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The Iron Sheik's influence extended to the sport's biggest stars.

establish my character, my gimmick,” he said. As a pro wrestler, he acknowledged taking advantage of anti-Iranian sentiment following the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. In the documentary, he said he once served as a bodyguard for the Shah. in love with the sport,” he said in the film. “I was married to the wrestling mat because I was so much. In a documentary about his life called “The Sheik,” he said he became attracted to wrestling as a teen and as a grappler in the Iranian Army. The Iron Sheik had an early foundation in competitive Greco-Roman wrestling, competing in the Amateur Athletic Union and becoming a gold medalist in 1971, WWE said. The Iron Sheik's last appearance in the ring was at WrestleMania 17, the Connecticut-based WWE said.

Slaughter, who played the role of an American hero. He also built a long-running rivalry with Sgt. He was a successful individual wrestler as well, winning the WWF championship in 1983 by defeating Bob Backlund, before losing it later to Hulk Hogan. They won the WWF World Tag Team Championship in 1985 at the first WrestleMania, according to the biography posted on the WWE’s internet page. The mustachioed, barrel-chested brawler often riled up crowds with his anti-American persona and rhetoric, often alongside tag team partner Nikolai Volkoff, who played the part of a Soviet villain. The Iron Sheik, whose real name was Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, grew up in a small village in Iran where he embraced wrestling in his youth.ĭuring his pro wrestling career, he donned curled boots and used the “Camel Clutch” as his finishing move during individual and tag team clashes in which he played the role of an anti-American heel for the WWF, which later became the WWE. Neither statement mentioned a cause of death nor where he died, but the Twitter post said he “departed this world peacefully.” The wrestling organization posted an article confirming his death, and a statement about his passing also was posted on his Twitter page giving details of his life. The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport's biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died Wednesday, the WWE said.