Iron Sheik

[JerryvonKramer]

While I was away I rewatched many of the Legends of Wrestling roundtable shows. If you recall the first 6 of these showcased "Superstars of the 80s". Let me remind you of the guys to whom they dedicated 30 mins or so each:

 

Terry Funk

Roddy Piper

Hulk Hogan

Bob Backlund

Andre the Giant

Jerry Lawler

JYD

Ric Flair

Sgt. Slaughter

 

It's very difficult to quibble with these selections. They all make sense. These were the biggest stars of the 80s or the most talented. It's a very fair representation. We might put cases forward for other people to be included ahead of these 9. I can see an argument for Dusty, for example. Piper and Slaughter may have some competition, but they are not at all controversial people to cover.

 

Who is the 10th star they featured?

 

 

That's right, it was Iron Sheik.

 

Why is Sheiky Baby deserving of such lofty company?

 

It doesn't end there.

 

The Official WWE sanctioned Top 50 list that got Matysik so hot under the collar lists Iron Sheik at 31. One place ahead of Jimmy Snuka. Above Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Jack Brisco, Sgt. Slaughter, Nick Bockwinkel, Dory Funk Jr. and Bob Backlund who is at 47.

 

He was ushered into the WWE Hall of Fame fairly swiftly.

 

Now, I'm wondering, does Sheiky have secret photos of Vince caught having man-sex with Pat Patterson?

 

Vince re-hired Sheik on no less than 4 different occasions, despite his trouble with the law and drugs. He gave him a fairly inexplicable high profile role in 1991.

 

Since the 2000s, Iron Sheik has been in every video game going, got his own action figure, and so on.

 

WHY?

 

I don't really get this at all. The WWE own wrestling history. They own all the footage. There are clear legends in wrestling history. So why do they seem so intent on spinning this myth that the Iron Sheik was this legend on par with the greats?

 

It's quite bizarre. Ivan Koloff or even Superstar Graham do not enjoy this treatment. Iron Sheik's sole claim to fame in the "all-time" stakes is being the guy Hogan beat for the belt.

 

That one moment is elevating him an awfully high way. In the official WWE sanctioned version of history, Iron Sheik is one of the wrestling gods. In reality he was essentially a career midcarder (or upper midcarder at best) who was in the right place at the right time to be a transitional champ for a month and from there became a JTTS within 3 years.

 

Anyone got any ideas about possible explanations for this?

[Loss]

It's possible that he earned respect from Vince when he didn't accept a payoff from Verne Gagne to break Hogan's legs.

[BrickHithouse]

Does it have anything to do with Sheik staying loyal to Vince turning down "$100,000" from Verne to not drop the title and break Hogan's leg?

 

Something that might not have actually happened?

 

Vince "never forgets" that kind of stuff (except when he does).

[Loss]

Iron Sheik having such a disproportionately lofty place in the WWE version of history is also not really new. When A&E did the Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling in 1998, he was portrayed as the most hated heel of his time. Sheik was a very good worker at his peak, so I won't bash him, but obviously his place in history has been skewed a little unfairly by the winners who get to write these things.

[JerryvonKramer]

On the Guest Booker, Greg Gagne flat out denies that story. I guess whether or not it's true is irrelevant, the only important thing is what Vince believes.

 

Still -- it's such a strange thing to see history literally being manufactured and manipulated in this way in front of your eyes.

 

I did have a thought that one possible reason might be as a way of talking up the importance of the WWE World Title, i.e. "look, one of ours, this legend, was champion". But they don't do it with Pedro Morales or the other 70s champs. Bruno is obviously now back in the fold.

 

I wonder if Sheik is one way of them giving the illusion that WWE history is richer or something like that. It's baffling to me though because ... the history IS rich. No fabrication or rewriting at all is required.

 

If it is just because of his loyalty, a massively inflated sense of his historical importance seems like a huge huge payback. I mean other guys make do with a place in the Hall of Fame and a payday or two.

[Dylan Waco]

I admit that the story sounds like bullshit, but it's worth noting that Greg Gagne is one of the all time great delusional liars in the history of wrestling. Top tier

[Death From Above]

Iron Sheik having such a disproportionately lofty place in the WWE version of history is also not really new. When A&E did the Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling in 1998, he was portrayed as the most hated heel of his time. Sheik was a very good worker at his peak, so I won't bash him, but obviously his place in history has been skewed a little unfairly by the winners who get to write these things.

What are some really good Iron Sheik matches?

 

All I've ever seen is the Hogan match (which is an absolutely nothing match really), and stuff past that point where physically he's clearly not at what he probably once was.

 

I know he has a legit background and was probably a better athlete earlier on. But I've seen literally none of that.

[Loss]

Backlund singles matches are good. The boot camp match against Slaughter is one of the best matches of the 80s -- and not just in the WWF. I'm sure there are others, but those are the matches that jump out right away.

[BrickHithouse]

What are some really good Iron Sheik matches?

06.04-79 vs Bob Backlund from MSG is a good one.

 

Then of course there's the Boot Camp match and another MSG match vs Sarge that is good.

 

Sheik's good match resume is still pretty thin IMO.

[JerryvonKramer]

Iron Sheik stuck around for WCW much longer than you would think. He was there from July 89 right through to January 91.

 

That run includes tagging with Barry Horrowitch and jobs to the Z-Man, Ranger Ross, Norman, Fat JYD, and Terry Taylor. Cage match database has 40 matches on record for that time frame with no wins beyond 89. His has a dozen or so victories over jobbers at the start of the run, but after that it's free fall.

 

His Mustafa run actually started as early as March 91. So there was only a month in between his WCW and WWF runs. This seems surprising mainly because Sheik was rarely seen on TV after 89 in WCW.

 

Pre-Summerslam, Mustafa has wins over such luminaries as Hillbilly Jim, Koko B. Ware, Jimmy Snuka, Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas, as well as vs. jobbers -- but he can't beat Jim Duggan and has a long string of losses to him around the horn.

 

In the run up to Summerslam, he is built by ... 5 jobs to the newly turned Greg Valentine, another one to Duggan and he even returns the favour to Snuka.

 

Post-Summerslam he just jobs to everyone, including randomly Jim Brunzell on March 26th, 92 (Winnipeg) and Tatanka about 20 times until leaving in May 92.

 

After that he flies over to Tokyo for a UWF-I show for a 5-minute loss to Yoji Anjo in October 92.

 

Seems to disappear for a while but crops up in the indys with Century Alliance Wrestling:

 

CWA Heavyweight Title: Vic Steamboat defeats The Iron Sheik © - TITLE CHANGE !!!

CWA @ Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA

 

Not sure how he became champ.

 

A month later he jobs to Beau Zane in Windy City Pro Wrestling.

 

This has to be a career low, perhaps not ...

 

In 94 there are no matches on record.

 

By 1996, he's doing jobs to Koko Ware and Preston Steel in "Steele City Wrestling" and in 99 takes part in a "Crackpipe On A Pole" match against Izzy High for Juggallo Championship Wrestling -- at least he won.

 

------------

 

What is most striking about his late WCW and WWF runs is just how jobber-y he was. It makes the Summerslam main event even more surprising.

[JerryvonKramer]

Interested to try to gauge what level of star Sheik was when he came into WWF, I've gone back to look at the sorts of things he was up to before that. He came into WWF only late in 83 around August. Got a decent build going over mainly jobbers plus the likes of Chief Jay Strongbow and (Johnny Sorrow will be pleased to note) Tony Garea before the title switch. One defence vs. the low-charisma JTTS Salvatore Bellomo and one vs. Ivan Putski before losing it to Hogan.

 

After that he doesn't have many singles win, although there is one, notably, against B. Brian Blair. Maybe that's why he boasts about it so much, because it seems like his only actual win after 1983.

 

Before the WWF, he was in Georgia. This looks like a standard "Villian of the month" run where he's built a bit before facing and losing to Tommy Rich. Brickhithouse will be pleased to note that one of the guys who puts him over is Bulldog Bob Brown. After getting his shot at Rich, Sheik puts over Dick Murdoch, Paul Ordorff, Mr. Wrestling II, Ron Garvin and Brett Swayer on his way out before heading to New York. There's no real suggestion from this run that Sheik is a big main event sort of guy. He's doing jobs left right and centre in Georgia.

 

During the 82-3 George run, he went on a tour with New Japan putting over Tatsumi Fujinami, Killer Kahn, Tiger Toguchi, Inoki, Tony Atlas, and Masked Superstar among others. He does record a win over Yatsu however. Hardly treated like a major deal in Japan in 1982 then.

 

Actually, it seems that right after this New Japan tour, rather than going back to Georgia immediately, he had a brief run in Memphis. Built up by wins over Bobby Fulton and Danny Davis, then a few matches vs. Ron Bass and Jerry Lawler. Although brief, this Memphis run seems to position him a bit more strongly than we have seen elsewhere. He gets a win vs. Lawler (2 losses also) and it's 1-1 with Bass, although Sheik loses the pivotal bullrope blow off.

 

In February 82, he has a couple of matches in Florida including a loss vs. Andre -- does the fact he was working Andre at all mean he was considered a top guy? I'm not sure that it does.

 

In 1981, there isn't that much data on Cagematch. But he started the year with Mid-Atlantic. Mostly this is jobs:to Ivan Koloff, to Blackjack Mulligan, to Tommy Rich, to Tony Parisi (!!!!). Although he does record a win over an aging Johnny Weaver.

 

What is notable, however, about this run is that he takes part in 6-mans where his partners are Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine.

 

Mid-Atlantic Championship WrestlingNational Wrestling Alliance Blackjack Mulligan, Ric Flair & Sweet Ebony Diamond defeats Bobby Duncum, Iron Sheik & Roddy Piper

MACW @ Fisherville, Virginia, USA

 

Greg Valentine, Iron Sheik & Roddy Piper defeat Blackjack Mulligan, Ric Flair & Ricky Steamboat

MACW @ Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

 

From that I extrapolate that he was at least number 2 or 3 heel in the company in early 81.

 

That run in MACW started in April 1980. Jim Brunzell was the MACW champ at that time. Sheik seems to come in straight away at the top of the card with a title match. He records wins over Weaver, Pedro Morales, and Tony Garea.

 

After a string of unsuccessful attempts through April 80, Sheik finally defeats Brunzell to win the title on 11.05.1980.

 

The very next night he tries, unsuccessfully, to defeat Flair for the US title. And loses again to Flair twice.

 

He stays MACW champ all through the summer going over Brunzell many times.

 

He keeps that strap until November 80, when he loses it to Ricky Steamboat.

 

Before the MACW run, he did the New Japan tour. His placement on the card is obviously higher than it was in 1981. Since he's working mainly Choshu, Inoki and Fujinami. That said, he loses every single match.

 

Prior to that, he was in WWF still working as Hussein Arab. A string of defeats vs. Larry Zybysko here, some unuccessful shots at Backlund, a CO loss to Gorilla Monsoon, jobs to Jim Duggan, Tony Atlas, and Rene Goulet. He does get a win over Tito Santana as well as over lower carders like Johnny Rodz. We could put down a lot of these losses down to the fact he was on his way out.

 

So far, the 1980s MACW run seems like his peak run -- everything after 80 feels like he's on the downward curve.

 

70s stuff to follow.

[JerryvonKramer]

In 1979, he's mainly with WWF working as Hussein Arab. The story of his 79 is that he has lots of wins over the likes of SD Jones but then fails to beat Backlund for the title or Ted DiBiase for the North American title. On April 6th he wins a battle royal to become number 1 contender, but it seems to me that during this period he is either number 3 or 4 heel behind Greg Valentine, Ken Patera and possibly Pat Patterson.

 

Before this from November 78 to Jan 79 he has a brief stint in AWA during which he does little of note except lose to Billy Robinson and Steve O.

 

Records on Cagematch are sketchy for 78. There's one loss vs. Buck Zumhofe for Portland from September and that's it.

 

From what is on there, it seems like he hit his peak in terms of positioning on the roster in 1980 in MACW.

 

This makes sense from a political point of view. Iran was friendly with the USA under the Shah during the 70s, but the hostage crisis in 1979 would have put a rocket launcher under Sheik in terms of heat during the early part of the Reagan era. It looks like that first run against Jim Brunzell was the debut of the Iron Sheik gimmick since before then he worked as Arab Hussein.

 

Even with this behind him, it seems like he lost momentum while with the Crocketts and was done as a main event draw there by 1981. There's little about the 82-3 Georgia run that suggests he was positioned as the top heel. And again little in the run up to the actual title switch vs. Backlund in 83 to suggest he was the top heel in WWF.

 

From all of this I conclude:

 

Iron Sheik's run as a main event draw of any sort was incredibly short lived. Roughly confined to 1980 in MACW with some extra crumbs in 81-3, including what must have been a very surprising transitional run with the WWF title.

 

Is this too harsh an assessment? khawk or someone with greater knowledge of what he was doing in the 70s in AWA or elsewhere may bring some extra facts to bear.

[Ricky Jackson]

He was actually wrestling as the Iron Sheik as early as 1978 Portland. This neat little PBS doc features his feud with Dutch Savage:

 

[Matt D]

I think you're also overstating the importance of the 91 Summerslam main event. He wasn't there as a force by any means. He was just one of Slaughters cronies in the match. The fact that it was 3 vs 2 means that he was basically half a guy. The real story was all centered around Hogan getting revenge on Savage, Hogan and Warrior working as a Unit and what Sid would do. Sheik is in there as basically a cipher. I can't imagine he got that much better a payday than the babyfaces in the six-man tag opener for instance.

[Loss]

I remember reading that he pitched something to be involved in the Mohammad Hassan angle, but they decided not to bring him back.

[Smack2k]

He was actually wrestling as the Iron Sheik as early as 1978 Portland. This neat little PBS doc features his feud with Dutch Savage:

 

Off topic but HOLY SHIT did Jesse look like Randy Savage in that video.....

[JerryvonKramer]

Matt - the Summerslam match is surprising to me precisely because of the fact they decided to go with Hogan/Warrior vs. Slaughter + Manager + CIPHER. What the hell sort of main event is that?

 

I am more interested now in whether I've got his career trajectory right:

 

Early 70s - training with Verne and breaking in

 

Mid-late 70s - working his way up the card. He was an upper midcarder by the time he reached New York working as Arab Hussein in 1979.

 

1980-early 81 - this was his career peak as a draw having a main event run as Iron Sheik with the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title and high-profile matches with Flair and Steamboat. Also put in main event matches against the big guns in New Japan.

 

1982-3 Back down to being an upper midcarder in Georgia, although doing a lot of jobs up and down the card by the end of the run.

 

83 - Brought into WWF and seemngly out of nowhere gets the title from Backlund before dropping it to Hogan

 

84 - sliding back down the card, although still an upper midcarder feuding with Slaughter and others, but mostly on the losing end

 

85-6 - transitions over to tag division in WWF, again quite surprisingly gets a title run with Volkoff but mostly used to put over younger talent like The Bulldogs

 

87 - a lower midcarder by this point used to put over the likes of Duggan, before real-life incidents lead his his firing.

 

89-91 - basically a JTTS in WCW

 

91-2 - borderline jobber in WWF

 

93 onwards - into the Indies and obscurity, he can be considered semi-retired from here.

 

I want to know if his peak run was as short as I am making out.

 

The view I'm building up is that his WWF title run is pretty anamolous in the context of his whole career. He was nowhere near, for example, the level of star that Ken Patera was at any point in his career.

[PeteF3]

At some point in '91 he got a TV pinfall victory over Davey Boy Smith. That was a shocking result both then and in retrospect, considering that Davey was extremely well-protected because of his international marketability.

 

Graham has it on the 8/5/91 Prime Time, I guess as a last-ditch effort to give any sort of credibility to the Triangle of Terror going into SummerSlam.

[JerryvonKramer]

Pete, I've got every single Prime Time from 1991, if I have time later I'll have a look on that show to see if I can dig it up. If it's there I'll upload it to my site and share the link.

 

One of those things that I'm not going to believe until I see it!

[Matt D]

Matt - the Summerslam match is surprising to me precisely because of the fact they decided to go with Hogan/Warrior vs. Slaughter + Manager + CIPHER. What the hell sort of main event is that?

It's because the main event was really "Hogan and Warrior team up!" Who they went up against didn't matter a whole lot. Also, the real main event was the Match Made in Heaven.

 

If you're WWF and you want another guy to put with Sarge who would mean at least something to the fans and is a little bit fresh, who do you use? Cuban Assassin?

 

Adnan for what it's worth didn't matter a lick to WWF watching kids. Unless they were from a very specific part of the country I can't imagine any of them knew that he'd been a manager at all before his WWF run.

[JerryvonKramer]

Cuban Assassin, lol.

 

Are you really asking me to fantasy book this Matt? Shit I don't know, Irwin R. Shyster respects Saddam Hussein because he's great at paying his taxes. Earthquake wins the Iraqi Sumo championships and gets a medal of honour from Saddam himself. Gen. Adnan buys out the contract of Demolition Crush who becomes Col. Crush.

 

OR advertise it as "Mystery Partner" and ...

 

Bring in Flair a month early. Bring in Abdullah the Butcher for a one shot. Bring Sid in earlier.

 

---------

 

In short: anything to make that match look less ridiculously one-sided.

[JerryvonKramer]

At some point in '91 he got a TV pinfall victory over Davey Boy Smith. That was a shocking result both then and in retrospect, considering that Davey was extremely well-protected because of his international marketability.

 

Graham has it on the 8/5/91 Prime Time, I guess as a last-ditch effort to give any sort of credibility to the Triangle of Terror going into SummerSlam.

There you go guys, a rare youtube upload from me featuring epic Mooney and Hayes commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTphs668xcU

 

"You can see, Sean, that he looks slow and ponderous in the ring, but this man really is impervious to pain"

 

"Yes, and he can really deliver it"

 

In an amazing moment, Mooney and Hayes mention the fact that Mustafa is speaking Farsi!

 

Mooney: "Is it Farsi?"

 

Hayes: "I believe it's Farsi that these two speak to each other, but they also speak Arabic. They are multilingual, that I do know."

 

Mooney: "Well, you don't need a translation to know what Adnan is trying to do now" Ha ha, classic Mooney.

 

HOLY SHIT, my mind is getting blown watching this. The Farsi / Arabic point acknowledged on air!

 

The pin is a cheap one when Bulldog's going for his slam and Sarge pulls and holds the leg a la Rude vs. Warrior at WM5. Pretty appalling match. Post-match Mustafa looks almost too blown up to celebrate.

 

In the replay, Hayes says "If it hadn't been for that, there was no way he would have won this match on his own".

[Matt D]

What a boon you have provided for western civilization here.

[Loss]

My favorite unintentionally cringeworthy Sean Mooney quote is "A lot of people view London as a melting pot, but I was very surprised that the same was true about Germany."

[thebrainfollower]

I agree the wedding was sold as the main event. I still wonder why Jake and Taker were left off the card because them and Slaughter would have struck me as a much more marketable match but I guess not.

 

Match is pretty lousy and I feel v sorry for the Bulldog in this, he was just coming off a nice run with Mr. Perfect and going into a fall of not doing much at all IIRC.