I had originally planned to do a post about how ironic it was that the bargain bin at Argos is full of unwanted “Randy Orton” “WWE” Wrestling figures for £1, while ASDA are selling “Koko B. Ware”, “King Kong Bundy”, and “The Iron Sheik” figures for £8.
For anyone who doesn’t know “Koko B. Ware”, “King Kong Bundy” and “The Iron Sheik” were at the height of their careers in the old “WWWF” A.K.A. “WWF” (now known as the WWE”) in the seventies and eighties. I have not seen the wrestling for at least 4 years but I can’t remember any one called “Randy Orton” so I am guessing he must be relatively new.
While surfing the web looking for info for this post I found out that some of the old wrestlers have had quite interesting, if not to say mercurial, lives. I never really thought that much of “The Iron Sheik” as a wrestler but I was fascinated by some of the events in his life.
The Iron Sheik was actually born, in 1943, in Iran (although anyone who followed the WWF during the first Gulf War would be forgiven for assuming that he was from Iraq). He served in the Iranian Army for two years and won the 1968 Olympic gold medal for his country in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Forget Ali, Lewis, Henry, or Angle the Sheik was the first Gold medal winning Olympian to turn “professional”.
The highlight of his “professional” career was obviously defeating Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Title at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1983. He was World Champion until January 1984 when in one of the most famous matches of all time he was defeated by a young wrestler called Hulk Hogan (the rest is history). Apparently, AWA promoter Verne Gagne offered Sheik $100,000 to break Hogans leg during the match. The Iron Sheik resisted the temptation and informed Hogan & Vince McMahon. The AWA went bust unable to compete with McMahon’s new style of “sports entertainment”, embodied by grapplers such as Hulk Hogan.
May 26, 1987: The Iron Sheik and Jim Duggan were arrested by New Jersey State Police. Duggan was charged with possession of marijuana and drinking alcohol while driving. Sheik was charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine. Duggan received a conditional discharge and Sheik received one year probation. What was so shocking about this was that they were feuding at the time, and the incident exposed the business, The Iron Sheik left the WWF soon after this incident.
In January 2002 America was living in the shadow of September 11th, The Sheik was detained entering the States from Canada at the airport in Rochester because they believed he may have been a terrorist. They even made him remove his shoes
May 5, 2003: Iron Sheik's daughter, Marissa Jeanne Vaziri age 27, was found strangled to death, in her apartment. Marissa's live-in boyfriend, Charles Warren Reynolds, 38, confessed to the crime and was charged with murder.
The reports of what the Sheik is doing now seem mixed certainly up till a couple of years ago he was appearing for any number of the independent wrestling outfits, drawing crowds as low as 200 people, anywhere between 200 and 400 times per year. For a while he refused to wrestle anyone who had not been in the WWF or WCW because they were not stars, but in the end I think the financial realities hit him. In his own words “The only thing I did all my life — wrestling. I cannot eat my gold medal. I have to make a living”.
The Sheik was an Olympic hero and one of a very few foreigners who managed to make a career in an American dominated industry. Some wrestler like Hulk Hogan, or Rick Flair, have managed to transform success in the ring in the eighties into financial security in later life. Unfortunately this has not seemed to be the case for the 63 year old Sheik who is still trying to earn a living from the “sport”. Randy Orton, whoever he is, probably has a long career ahead of him and is probably earning money that most of us can only dream about, it wont affect him if his merchandise is popular in the Bradford branch of Argos or not. On refection I hope the Iron Sheik is getting a cut of his £8 per figure, and I hope that “Koko B. Ware” and “King Kong Bundy” have faired better although I do get the feeling that they have not.
Anyway happy thoughts here is a picture of the moment that the Sheik became “WWF” Champion. You can literally see the Towel being thrown in as Bob Backlunds manager calls it a day.
