Hossein Khosrow Vaziri

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri
Data
Ring name	The Great Hossein Arab The Iron Sheik Colonel Mustafa Ali Vaziri
height	183 cm
Fighting weight	110 kg - 119 kg
birth	September 13, 1942 Damghan , Semnan Province , Iran
Announced from	Tehran , Iran
Trained by	Verne Gagne
debut	1972

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri ( Persian حسین خسرو علي وزیری; * September 13, 1942 in Damghan , Semnan Province , Iran ), better known as The Iron Sheik ( Arabic ذي آيرون شيك), is a former Iranian wrestler . He had his greatest successes in the World Wrestling Federation , where he was both World Wrestling Federation Champion and WWF Tag Team Champion . He has also been a member of the WWE Hall of Fame since 2005 .

Beginnings

Vaziri has a sporting background as a wrestler and trained for the 1968 Olympics . However, contrary to all rumors, he was eliminated from the preliminary rounds. In 1971 he was champion of the Amateur Athletic Union in the wrestling class up to 82 kg. In 1972 and 1976 he was also an assistant coach for the US Olympic wrestling teams. From 1972 he became a professional wrestler after training by Verne Gagne .

Career

After he was initially active on a regional level in Canada as Great Hossein Arab , he finally came to the World Wrestling Federation in 1979 , where he appeared as the villain Iron Sheik with a gimmick corresponding to his origin . He got a first title match against Bob Backlund , which he lost. He then feuded with Bruno Sammartino and Chief Jay Strongbow before he left the organization again in 1980. In 1983 he returned to WWF after a time in the wrestling umbrella organization NWA , where he was allowed to challenge Backlund again and this time was allowed to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship . A few weeks later, however, he had to give the title back to Hulk Hogan . In addition to a feud with Sgt. Slaughter , he now formed a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff . They received the WWF Tag Team title against the US Express at Wrestlemania in 1985 , but lost it again to the same a short time later. In 1987 Vaziri was picked up by the police along with Jim Duggan for drug possession. Duggan was then briefly suspended by the WWF, but Vaziri was released because he had cocaine with him.

In the following three years Vaziri went to all other major wrestling organizations in North America, such as the WCCW , AWA , WWC and NWA or later WCW . He feuded mainly with Tony Atlas and in 1989 with Sting for the WCW Television title .

In 1991 he came back to WWF and, as Colonel Mustafa, became an ally of his former arch rival Sgt.Slaughter , who now appeared as an Iraqi sympathizer. The storyline ended with a loss to Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam of the Year . In 1992 Vaziri finally left the WWF.

In the following years, Vaziri only appeared actively in independent promotions before briefly joining the WWF in 1996 as manager of the Sultan . In 2001 he won the Gimmick-Battle Royal at Wrestlemania XVII again and was, in contrast to his former ring person, celebrated by the fans.

In 2005 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Sgt. Slaughter .

Today Vaziri only makes sporadic appearances and emerges mainly through various taunts against colleagues, especially Hulk Hogan, which, however, are sometimes only played to maintain his status as a heel .

useful information

• Vaziri was arrested at the airport as a "potential terrorist" on a trip from Canada to the USA in January 2002 and was only released after a search.
• His eldest daughter was murdered by her boyfriend in 2003.
• In 2007, Vaziri admitted to spending up to $ 20,000 a week on cocaine on the Howard Stern Show .
• In 2008 he had an appearance on the Canadian reality show Kenny vs. Spenny .

successes

• Georgia Championship Wrestling

• 1 × NWA National Television Championship

• International Association of Wrestling

• 3 × IAW Heavyweight Championship with Brian Costello

• Maple Leaf Wrestling

• 2 × NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship

• Jim Crockett Promotions / Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling

• 1 × NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship

• NWA All-Star Wrestling

• 1 × NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship with The Texas Outlaw

• NWA New Zealand

• 1 × New Zealand British Commonwealth Championship

• NWA 2000

• 1 × NWA 2000 American Heritage Championship

• Pacific Northwest Wrestling

• 1 × NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship with Bull Ramos

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• WWE Hall of Fame 2005
• 1 × WWF World Heavyweight Championship
• 1 × WWF World Tag Team Championship with Nikolai Volkoff
• Gimmick Battle Royal Winner. Wrestlemania 17th

Web links

Commons : Iron Sheik  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Iron Sheik's Hall of Fame Profile
• Hossein Khosrow Vaziri in the Genickbruch.com database