All language subtitles for biography_wwe_legends_s03e10_iron_sheik

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 look was believable, the way he
talked was believable.

He was very easy to hate.

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 cry for her so much. I miss her so
much.

She 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.

People were blowing stuff at him. You
know, that's how much heat that people

just didn't like him.

Sheik now going to work.

It's easy to not like him. It's so
different.

The Sheik loved being hated.

The Hulk's got to come out of it. It's
over.

Oh! Oh! Okay.

You listen.

Ah! Pull!

It needs a camel punch to fly. I'm
scared. That's all.

Zero. Southrop did the right thing at
the right time and became larger than

life.

It was very tough to leave my country,
Iran.

I worked hard for this woman in my

life.

By dream and hard working, I become
champion.

champion, the Iron Sheik.

Khosrow Vaziri was born in Dagham, which
was a town about

215 miles outside of Tehran, Iran.

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 was in Iran big, very, very
big.

Wrestling is koshigiri, 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.

And then army champion. And then three
times national champion.

After the army, Khosrow had a very sweet
job.

He was given a job as an assistant
cameraman at Iranian national

he worked directly for the Shah's
cousin.

At the time that the Shah was in power,
the Sheikh, 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

Shah and everyone thought it was
wrestling hype. It wasn't wrestling

was legit.

Above all, the one guy you can say was
the pinnacle of athletics and wrestling

was Golem Reza Tafti.

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 Sheikh idolized Taqdi.

Taqdi was the greatest Iranian champion.

We had to go Olympic and then for
Olympic and come back home always

with medal.

The Sheikh?

really looked up to Takhti because
Takhti was the kind of wrestler, the

athlete, the kind of human being he
wanted to be.

And at a certain stage, Takhti began
mentoring a young Qasr al -Fahiri.

He was his mentor, he was his idol, and
the Sheikh just wanted to be exactly

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

Takhti was the man, and the Sheikh was
going to be the one to follow in his

footsteps.

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,

very progressive figure.

One day there was a massive soccer
match, and the Shah of Iran was sitting

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.

They seem very curious.

to a young Khosrow Vaziri, because he
knew Tochti, and Tochti was

not a man to take his own life, and
became convinced

that Tochti was not the victim of
suicide, he was the victim of homicide.

And he drew the conclusion, if the
government can kill Tochti, who knows

can happen to me?

I don't want to talk about politicians
too much, but I said, if you don't know

good for a taxi, better I go some day,
too, because he was the greatest chap

when we had him, and nobody knew how he
passed away.

Here's a cat that was a bodyguard for
the Shah.

If he hadn't have gotten out of there,
they would have killed him, man, chopped

him up to pieces.

At that time, Hosro 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 the Minneapolis
-St. Paul International Airport, he just

kept saying, Alan Rice, Alan Rice,
because no one at the airport spoke

And Alan Rice was eventually reeked.

At the Pan -American Games...

Kaz had met Alan Rice. Alan Rice was an
American Olympic wrestler and later the

coach of the U .S. Olympic wrestling
team.

Alan Rice had made it clear that he
would love for Kaz to come to the U .S.

and train with the Minnesota Wrestling
Club.

Mr. Alan Rice was quite...

a lifesaver to cause in the fact that he
took him under his wing.

He treated him like his own son.

And I'm an assistant coach for him, help
the team.

And I see myself too. And I come three
times All -American champion.

He was so skilled and so knowledgeable
that Alan Rice, when he became the coach

of the U .S. Olympic team, he asked Kaz
to be his assistant coach.

And in 1972 and 1976, Kaz Rao Vaziri was
an assistant coach of the

U .S. Olympic team.

And this led to his early character
in...

pro wrestling. Everyone thought he
started out as the Iron Sheik. No, he

out as basically an All -American who
would come to the ring with a singlet

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

Alan Rice was the head of the U .S.
amateur wrestling in Minnesota. And

he was the one that met Khadra Vasuri,
better known as the Iron Sheik.

My father Vern 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 Vern if he would take
Cosgrove and turn him into a

wrestler. At that time, Minneapolis was
Vern Gagne's AWA headquarters.

He controlled wrestling all the way from
Chicago to the West Coast.

I'll talk to Mr. Alan Rice.

I'd like to go someday professional.

And then I go in the training camp.

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

It was pretty... It was rough looking.

Vern 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,

Vern was not big on any

kind of personal comfort.

It was six days a week and it was like
almost six hours a day.

Vern Gagne would beat you and work you
like a dog.

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 Vern would put
them through, but the other guys, he

would just completely destroy them.

Two hundred and thirty!

That's kind of how Vern 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.

We go and practice, practice, but he
didn't stop.

Remember, falling is basic. You've got
to know how to fall. If you don't know

how to fall, you're going to get hurt.
And if you're hurt, you can't wrestle.

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. Now, this was a really blue

class. Ric Flair was in the class,
jumping Jim Brunzel. We got Ken Patera

the Olympics, and then Greg, and then
Cosgrove.

Oh, hang on, they're outside the ring.

Oh, look at that.

Flair chopping T .A. the down.

Ric Flair is in the conversation for
greatest of all time.

alongside the Iron Sheik.

It's an incredible lineup.

Well, he was a natural as far as
stamina.

He was in great shape.

The hardest thing that Cosgrove 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.

It's different.

Different technique, different move.

You have to convince the people we are
real on that ring.

Otherwise, if the people think it's
phony, no good.

Dive over the arm. Dive over.

If you made it through the 14 weeks of
training camp, you earned the right to

become a professional wrestler.

And then Fern would come to you
personally and tell you, whether you

or not.

From that class, the Sheik got a job,
his first job in America as a

wrestler. But not just a professional
wrestler, he had to be the referee

And he had to drive the truck.

Myself and Kazo, 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 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.

Khosrow Vaziri realized he wasn't going
back to Iran.

And he was enjoying the life of an
American.

He's living in Minnesota.

Why not go out with a nice, sweet
-natured, pretty Scandinavian girl? And

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 Terrell, and then we'd come

for the Monday show.

Kaz 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 beat

Cosgrove. I'm sorry for them.

My understanding is that when the Sheik
first started professional wrestling, it

was more about his history as an
athlete.

He did Olympic wrestling. He wore a
singlet. He had hair. He was handsome.

was in shape.

But he wasn't getting anywhere. He
wasn't getting where he wanted to go.

When the sheet broke into Rutland, there
was no character, and his entire game

was very dry.

Ali Ghatiri, nice guy, but not enough. I
get

work so I can make a good living.

I say, I'm tired. I don't want to work.
Good guy anymore. I want to be bad guy.

And then Mrs. Ghania.

Tell me I have a new name, good name for
you.

You know, my mother, we were having
dinner, and that's when she said, good

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 a 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

.S. 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

And everybody wanted to come and see him
and hoping that he'd get beat up.

Iran number one, that's what he would
say.

They wanted to find an antagonist to the
American protagonist.

What better antagonist than an Iranian?

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

accent and the look.

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

In the physicality of the way he
brutalized opponents.

Every territory in the United States
wanted the Iron Sheik to be their top

guy.

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

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 a thing. They call you F -ing
Iranian to 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.

Well, I don't have to say about Persian
carpets, Persian cats, Persian

pistachio. Everything you want over
there that was the best, just like the

orange sheep. So for anyone growing up
at that time who was Iranian,

Seeing the Sheik on TV was thrilling.

It is the winner, the Iron Sheik!

Though hated, and though used as a heel,
it allowed them to have something to

cheer for.

I love wrestling so much, I didn't have
a choice. I want to stay in this

business. To me, it was a natural and a
way to be well and healed.

Very, very painful hole. He's really
pulling back with that man's chin.

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.

In the fans' eyes, they thought he was
best friends with the Ayatollah. In

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 help to solidify his
image of one of the perfect villains,

bad guys, or heels in wrestling. So
someone sitting at home is going, yep,

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

menace.

Wrestling fans believe that the Iron
Sheik was every despicable thing that he

presented himself to be.

One of the rather unusual methods that
you use in your training is the use of

some sort of Persian clubs, correct?

Exactly. 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 10 pounds at the most.

Lift those 75 -pound clubs and begin to
twirl them about.

Not to use this term lightly, but
unbelievable strength, because he could

them up and twirl them like you would a
knife and a fork.

He's trying to work them.

I would think it's quite easy to get
hurt with those clubs growing up if you

don't know what you're doing.

A lot of big, strong, powerful men.

Couldn't do them, but the Sheik, man, he
could use those clubs like nobody's

business. None of us could do it.

We all tried.

Damn, things were so heavy, and I tried
a couple times. I thought I was going to

break my wrist.

I used to watch Sheik.

They're doing them freaking clubs.

Inside the locker room, and then I could
see him.

Go over there and just start twisting
his mustache and start slapping his

What the Iron Sheik wanted to do was
make his character bigger.

And the way to do that was add little
touches

to his ring attire.

These are presumably or ostensibly
decorations.

What he would do is, when times got
tough, he would turn his back to the guy

was wrestling.

He'd more or less... kicked his toe into
the mat and

supposedly loaded the toe.

Rod whips it to the foot here.

Oh, my.

No, I was never a victim of the camel
clutch, and I'm so friggin' glad I

Look at it now, setting it up, pulling
the arms back. Once he gets it, he sets

the rocks back.

It's give -up time.

He's got to look at it, pulling one out
there. That is painful.

Camel clutch.

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

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.

He's got to look at him pulling on that
neck. He just had a way of doing it. It

was so impure.

Hammer clutch, fans, that move hurts.

Perhaps one of the most sadistic men in
professional wrestling today.

One of the only matches that I actually
got hurt to the point where I had to

have stitches was with Cosgrove. So
Cosgrove holds a real dear spot in my

A group of folks in the audience with a
large American flag in retaliation to

the flag brought in by the Iron Chief.

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

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.

They see me with the Iranian flag, and I
have total faces in the middle of the

flag. That was a real shoot hit.

He is indeed one of the great World
Wrestling Federation 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

lose, but they themselves want to kill
you.

That's the heat that the Iron Sheik had.

The Sheik had a sense that you go, as a
fan, I know this guy's not going to play

fair.

And that type of heat is lasting.

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

anything.

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.

Oh, they threw everything in the ring.

Everything in the ring was packed.

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.

And loved doing whatever he could do to
tap into you to get you to hate him.

Devastating suplex.

Prior to the early 1980s, wrestling was
not a national sport.

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

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 going to go into these

markets and I'm going to 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.

We shall return here with the
festivities beginning in just a few

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 a show

was about these over -the -top,
marketable characters.

That was the vision that transitioned
from professional wrestling

to sports entertainment, and Sheik was a
huge part of that.

When Vince took over and made the WWE
what it is today, he decided that Bob

no longer to be the champion.

Bob Buckland was a good champion, but
people get tired of him.

They want to see the better change.

Well, the place needed to be shaken up,
and you had five years of plain white

milk toast.

You know, Backlund, great wrestler, but
not an attraction.

By golly, one way or another, whether he
beats me or not, I'm going to go in

there and fight to the last.

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 going to 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.

He knew he had the title match, and he
didn't know how it was going to end.

No, I didn't know. Surprise, Mr.

McVincombe told me.

And my wife didn't know.

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.

You don't think you're going to see the
title change hands with the Garden.

People bought tickets to watch the Iron
Sheik

get beat.

Nothing could upset them more than
buying a ticket to see the Iron Sheik

the biggest match conceivable.

the WWE Championship match.

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!

Oh! Pull on it!

Backlund did not submit, Arnold scored
it!

If I'm correct, that's a Seamless
submission, we have a new champion in

World Wrestling Federation!

From the Iron Seekers.

won the title.

I mean, it rocked the wrestling world.

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.

It's theater and drama at its highest.

Shakespeare would have been proud.

It was stunning. Like, I kept thinking
there was going to be some type of

reversal.

And Sheik walked out of there with that
title, and we basically usher in a new

era.

My life changed a little bit, but it got
more famous, more territory

using me.

The Iron Sheik from Tehran, Iran,
currently wears the gold.

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

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.

The fans who

loved to hate him would also love to
hurt him.

They're asking somebody to bear the
brunt of this and actually, you know,

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, this is another death

threat. And I was like, oh my God,
you've got to be kidding me. I was very,

lucky. As a matter of fact, two, three
times they called Mr. McMahon.

For example, if the Iron Sheik comes to
Albany or Providence, Rhode Island,

they're going to shoot me because they
know that I'm a real Iranian.

I mean, the guy had to be escorted by
police. He had to go into the trunks of

cars, leave the building.

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 cuts you.

No guy had bigger cojones than him.

He was walking around.

at the height of people hating Iranian
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

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

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

your All -American hero, and make it
throw in the towel, then you need a

-than -life hero to come in and overtake
that nemesis.

What happened to Bob Buckley? What
happened to his arm? What happened to

shoulder? Now they're putting Hulk
Hogan, the biggest American animal.

When the Iron Sheik won the WWE
Championship, it signaled a change in

business would be presented.

The Iron Sheik was a supervillain. He
would go on to be defeated by a

Hulk Hogan. And the Hulkamania era would
begin.

There he is, Hulkamania.

So I'm hanging on this bar after the
match at Madison Square Garden, and fans

are speculating about what might happen
next.

And one guy standing at the bar says, I
heard that Hulk Hogan is going to come

in and win the title. And I look at my
friends and I go, who's this guy getting

this information?

Hulk Hogan's working for Vern Gagne in
Minnesota.

Never would happen in a million years.

Vince's vision of taking a company
national, he had to have a hood

had to have a centerpiece.

Wrestling, when it's at its best, has a
good guy and a bad guy.

To set that protagonist up, the equal
antagonist with the equal

protagonist, Hulk versus Sheik.

It was a match made in heaven. You go
bring that animal Hulk Hogan for no

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.

Vern Gagne in particular is very
resentful of this because until very

Hulk Hogan had been working for him.

So the story that the Iron Sheik has
told, that Vern Gagne called him and

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 trained Khosrow Vaziri.

His wife had given Khosrow the Iron
Sheik name. And so there was this

that the Iron Sheik owes us a favor.

Byrne got to him and said, if you break
Hulk Hogan's leg, I'll give you a

hundred grand.

This is the main event.

It is for the World Wrestling Federation
Heavyweight Championship.

Well, the reaction was...

Insane. When I came out spinning and
turning in 20 different directions and

up on the apron and I pointed at the
sheet that grew up below me and I came

and ripped the shirt off, it was already
there.

Introducing first, the challenger, from
Venice Beach, California,

the incredible Paul Brugge.

I'm going through this and oh my gosh,
this is going to be...

a huge lightning bolt to right.

It

has

been so established, the camel clutch
with Aaron Sheik, that once he put it on

you, nobody got out.

I knew if I broke the hold, the place
would erupt and it was already over.

I got out of the camera clutch and back
into the turnbuckle, the only thing left

to do was drop the leg on it.

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! Have you
never seen anything as beautiful as this

meeting? This belt is part of 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.

I'm a wrestler, not Hulk Hogan.

and I should have had the belt longer.

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.

I make him to be a really big star.

Without me, no Hulk Hogan to be a star.

Hulk Hogan, I'm not...

I touch you tonight from one of your
people, and I'm going to make you suffer

bad. You can say pass 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.

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

never become the juggernaut we know
today.

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

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.

And Hulk gave them the highest element
of a babyface at a time where that

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 going to 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.

And, gentlemen, there it is, the
submission of the Camel's Bludgeon and

it up.

Charles Rowe did the right thing at the
right time and became larger than life.

The thing that made the Sheik so unique
is that a loss in a big match wasn't

going to take away his heat.

Okay, the Iron Sheik being led 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

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 U .S. 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 domer pile?

I can't hear you, maggot.

Sergeant Slaughter was not like a good
guy.

He was a bad guy, Sergeant. He did a lot
of bad things to other good wrestlers.

He was a bad guy first.

The only person who could make him a
good guy was Iron Sheik.

People loved Sergeant Slaughter.

He was G .I. Joe.

And then Iron Sheik, this evil bastard,
has to be beaten.

We want Slaughter. Everyone wants him
but the Iron Sheik.

Finch McNab Sr.

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, that's a miss!

And the people were so happy to see
Sergeant Slaughter go

against the Iron Sheik.

Iron Sheik!

I declare war on you!

The third 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.

I'll never forget watching that boot
camp match between the Sheik and

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

Suplex!

Look at the Sheik fighting now!

It was tough match, hard match, good
match.

And people wants to see all this bread.

Cut!

She didn't need to win to win. He did
his job and created a feeling.

That's the best win is when you get a
reaction and it doesn't matter who comes

out on top.

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.

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 into
midsection?

Incredible!

At this point in time, the Sheik
financially had to be doing better than

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. But

do it.

That cartoon, we thought, was so cool.

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

The cartoon made all of 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.

Cosmo 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 a $100 ,000 check.

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

The rewards are great, but the
sacrifices sometimes

are 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 going to miss birthdays and big
holidays and all that.

You're away from your family. You're
with other wrestlers more than you are

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

how to be good people.

As a father, he adores his kids. He'd
give them anything, anything in his

that he could.

hard for family and myself because I was
on the road all the time. I didn't see

them very often. I missed them.

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.

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.

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.

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

Volkov, oh my gosh.

We hated Iranians. We hated the country
of Iran.

From Tehran, Iran, the Iron Sheik.

And then Nikolai Volkov.

We've always hated Russia. How could you
pile on any more heat?

From the Soviet Union, Nikolai Volkov.

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

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
Russians. What if

Russia and Iran

combined forces?

How much would you hate that?

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

She was from Tehran, Iran. I was from
Russia. He speaks Lebanese. I speak

Lebanese. We were real. It was no
imitation, you know.

Naturally, anybody that they thought
could wave the American flag in the face

Nikolai Volkov and the Iron Sheik, their
fans would go crazy for them.

They wanted Nikolai to come out and go,
Sheiky baby, I'm going to sing the

Russian anthem.

Whatever.

I was very happy when I saw all those
people there.

When I started singing, it was great. I
mean, people hated it. He came in and

sang the Russian National Anthem. It
actually wasn't the Russian National

Anthem, but that's okay.

No one knew that.

Can you sing the Russian National
Anthem? No, neither can I. But by God, I

sing Nikolai Volkov's version of
whatever he was.

Those two.

equalled the ultimate heat. You take
these two foreign evil wrestlers, put

in a team together, you know that people
are going to come and see those guys.

What a matchup this is going to be.

WrestleMania delivering everything it
promised to be.

WrestleMania 1 was the biggest wrestling
show that the United States had ever

seen. It was before pay -per -view
existed.

WrestleMania was good for me.

All this was a very...

Both of those guys worked on top. So now
you put them together and you get a

whole other way to market the heat.

Big right hand by Windham, another
right, another right, a series of left

rights to the body.

He's going for the bulldog.

Oh, he nailed him with it.

It's going to be in and down for the
Godard as Sheik comes in. This is

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. Look at this.

Oh, he nailed him with a chain.

Iron Sheik got a whole blast. He's paid.

He's going to get counted out here.

A new champion.

New champions of the world.

To hold a world title or tag team world
title, you had to make him feel like

all this was worth it.

Iron Sheik, you finally have done it.
You're now the celebration tag team

champion. You know what you mean?

All countries are best.

We come to the America to prove it.
Thank you. Number one.

Number one.

Those two guys would argue with each
other.

So much before and after a match is
unbelievable. It was amazing that they

still remain taking partners because
they were saying, you dumb son of a gun,

you're dumb.

They were always butting heads.

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 happened in front of 93 Southland

people in Pontiac, Michigan, for a show
like nobody in wrestling has

seen before.

Here are The Killer.

WrestleMania III was nothing more than a
background for the debut of Hacksaw Jim

Duggan.

The

finish

of our match incorporated a young Jim
Duggan. Jim Duggan comes running in.

and takes this 2x4, and he's wailing on
Cosgrove, and we get disqualified.

This match is over right now.

Needless to say, that spawned a program
between Jim Duggan and Cosgrove.

USA!

USA!

USA!

You can only imagine.

You can probably tell I'm a young guy. I
got my 2x4 with a flag on it. I go

running down.

Whack, I hit nickel. I whack, I hit the
sheet. I chase everybody out of the

ring. I'm standing in front of 93 ,000
people with a flag and 2x4 overheads.

Here standing up now, brother, is a
moment I'll remember my whole life. It

really was.

At this time in the 80s, the use of
cocaine was prevalent in all areas of

society.

Entertainers, athletes, you name it.
It's a rock and roll lifestyle, brother.

mean, there's a lot of drugs, 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 sheep.

Apparently, the Sheik liked his
medicine, and it was wrestling,

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

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 it. Very good,
right? Right?

I said, no, bro. You tested positive.
That's very bad.

You know, she 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

They are known to wrestling fans as the
Iron Sheik and Hacksaw. Now, instead of

battling opponents, they are fighting
drug charges together.

So right around this time, the Iron

Sheik's new American hero foe is Hacksaw
Jim Duncan.

Everything, I'm on top of the world, I
am.

Things are going so good for me, I
cannot believe it. You know, now I'm

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
going to rent a car, why don't I ride to

the show with you?

I was stuck.

I didn't have a ride to go.

I said, I'll come with you. He said,
okay. He said, yeah, no problem.

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
going to 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.

And then they got the sheik out and he
carried a purse. And they open up the

purse, boom, right on top, a gram of
cocaine. Now they got the sheik hooked

Now the police car, there's eight or ten
police cars.

People are driving by the car. 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 and my cunny. I said, we got

but nobody knows about it.

She called 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

What were they doing together in the
same car, Mom? So the arrest of Sheik

Duggan pulled the curtain back on our
industry in a way that had never really

been pulled back.

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.

They killed kayfabe.

Kayfabe is the good guy versus bad guy.
You're 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.

The TV says, and all I see is this
Iranian over here, this Russian over

yelling, yelling out the mouth. Well,
Hacksaw Jim Duggan said, take down any

man, one on one.

Great American hero, Hacksaw Jim Duggan,
swore that he would defeat his enemy,

that Iranian iron sheet.

You have to live with 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.

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

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

point. We know it was a pretty low
period for him. He really didn't have

going on in terms of bookings, and he
would just...

take whatever he could.

He lost his job.

He came home.

He was miserable, insulting, 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.

was a little sad.

It was a small building, small money.

Well, he may be an Iranian champion, but
he's not too smart and will be right

back. For whatever reason, Vince McMahon
always had a soft spot for the Iron

Sheik.

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 Vern

Gagne's blood money, if you will, and
break Paul Kogel's leg.

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. 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.

He was the thimble there. He kind of
helped put it all together. The triangle

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

war that we were actively in, creating
what I would call nuclear heat.

And so

we're shooting

for SummerSlam 91.

It's going to be Hulk Hogan, the
ultimate warrior against Triangle

We go back to Madison Square Garden, and
WWE puts on SummerSlam 1991.

With

Hulk

Hogan and the Ultimate Warp, at that
time, two iconic heroes in WWE, facing

the entire...

triangle of terror.

Remember,

Allah always helped.

This thing was good to me, but I didn't
have too much energy in my body.

In the mid -90s, Vince McMahon, once
again, finds it in his heart to bring

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

The Sultan doesn't resonate with crowds.

Paying attention to go down to her. And
the Sheik doesn't laugh at all.

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. He lost our

condo. And at one point he's on the road
working in some small building and

someone turns him on to 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 Cosgrove 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 -7, 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 Califro 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 Mr. Bandt said to me,

We got a little problem.

Sheik had put on an awful lot of weight
and was very fragile.

So it's like, well, who the hell is
going to get him up over the top rope?

And then if they do, what's that going
to 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.

They were kind enough to let

him win.

It meant the world to him.

My life had many turns.

Some good.

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

was taking more than he was giving.

We weren't impressed.

We thought, Marissa, you're so
beautiful. What are you doing with this

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.

Kaz went crazy when he found out. He
screamed,

he howled, he cried.

It was just the worst time of our life.

I cry for her so much. I miss her so
much.

And it breaks my heart.

It's 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's crazy.

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

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.

Yeah, my plan, I kill him and take his
head off.

But if I kill the girl, still my
daughter is gone anyway.

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

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.

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 could 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.

Oh, to the Hall of Fame was a great
feeling.

It really meant a lot to him, and even
to this day, that is something he

absolutely cherishes.

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 pay 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 184, but I was so much.

Fall in love with wrestling.

He tells a story. He stops.

He starts again.

Everyone applauds.

They think his story is over. He tells
another

story. He thanks everybody.

Everyone applauds.

And then he tells another story.

I want to say again.

I want to say again.

Probably one of the greatest induction
speeches of all time.

That meant the world to him.

Why wouldn't it? My God, man. You
sacrificed your whole life and your

get a friggin' ring?

Well, not yet.

The fact that I got one and you don't.

God bless you guys.

Ya Allah.

Ya Muhammad.

Ya Ali. Peace.

Peace. Peace. We got a telephone call.

After years of watching the Iron Sheik
struggle, after years of financial

insecurity, after heartbreak, after one
rehab stint after another, his wife

Carol 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 that Iron Sheik is a heavy drug
addict.

At home, up 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 eat.

Come tell me I spent the money for the
crack or coke or marijuana.

Are we lying? You're lying.

I'm not lying. You're lying. Me? I
remember thinking at the time I didn't

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 drug.
The best thing that ever happened was my

mom leaving him.

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 worshipped his wife and

daughters.

He went back to being the man he was
meant to be, the man who his parents

Koshrau of the Immortal Soul.

From Tehran, Iran, the Iron Sheik.

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.

I've always felt like he completely
defined the American dream.

As far as Iranians and Iranian
-Americans and how the diaspora of

Iranians in this country.

I found their way.

Part of that gateway was the Iron Sheep.

Perhaps one of the most sadistic men in
professional wrestling today.

To this day, probably one of the biggest
heroes in our business. You could

make the argument, and I would,

that without the Iron Sheep, Hulk Hogan,
Hulkamania large.

would not have been as effective.

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.

He's one of the best.

Are you kidding? One of the top deals
ever.

Man, he embodies what it means to be
like a perfect villain.

I'm going to beat you up.

I'm going to beat you up. 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.

It is the winner, the Iron Chief!

I love wrestling, and if I was in good
shape and healthy, I'd do it again.