose the belt to Hulk Hogan,

it was like hemorrhaging
a blood vessel.

It was so painful.

- The Iron Sheik was that key
in transitioning

from the quote, unquote
"real athlete"

to the quote, unquote
"real superhero."

And part of that was because
the Iron Sheik was both.

Hulk Hogan,
I’m not done with you.

I touch you tonight
from one of your people

and I’m gonna make him suffer
so bad.

- You can say he passed
the baton off to Hogan.

But it was a brand new baton

because our industry
was about to go down a road

that had never been done
before.

And the Sheik and
the Hulk were your headliners,

the biggest box office
attraction that the industry

had really ever seen.

- Fans, I’m telling you--

- People were so happy that
that son of a bitch

no longer had that world title.

Taking it from the Sheik,

that was huge.

♪ ♪

- Had the Iron Sheik
not been generous enough

and passed the torch,

WWE may have never become
the juggernaut we know today.

- Now the Iron Sheik’s
bleeding profusely.

- With all the heat
and mad feelings

that the fans had for
the Iron Sheik,

that just made that win
by Hulk Hogan even greater.

And that’s how great
of a villain he was

that he could pass
that torch right on

in a way that it made
Hulk Hogan

the biggest name in wrestling.

- Hulkamania is here!

♪ ♪

- I think Sheik gave them maybe
the highest element of a heel.

- The fans are
giving it to him.

- And Hulk gave them the
highest element of a baby face

at a time where
that really worked.

- The big leg drop!

Look out, Hulk!

- I think the Iron Sheik
fit right in

with what the WWE had planned
for its brand.

Was he gonna remain in
the main event forever?

No.

But I think that WWE
had long-term plans

to keep the Iron Sheik
character

as part of their catalog.

- Now ladies and gentlemen,
there it is,

the submission of
the Camel Clutch.

[bell dinging]
And enough is enough.

- Khosrow did the right thing
at the right time

and became larger than life.

- Iran number one!

Look at USA.
[hawks, spits]

- He spit.
Oh, God, wait a minute!

- Hold on! Hold on!
- Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

Sergeant Slaughter
just came in!

Sergeant Slaughter, oh, he--
- Oh!

- Iron Sheik,

I declare war on you.

- Oh, my word.

- War!

[crowd cheering]

- And we have a new champion!

History made
in Madison Square Garden

as Hulkamania has taken over.

- The thing that made
the Sheik so unique

is that a loss in a big match

wasn’t gonna take away
his heat.

- OK, the Iron Sheik,

he’ll head back
to the dressing room

after taking another
vicious pounding.

- After losing the title
to Hulk Hogan,

while yes, he doesn’t maintain
in the WWE title picture,

that doesn’t mean another
American hero can’t come along.

- After the Sheik loses
the title to Hulk Hogan,

he’s immediately put
into another rivalry

with Sergeant Slaughter.

It’s natural, Sergeant
Slaughter is a US Marine.

That’s his character.

And the Iron Sheik is
an Iranian terrorist.

That’s the gimmick
that he’s portraying.

- Do I look like a Gomer Pyle?

I can’t hear you, maggot.

- Sergeant Slaughter was not,
like, a good guy.

He was a bad guy,
Sergeant Slaughter.

He did a lot of bad things
to other good wrestlers.

- People loved
Sergeant Slaughter.

He was GI Joe.

And then the Iron Sheik’s
this evil bastard

that has to be beaten.

- Listen to them chanting,
"We want Slaughter."

- Everyone wants him
but the Iron Sheik.

- Vince McMahon Senior
invited me out for dinner.

So I started telling him,
"Why don’t you let

Sergeant Slaughter declare war
on the Iron Sheik?"

- Sergeant Slaughter
just came in.

- And the people were
so happy to see

Sergeant Slaughter go against
the Iron Sheik.

Iron Sheik,

I declare war on you!

[crowd cheering]

War!

So I declared war on him
and off to the races we went.

♪ ♪

- In a return bout, it will be
what they’re calling

a boot camp match.

- Everyone on their feet.
USA, everyone.

- Now they’re having
highly emotional matches.

They put the Iron Sheik
and Sergeant Slaughter

in the main event
in Madison Square Garden.

They have this
very bloody match

called a boot camp match.

- Look out,
Sergeant’s gonna explode.

- Oh! Oh!
- OK!

Oh, he rammed his head right
into that pointed boot.

Sarge is bleeding profusely!
- Oh!

Oh, no.

- I’ll never forget watching
that boot camp match

between the Sheik
and Slaughter.

As a kid, I had never
seen blood like that.

- Suplex!

Look at the Sheik fighting now.

- Oh, a big uppercut sends
the Iranian down to the canvas.

- The Sheik didn’t need to win
to win.

He did his job and
he created a feeling.

♪ ♪

That’s the best win is
when you get a reaction.

And it doesn’t matter
who comes out on top.

- This bout a double
disqualification.

[crowd booing]

- Because of the rivalry
with Sergeant Slaughter,

the Iron Sheik
was main eventing.

People wanted
the Iron Sheik on every card.

So the Iron Sheik lost nothing

in sacrificing the title
to Hulk Hogan.

- I’m gonna spit to
your fat body, American.

[hawks, spits]
Soldier!

- [speaks Farsi]

- Sheik obviously embraced
his heritage.

And that made him
nothing but money.

But it made him money
because of his opponents

that were red, white, and blue

or stood for everything right
in this world.

And Sheik didn’t mind standing

for everything wrong
in this world.

- Oh, he just drove a knee
right in the midsection.

Incredible.

♪ ♪

- At this point in time,
the Sheik, financially,

had to be doing better than
he ever thought he would do.

- I can’t help it
if you’re too dumb

to watch where you’re going.

- That’s it.

That is straw that
camel cannot carry.

From now on,
I am through with you.

Pa-tooey.

- That cartoon,
we thought was so cool.

I mean, we were really, really
enamored by the cartoon.

- The cartoon made
all us superheroes.

The cartoon just put
extra gas on the fire.

- Anything that had Hulk Hogan
or Sergeant Slaughter on it

would have to have
the Iron Sheik on it.

The Iron Sheik became
a household name.

- Oh, you make me sick.

Are you the Hulk Hogan?
- [laughing]

- Are you really?
- Stay here.

- You want to be like
the Sheik?

- Get up you coward, you.
[laughing]

- Khosrow made a lot of money
on that action figure.

The very first
dolls that came out,

one quarter he made $87,000.

- I remember he got his check
in the dressing room.

I believe it was
$100,000 check.

And I remember he thought
it was $10,000.

- Thumb wrestle anywhere
with Hulk and the Iron Sheik.

- OK, kids, back to class.
[children yelling]

- Wrestle anywhere with

Wrestling Superstars
Thumbwrestlers.

- The rewards were great.

But the sacrifices
sometimes were even greater.

♪ ♪

It can be
a very glamorous life.

But it can also be a very
lonely and painful life.

- I think one of
the hardest things to be

is a professional wrestler.

You’re gonna miss birthdays,
big holidays, and all that.

- You’re away from your family.

You’re with other wrestlers

more than you are
your children or your wife.

- My husband was usually gone
like a month or two at a time.

- You know, when he got home,

he didn’t want to go out
or be much in the public.

And he was with us
all the time.

- When he came home,

they would run
and hug and kiss him.

They adored their dad.

Nobody could touch their dad.

- He was such a great
role model and father.

And all he wanted to do was

teach us how to be good people.

- As a father,
he adores his kids.

He’d give ’em anything,

anything in his power
that he could.

- The Iron Sheik’s family

suffered like
everybody else’s family,

except he also was developing

a very serious drug problem.

So in some ways,
it can be argued

that they even suffered more.

[crowd booing]

- The whole package of
being a wrestler

in that era was pretty dark.

Outside of the 15 minutes
you are in the match

and in the ring,

you have to
live a very lonely life.

- I have the number one man
right here.

- At times, the industry
is our own worst enemy.

There is that transition from
the high of the match

to coming back down.

And when
the adrenaline wears off,

the pain steps in.

And the crutch
enters the equation.

And it is a pathway to death.

[crowd shouting]

- Ladies and gentlemen,
this is a tag team match

scheduled for one fall.

- You know, when I think about
the combination

of the Iron Sheik and
Nikolai Volkoff, oh, my gosh.

We hated Iranians.
We hated the country of Iran.

- From Tehran, Iran,
the Iron Sheik!

- And then Nikolai Volkoff,
we’ve always hated Russia.

How could you pile on
any more heat?

- From the Soviet Union,
Nikolai Volkoff!

- The thing about heat
in wrestling is that

you really have to balance it.

And the Iron Sheik
was at this place

where it was maybe time to
freshen it up a little bit.

The Iran hostage crisis
was over.

So what can we do
to get the audience mad

at the Iron Sheik again?

Well, what about the Cold War?

- Look at this power display
by the big Russian.

- One-armed choke!

- Look at that
awesome back breaker.

- What if Russia and Iran
combined forces?

How much would you hate that?

And the answer that
the WWE fans gave is "a lot."

- Now you people shut up
and don’t say "USA."

Iran number one!

Russia number one!

USA, Canada--
[hawks, spits]

- Naturally, anybody that
they thought

could wave the American flag
in the face

of Nikolai Volkoff
and the Iron Sheik,

the fans would go crazy for.

- They wanted Nikolai
to come out and go,

"Sheiky, baby, I’m gonna sing
the Russian national anthem,"

[vocalizing], whatever.

- [singing in Russian]

- He came in and sang
the Russian national anthem,

that actually wasn’t
the Russian national anthem,

but that’s OK.
No one knew that.

Can you sing
the Russian national anthem?

No. Neither can I,

but by God, I can sing
Nikolai Volkoff’s version

of whatever it was
he was singing.

- [singing in Russian]

- Those two equaled
the ultimate heat.

- You take these two foreign,
evil wrestlers,

put them in a team together,

you know that people are
gonna come to see those guys.

- What a match up
this is gonna be.

WrestleMania delivering
everything it promised to be.

- WrestleMania I was
the biggest wrestling show

that the United States
had ever seen.

It was before
pay-per-view existed.

- And Mike Rotunda
picks him up,

holds him up
and a big body slam.

- Now he’s going into
the Sheik’s boot.

- Oh!

- Windham off the top
with the big elbow.

Nikolai Volkoff dropped
by the Iron Sheik!

- Both of those guys
worked on top.

So now you put ’em together,
and you get

a whole ’nother way
to market the heat.

- And the champions
are in trouble.

- Oh, sunset flip over the top.

Got the big guy!
- Look it!

Big right hand by Windham,
another right, another right,

a series of left
and rights to the body.

He’s going for the Bulldog.

- Oh, he nailed him with it!

This could be it.
And oh, the Sheik comes in.

- This is another notch
for the Sheik.

Of all these unique moments
that he’s been in,

that proves that you’re
important in the business

when you win the title,

especially back then

when there’s only a handful
of titles in the business.

- Referee now just admonishing
Mike Rotunda.

Look at this!
Oh, he nailed him with a cane!

The Iron Sheik got
ahold of Blassie’s cane.

He’s gonna get counted
out here, gents.

And new champions.
New champions of the world.

- To hold a world title
or a tag team world title,

you know, it had to make him
feel like

all this was worth it.

- Iron Sheik,
you finally have done it.

You’re now World Wrestling
Entertainment

tag team champions.
- You know, Gene Mean,

our country is the best.

We come to the America
to prove it.

Look at us!
- Number one! Number one!

[all shouting at once]

- Those two guys would
argue with each other

so much before and after
a match, it was unbelievable.

It was amazing that
they could still remain

tag team partners
because they were saying,

"You dumb son of a gun."
And, "You’re dumb."

- They were always
butting heads.

And if something happened
in the ring,

they’d blame each other
and it was hilarious.

- They’re all on their feet,
I guarantee you that,

all 93,000.

- WrestleMania I
was a huge success.

And public awareness for WWE
only grew and grew and grew.

And the biggest example
of that is probably

two years after
the first WrestleMania,

when WrestleMania III happens
in front of 93,000 people

in Pontiac, Michigan,

for a show like nobody in
wrestling has seen before.

- Number one!

- Here are the Killer Bees!

- [singing in Russian]

- WrestleMania III
was nothing more than

a background for the debut
of Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

- Hacksaw Jim Duggan and
his 2x4 enter into the ring.

- You’re not singing that
Russian national anthem

because this is
the land of the free

and the home of the brave!

- The finish of our match
incorporated

a young Jim Duggan.

Jim Duggan comes running in

and takes his 2x4

and he’s wailing on Khosrow.

And we get disqualified.

- This match is over right now.

- Needless to say,
that spun a program

between
Jim Duggan and Khosrow.

- USA! USA! USA! USA!

- You can only imagine,
a relatively young guy,

I got my 2x4 with a flag on it.

I go running out.

Whack, I hit Nikolai.

Whack, I hit the Sheik.

I chase everybody
out of the ring.

I’m standing in front
of 93,000 people

with a flag and 2x4 overhead.

Hair’s standing up now,
brother,

it’s a moment
I’ll remember my whole life,

it really was.

- Slams him down to the canvas.

Hacksaw coming off
and rams the knee

right into the midsection.

- [shouts]

- At this time in the ’80s,

the use of cocaine
was prevalent

in all areas of our society.

Entertainers, athletes,
you name it.

- It’s a rock-and-roll
lifestyle, brother.

I mean, there’s a lot of drugs
and a lot of women.

A lot of people got caught up
in that lifestyle.

And I can’t throw no stones.

- The number of people
snorting cocaine

is rising steadily
despite the steep price.

It is also increasingly
popular with adults,

especially among the Sheik.

- Apparently, the Sheik
liked his medicine,

and it was wrestling,
drinking, drugs, wrestling.

- He was devout Muslim

when he was first, you know,
in amateur wrestling.

And he didn’t drink,
he didn’t smoke.

But the problem is that
pro wrestling

offered so many doggone things
to him that he--

you know, he got lost.

- Vince came in one day
and said,

"Sheik, I need to talk to you."

He said, "You took
the drug test, right?"

"Oh, yes, boss, I took
the drug test. I took it."

He said, "Well,
you came back positive."

"Oh, yes, sir.

I’m positive, boss.
I’m always positive."

- You know, he tested positive
for substances.

"Oh, I can’t believe.
Very good, right? Right?"

I said, "No, bro,
you tested positive.

That is very bad."

- You know,
Sheik made headlines

for a lot of the right reasons
through his career.

And then there were times
during his career

he made them for
the wrong reason.

- They are known
to wrestling fans

as the Iron Sheik and Hacksaw.

Now, instead of
battling opponents,

they are fighting
drug charges together.

- I’m here to
tell you right now.

I’m holding that
Iranian Sheik hostage.

- So right around this time,

the Iron Sheik’s
new American hero foe

is Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

- Everything,
I’m on top of the world.

Things are going so good
for me, I cannot believe it.

You know, and now we’re--
I’m getting ready,

we’re wrestling in
Asbury Park, New Jersey.

- And the Iron Sheik
and Hacksaw fly into

Newark Airport.

And the Iron Sheik
sees Hacksaw there

and he says,
"If you’re gonna rent a car,

why don’t I ride to the show
with you?"

- The Sheik and Duggan were
supposed to hate each other.

One guy is the flag-waving
All-American,

the other one is
the Iranian terrorist.

And here they were
in a car together

doing illegal things.

- The worst thing about it is,

they were gonna wrestle
each other that night.

So any way you looked at it,
it wasn’t good.

- Hacksaw Jim Duggan
and the Iron Sheik

get in the car together.

They stop at a liquor store
along the way.

They get some beers
for the road.

They keep driving.
They get pulled over.

They’ve got drugs along
with the alcohol in the car.

- They got the Sheik out
and he carried a purse.

And they opened up the purse,
boom,

right on top,
a gram of cocaine.

Now they got
the Sheik hooked up.

Now the police car,
vroom, vroom,

there’s eight
or ten police cars.

People are driving by,
they’re going,

"Hey, there’s Hacksaw Jim
and the Iron Sheik?"

- They got out of jail,
by the way,

in time to make the show

and still wrestle each other
that night.

- We worked together
that night in Asbury Park.

We didn’t tell anybody.

So we got to the hotel
that night.

I called my wife, I’m like,
"Honey,"

I said, "We got popped

but nobody knows about it."

She calls me about 5:30
the next morning--

everybody knows!

- Police say marijuana
was found in the ashtray

and they also found cocaine
in some luggage.

By the way,
Duggan and the Iron Sheik

are supposed to be
bitter rivals.

- We went to our parents

and we’re like,
"Mom, did you see this?"

And she was like,
"I can’t believe it.

I’m so disgusted."

And we’re like, "Us too.

What were they doing together
in the same car, Mom?"

- So the arrest of
Sheik and Duggan

pulled the curtain back
on our industry

in a way that had never
really been pulled back.

[crowd cheering]

- Weighing 275 pounds,

Hacksaw Jim Duggan!
- Hooo!

- Up until this stage,
even fans who knew

that things were predetermined
could live in denial.

Once these mortal enemies
were arrested

in each other’s company,

it was pretty hard
to delude yourself like that.

- It killed kayfabe.

Kayfabe is the good guy
versus bad guy.

It was always never
supposed to be together.

You’re never supposed
to ride together.

- That’s the first no-no
in the wrestling business.

The good guys don’t ride
with the bad guys.

- You can’t have
the Ninja Turtles

and Shredder in the same car

driving to the show together.

- Turn on the TV set

and all I see is
this Iranian over here,

this Russian over here,

yelling and jawing
at the mouth.

Well, Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s here
to take on any man, one on one.

- Great American hero,
Hacksaw Jim Duggan,

who swore that he would
defeat his enemy,

that Iranian Iron Sheik,

but yet they’re really friends
in real life?

- Kind of--
the curtain was pulled back.

Well, I’ll say this, I think
the curtain was yanked back.

- And now everybody knew
it was all a show.

[crowd chanting]
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

- All of a sudden, that’s when
it became entertainment.

And it really became bigger
since that happened.

We told everybody,
"Hey, it’s entertainment,"

you know?

That old story,
for those who believe,

no explanation is necessary,
you know what I mean?

- And news today that
professional wrestler

Iron Sheik has escaped the hold
of some recent drug charges.

The judge in Freehold
yesterday dropped the charges,

providing he complete
a year’s probation

and submit to drug testing
in the future.

- You know, I think the WWE
still valued the Iron Sheik

and more importantly
valued him as a human being.

So they did send him
to rehab at this point.

- We know it was a pretty
low period for him.

He really didn’t have much
going on in terms of bookings.

And he would just take
whatever he could.

- He lost his job.

He came home.

He was miserable and sulking.

And he started working
for independent promoters.

- The Sheik ended up
going to WCW.

But he never really picked up
traction over there.

He was a long way
from headlining

Madison Square Garden
and it was a little sad.

- USA!
- Hey, Madison Park.

[vocalizing]

- Well, he may be
an Iranian champion,

but he’s not too smart.
And we’ll be right back.

- For whatever reason,

Vince McMahon always had
a soft spot for the Iron Sheik.

- I wanna show
something to the people.

- In comes the Iron Sheik--
another chance.

Because Vince just had
a soft spot for the Iron Sheik,

and that Iron Sheik didn’t take
Verne Gagne’s blood money,

if you will,
and break Hulk Hogan’s leg.

And there was a loyalty there.

- What was going on then
was the Gulf War.

So we don’t need
an Iranian sympathizer anymore.

We need an Iraqi sympathizer.

And that’s where Sergeant
Slaughter, of all people,

comes back into the story.

- We took the All-American
hero, Sergeant Slaughter,

and made Sergeant Slaughter
an Iraqi sympathizer.

- Got a little snake bit.
[laughing]

- He had a manager
named Colonel Adnan.

And then the Iron Sheik
would be brought back in,

but this time as
Colonel Mustafa,

who would be part of
Sergeant Slaughter’s faction,

the Triangle of Terror.

- Twirl that mustache.
Get everything looking pretty.

- I don’t know what it is about
this guy that’s so revolting.

But let’s look at him
in action there.

- He was the thimble there.

He kind of helped
put it all together.

The Triangle of Terror was
really a great entity.

- When we did that,

it was the emergence
of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

This was before
we declared war on Iraq.

- When we actually
went to war,

the WWE was
too deep into the story

to kind of turn back.

So we actually had somebody
on television

sympathizing with the enemy’s
side in a war

that we were actively in,

creating what I would call
nuclear heat.

- And now
the Colonel goes to work.

- He may be even dirtier
than Sergeant Slaughter.

- [hawks, spits]

- And so we’re shooting
for SummerSlam ’91.

Gonna be Hulk Hogan,
the Ultimate Warrior,

against
the Triangle of Terror.

- SummerSlam is going to be

a match made in hell.

- We go back to
Madison Square Garden,

and WWE puts on
SummerSlam 1991.

- We’re ready to go here.
The bell has sounded.

We’re underway.

- Slaughter is a traitor.

And he can’t get enough
tonight, in my mind.

- Oh, reversal!

- Oh!
- Oh!

- It was Hulk Hogan
and the Ultimate Warrior,

at that time,
two iconic heroes in WWE,

facing the entire
Triangle of Terror.

- Warrior chasing
Adnan and Mustafa

all the way back to
the locker room.

- What did Hogan use there?
One time and the count--

- A little bit of powder
and a one, two, three.

[bell ringing]
And it’s all over.

- Remember, Allah always
help Khosrow Vaziri.

- In the mid ’90s,
Vince McMahon

once again finds it
in his heart

to bring the Iron Sheik back.

This time he’s not being
brought in

as a wrestler anymore,
those days are over.

He’s brought in
as a co-manager

with his old enemy,
Bob Backlund.

The two managed
a new not-quite-discernible

foreign menace
named the Sultan.

- Camel Clutch!
- Pull, Sheik, pull!

- The Sultan doesn’t
resonate with crowds.

- The Sheik is begging
for mercy.

- Fan attention goes elsewhere

and the Sheik doesn’t last
that long.

- Booyah!

[resonant music]

♪ ♪

- The Sheik is really down
and out at this point.

And he’s struggling
financially.

♪ ♪

- He wasn’t making money,
and it was rough.

And we lost our house,
we lost our condo.

- And at one point,
he’s on the road,

working in some small building.

And someone turns him onto
crack cocaine.

And this commences
a very sad stage

in the Iron Sheik’s life.

- He would go on a binge

for like five, six days,
not sleep.

- He would go on binges
for nights upon nights.

And he wouldn’t return home.

His family was in
the crossfires of this era.

And the Sheik really--
he wasn’t himself.

He wasn’t the guy that
he was proud of.

- His drug use was
a real problem.

It was a real issue.

♪ ♪

- The next time I ran into

Khosrow was at

the Gimmick Battle Royal

in Houston, Texas.

♪ ♪

- It was a big moment for him

because he was really
feeling down.

He was in a really dark period.

And that match
kind of gave him a boost.

♪ ♪

- WrestleMania X-Seven,
the Gimmick Battle Royal,

they bring all of their
best gimmicks back

and put them all in the ring

for an over-the-top
rope contest.

♪ ♪

- We had Khosrow
introduced early

because it was a long walk
down to the ring.

- It was probably about
a 70-yard walk to the ring.

And it took Sheik forever.

And so Bobby Heenan made
the comment, he goes--

- By the time the Iron Sheik
gets to the ring,

it’ll be WrestleMania 38.

- Just as I was to go out,
I got grabbed.

And Vince McMahon said to me,

"Uh, we got a little problem."

- The Sheik had put on
an awful lot of weight

and was very fragile.

So it was like, well,
who the hell’s gonna get him

up over the top rope?

♪ ♪

And then if they do,
what’s that gonna look like?

And it was decided upon that
Sheik would win the thing.

- The reason that
the Iron Sheik was declared

the victor of the match

was because
his knees were shot

and so he couldn’t take
an over-the-top rope fall.

So in order to avoid throwing
the Iron Sheik

over the top rope,

they just had him win.

- Watch this! Watch this!

The Iron Sheik wins it!
The Iron Sheik wins it!

- They were kind enough
to let him win.

It meant the world to him.

- My life had many turn,

some good, some bad.

- There is no moment more
impactful on the Sheik’s life

than the loss of
his daughter, Marissa.

- This is undoubtedly
the most painful part

of the Iron Sheik story.

He had three daughters,

Tanya, Nikki, and Marissa.

Marissa was a beautiful
27-year-old woman.

Somewhere along the line,

Marissa had found a boyfriend

who, from what I heard,

was taking more than
he was giving.

- We weren’t impressed.

We thought,
"Marissa, you’re so beautiful.

What are you doing
with this guy?"

[somber music]

- And she was resolved
to end the relationship.

And apparently,
when she informed him of this,

he strangled her to death.

- Marissa was strangulated

by this gentleman,
Charles Reynolds.

- And then he put her body
underneath a blanket

and brought the covers up
to her chin

and called his minister

and admitted his crime.

♪ ♪

- Khos went crazy
when he found out.

He screamed.

He howled.

He cried.

It was just the worst time
of our life.

- It was like,
why would God do this?

And we really don’t know why

this guy crossed into her life.

I mean, after two weeks.

It was crazy.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- This is a man in severe pain

who also
blamed himself largely

for what happened
to his daughter.

Because he felt that if
he’d been a better role model,

his daughter might have
made better choices.

And all he was doing
was punishing himself.

♪ ♪

- This was his biggest loss.

And there was nothing
he could do about it.

And that was the most
frustrating thing for him.

And so he kept on going to
a darker place

through this era.

- There was an incident
where the daughter’s killer

was in court.

And the Sheik put
a razor blade in his mouth

and he was planning to go up
to the front of the courtroom

and cut the man’s throat.

- He was ready to go to prison
for the rest of his life

to get revenge.

And fortunately, his family

physically leaned their bodies
against him

to prevent him from doing that.

- They said,
"No, Daddy, I can’t lose you,

I just lost my sister.
I can’t lose my dad."

- I think that
that resonated with him.

And that’s why he didn’t,
at that moment,

you know, come at him.

- The man was not attacked.
He went back to his cell.

And the Sheik’s
surviving children

still had their father.

♪ ♪

[soft tense music]

- After the Iron Sheik’s
daughter died,

there wasn’t much positivity
in the Iron Sheik’s life.

He really was a lost soul.

And he didn’t have a lot
to look forward to.

And then 2005, WWE decides

to induct the major stars
of WrestleMania I

into the Hall of Fame,
including the Iron Sheik.

- I can stand up here
for many, many hours

talking about the Iron Sheik.

- It’s a real life.
It’s a real life story.

And the Hall of Fame
means everything to us

because it means
we’re recognized

by our business
and by our peers.

Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.

- It really meant a lot
to him.

And even to this day,

that is something
he absolutely cherishes.

- Like, I think that that was
the highlight of his life.

And he just let everything out

on all the hardships
he had endured over the years

to get to that point.

- I used to drive the truck,

put on the ring,
pick up the ring--yeah!

And I was referee.
I paid my dues!

- You know, it was
Sheik’s moment in the sun.

And Sheik got exactly
what he deserved.

- I mean, he stole the show
that night.

- I was 180 pound,

but I was so much
fall in love with wrestling.

- He tells a story.
He stops.

He starts again.
Everyone applauds.

- I made it to
the Hall of Fame!

Yeah!

- They think
his story is over.

He tells another story.

He thanks everybody.
Everyone applauds.

And then he tells
another story.

- So I want to say again--
[crowd laughing]

I want to say again--

- It’s probably one of
the greatest

induction speeches of all time.

- And a special thanks
to Mr. Sergeant Slaughter

and all WWE.

- It meant the world to him.
Why wouldn’t it?

My God, man, you sacrificed
your whole life

and your family
to get a friggin’ ring?

Hell, that’s not it.

It’s the fact that I got one
and you don’t.

God bless you guys.
[speaking Farsi]

Peace! Yeah!

- Sheik, you got
a telephone call.

[cheers and applause]

- After years of watching
the Iron Sheik struggle,

after years of
financial insecurity,

after heartbreak,

after one rehab stint
after another,

his wife Caryl
just had to leave him.

She was just fed up.

- I found out
he was using crack cocaine

with another one of
his fellow wrestlers

and got to the point where
we couldn’t stand him around.

We never knew what kind of
personality he would have.

- You say the Iron Sheik
is a heavy drug addict?

- At--at home.

Here, when he’s with me,
he’s perfect.

- Right.
What’s going on, Sheik?

I’m worried about you.

- I don’t like to hear.

Come tell me I spent
the money for the crack

or coke or marijuana.

- Are we lying?
- [bleep]

- Are we lying?
- Is he doing coke?

- You’re lying!
- I’m not lying.

- Who lying? Me?

- I remember thinking
at the time

I didn’t feel like there
was any way he would come back

from where he had gone to,

as far as how far gone
he had gone on the drugs.

- The best thing to ever happen
was my mom leaving him.

[soft emotional music]

♪ ♪

- When I finally left him,

that’s when he stopped
drinking, smoking,

all drugs, everything.

♪ ♪

- Despite many trips to rehab,

it was that woman
that cleaned him up.

And he did it for her
and his kids.

And it brought back the dad
we knew as little girls,

the sweet, drug-free,
alcohol-free man

who loved and worshiped
his wife and daughters.

♪ ♪

- He went back to being
the man he was meant to be,

the man who his parents named
Khosrow of the Immortal Soul.

♪ ♪

- From Tehran, Iran,

the Iron Sheik.

- Devastating suplex.
Oh, and a boot.

- Sheik’s legacy,
an icon, a legend.

- It’s like a book of fiction.

The odds of a kid from Iran

being a household name
in American pop culture.

It’s really hard to wrap
your head around that.

And you people shut up
and don’t come USA!

USA is a sick country!

- I’ve always felt like

he completely defines
the American dream.

- As far as Iranians
and Iranian Americans

and how the diaspora
of Iranians in this country

have found their way,

part of that gateway
was the Iron Sheik.

- [groans]
- Perhaps one of the most

sadistic men in
professional wrestling today.

- He nailed him with a cane.

- To this day, he’s probably
one of the biggest heroes

in our business.

- You gonna bring that animal,

Hulk Hogan, for no reason.

- You could make
the argument, and I would,

that without the Iron Sheik,

Hulk Hogan’s Hulkamania launch

would not have been
as effective.

- He’s got him!

- And if it hadn’t been
as effective,

who knows if WWE
or pro wrestling as we know it

would look anything
like it does today?

- I think he’s made
his mark in history

as one of the innovators,

one of the legit bad guys
that people love to hate.

- Capacity crowd on the case
of the Iron Sheik.

- He was one of the best

and again, one
of the top heels ever.

- Man, he embodies
what it means

to be like a perfect villain.

- I’m gonna spit to
your fat body, you American.

[hawks, spits]

- Oh, disgusting.

- He’s a bad guy,
but I love him.

♪ ♪

There’s a lot of you out there
that do, too.

- Like, all of us love him.

And now, today,
he’s so respected.

- To this day,
you see the Iron Sheik,

and there’s no one like him.

Yeah, he was iconic.

- Here is the winner,
the Iron Sheik!

♪ ♪