The Iron Sheik, Iconic Pro-Wrestling Heel, Dead at 81

The Iron Sheik, the notorious pro-wrestling villain who warred with Hulk Hogan in the 1980s and whose gimmick capitalized on U.S. tensions with Iran, has died at 81. The Sheik’s death was announced Wednesday via his popular yet polarizing Twitter account, which helped turn the sports-entertainment cult figure into an online presence.

“Today, we gather with heavy hearts to bid farewell to a true legend, a force of nature, and an iconic figure who left an incredible mark on the world of professional wrestling,” the post read. “We also take great solace in knowing that he departed this world peacefully, leaving behind a legacy that will endure for generations to come.”

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Born Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri in Damghan, Iran, in 1942, the Iron Sheik began his wrestling career in the Greco-Roman style and competed to represent his country in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. From there, he emigrated to the United States and discovered the outsized world of professional wrestling, making his debut in the WWF (now called the WWE) in 1979 before floating around regional promotions until rejoining the organization in 1983. That year, he defeated Bob Backlund for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship belt after putting Backlund in the Sheik’s signature finisher, the Camel Clutch.

In January 1984, the Iron Sheik lost the title to Hulk Hogan, whose “Real American” persona was in direct opposition to the Sheik’s anti-U.S.A. rhetoric. At the time, U.S. relations with Iran were strained, and the Sheik leaned hard into those sentiments. When he joined Nikolai Volkoff as a tag team, he ratcheted up the vitriol, stealing away the microphone from the ring announcer to declare, “Russia, Number One! Iran, Number One!” before spitting on the mat to insult the United States. Naturally, the crowd went berserk.

The Iron Sheik feuded with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, another flag-waving babyface who carried a 2×4 into the ring, as the Eighties progressed. While villains in the squared circle, the two wrestlers’ real-life relationship (and the kayfabe of pro wrestling itself) was revealed when they were arrested for drug possession after police pulled over their car in New Jersey in 1987.

Still, there was a lot of miles left on the Iron Sheik’s Middle Eastern villain gimmick. He’d fight with Armed Services caricatures Sgt. Slaughter and Cpl. Kirchner, and, when paired with Volkoff, the patriotic tag team the Killer Bs. (Sgt. Slaughter inducted him into the WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2005.) Throughout it all — and despite his broken English — Sheik delivered some of wrestling’s best interviews opposite “Mean” Gene Okerlund, whom he sometimes addressed as “Gene Mean” before commanding the cameraman to zoom in on his muscles.

To an online audience, however, the Iron Sheik became known more for his Twitter account than for his wrestling commentary. While there’s some debate about who actually ran the account, it amassed nearly 650,000 followers, who followed the Sheik’s proclamations about who was “the real” (a respectable person) and who was “a jabroni” (a hack). Without fail, Hulk Hogan was a jabroni, and the Sheik took pleasure in frequently tweeting “Fuck the Hulk Hogan.”

“Fuck,” in fact, became the Sheik’s word of choice and he used it to tell his followers to “Go fuck yourself,” or to put everything from Mondays to social media itself on blast. The Iron Sheik remained keen on current events up until his death. His final tweet: “Fuck the wildfires.”

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