I was in 8th grade when my family went to Wrestlemania 7 as the LA sports arena. We got there early in hopes of seeing the wrestlers arrive and get pictures with them. The Iron Sheik was the first one we saw and we were scared and intimidated by him and he knew it. He saw us cowering and yelled over to my brother, my cousins and I and said 'Come, come and take picture with the Iron Sheik!' He was so nice and cool and put his arms around us and posed for a bunch of pictures. I'll never forget that.
My dad owned Mobil station off River and Higgins in Rosemont for decades. Just blocks from the Horizon and the wrestlers would always stop at his station for cigs, Pop, chips, etc. He said Shieky Baby was always very friendly and respectful
@@eriksmith7829 Can't do it today because you'd have to probably find a Chinese wrestler. Think it could still work but if that guy lost you'd have some backlash from the Chinese market (however large or small that'd be). Imagine... "China #1!..." That'd be interesting at least.
Jim talks about the Iron Sheik's drug abuse at the 45:36 mark likely severely hindering his mental state but I think that there's more to that. I mean, Sheik's daughter, Marissa being murdered back in 2003 was utterly devastating. I don't know how any father can recover from not only the loss of a child, but losing said child in a such a violent way. This is why, I feel horrible at laughing at Sheik's late in life reinvention as a lovably vulgar and eccentric grandfather because I don't know if that's just Sheik playing up his "foreign menace" gimmick for comedic effect or something deeper.
They said it in the documentary that he let it all out during the HOF speech. So really what from our POV was an old crazy guy babbling was really an old guy after years of hardships and after a whole life of not being the guy who needs to jump into every conversation, finally having a release, which probably was something he legit needed as a human being. Really this documentary reveals so much about many things including how Sheik pretty much became a joke as an old man when really he was legit, a solid man and anything but a joke.
@@PiCheZvaraI don’t think his HOF speech was considered a joke. If anything, most guys would’ve gotten gently escorted off-stage if they had gone on forever the way Sheiky did. Instead, they more or less allowed him to do his thing, which was a show of respect.
Jim and Brian didn't mention the true crime moment of Shiek's daughter being killed by her boyfriend. And then Shiek was going to try to kill the guy at trial, but his family talked him out of it.
The funniest Sheik moment for me was in 1988 in AWA when they aligned Iron Sheik with Sheik Adnon Al-Kaissie stating it was part of the signed truce between Iran and Iraq to end their war in the 80's.
@@Rjensen2 I remember Shawn saying in his autobiography that when he and Jannetty pitched Verne the idea of being the Rockers he asked them if the fans would confuse the name for rocking chairs. For context, this was the late 80s.
@@quentinkaasa47 Eh, Bruce is good, but he's an often unreliable narrator, especially because of his sycophanting toward Vince. The good thing about Jim and Brian is that they swear no allegiances.
Being a child of the 80s, I remember being terribly confused by Hacksaw and Iron Sheik getting busted together....wasn't long after that, was watching a Celtics game on TBS and Dusty and Flair were sitting together....I began to suspect wrestling might be not be all it said it was.....
Getting busted on the road together in the cover of night on a lonely interstate Highway is one thing but Jesus Christ how tf did Crockett not lose his shit over these two enjoying the lakers Celtics series together smh😅 wtf
@@tobiasfarragut292 I always wondered that too....Skip Caray was calling the game, and he even said something like "uh, aren't those guys enemies?" and laughed... I assume he was smart to the business as they say. Im guessing if it was anyone other than Crockett's 2 biggest stars they would have been in deep shit. Funny enough, this was also when Dusty was always showing up to do promos on the tv show wearing a Celtics jacket, because I remember Flair cutting one of his wild promos yelling about that jacket and wanting to destroy it 😂
@samspurgeon4222 probably because there's nothing you can do to Ric and Dusty... You gonna fire them? They could have spun it to Ric trying to con Dusty... and Dusty spinning it saying "He had the tickets, and I wanted to see the best basketball athletes in the world, baby" These soul brothas have a dream too baby, and I love seeing men living out the American Dream"
I always said that the Iron Sheik had balls of steel to stand in the middle of Madison Square Garden and scream Iran #1 and spit on the ring after saying USA. I legit thought someone would kill him.
Umm they did Bret/Mick/Shawn/Booker/Austin/Mysterio/Edge/DX/Angle/Goldberg/Taker/Charlotte/Lawler/Kane/Jake/Shiek...16 out of 29..17 if you count the NWO...Most of them ARE alive
He meant someone from sheiks era. So people like Sheik, Dusty, lawler. If its a documentary on Charlotte flair of course shes alive. There’s significantly less as old as the Sheik. (Due to age and how hard wrestlers can be on there health)
Ive enjoyed almost all these Bio's , but Jim and Brian breaking them down makes them even better ! If these get put out on DVD , These reviews should be an added bonus .
I have been going back to watch old wrestling as the current stuff sucks and my first time seeing Precious Paul not as a manager was in a Persian club challenge against the Sheik. Both of them really grew on me between those two and Hacksaw jim duggan and Ernie ladd it made me realise just how much i had missed outside of the WWF.
His wife seems so sweet, my lord what she has been through. The daughter being murdered was just horrific, I can’t imagine that pain. As a kid I loved the “bad” guys. My brother and I got in so much trouble for standing for the Russian national anthem. The bad guys were fun and interesting.
The Iron Sheik was my favorite wrestler as a kid (I loved the heels and he was the best). When The Sheik beat Backlund for the belt....I was in heaven!! This doc was a bit vanilla however. I did not really learn anything - except for Verne Gagne's wife given him the moniker!! I never knew that!!! Still it was a decent watch.
I remember in 1978/79 when he was in the WWWF as the Great Hossein Arab, managed by Fred Blassie. And he would twirl the Persian clubs, and my dad said "Those Goddamn things are probably hollow!"
Strangely enough the Ayatollah that is painted on the cartoon pic for the video looks more like Khomeini's son and also his grandson who ironically is a dissident cleric who doesn't like the regime.
Wait.... did this special not talk about his daughter's murder?! That happened in 2003, amidst his issues at the time - they covered it in The Sheik doc a few years ago, which is when I first heard of it & I was horrified something like that disappeared in the shadows of all his weird antics & issues of the time. Also feel like it goes without saying her murder possibly exacerbated those issues.
They got to it in the last 10 minutes or so. It happened about 20 years ago now, so it felt weird with them bringing it up so late, before the program wrapped up. They really should have cut out some of the stuff in the middle, about Sheik dropping the title to Hogan. It was a pivotal moment in history for sure, but it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as what Hogan did afterwards with Piper.
Was a great documentary. Really incredible story his amateur career. Was a wrestler who lived his gimmick in real life he become his gimmick. I still say wwf would have succeeded without him but I can’t take away his important and impact on the the wrestling business . I’m willing to bet 100 grand wasn’t much money to him at that time, really seems out of line to ask him that. I don’t see the Duggan and shiek arrest being a black eye on the industry that really destroyed sheiks career cost him a lot of money. He’s another important wrestler that helped develop wrestling into a mainstream sport. I still say throughout the 80s and 90s wrestling was on as grand a stage as nfl nba mlb.
Him and Duggan getting pulled over was a HUGE deal when it happened. You had local newscasts that never reported on wrestling(or making fun of it somehow) covering the story all over the US. Back then kayfabe was in full swing so it wasn’t about the drugs the big deal was that a heel from Iran and the all American babyface were traveling together and friends. That was big big news. Nowadays nobody would care because kayfabe pretty much died around 1996 after the curtain call, Vince Russo, and the attitude era killed it. Back then there was no such thing as shoot interviews and podcasts.
@@johnnyargon5454 people suspected but really until the internet a couple tv specials in the late 90s and the attitude era flat out telling everyone there was always plausible deniability on the wrestlers end. The only ones that really KNEW it was a work were in the business already, related to someone in the business or one of the few smart fans out there that subscribed to the dirt sheets and/or were trying to break into the business themselves. Most intelligent people suspected but the wrestlers and their families protected the business and kayfabe with their lives because breaking it would cost them their livelihood. Dr D lost his job protecting in in the wwf, Vader was arrested in Saudi Arabia and Richard belzer retired to “Che Hogan” his home in France paid for by Hulk Hogan after choking him out on tv. You have to keep in mind that wrestling as a whole was something that mostly unintelligent people really went nuts over and believed and the ones that pretty much figured it was a work still had that plausible deniability because some stuff really looked legit. I don’t know if you were alive in 87 but I was and kayfabe was still in full swing and that arrest was huge news because every newsroom or small time newspaper in the country wanted to be the first to tell everyone wrestling was “fake”.
Classy Freddie Blassie was awesome!!!! Ayatollah Blassie!! Great manager gimmick!!! He was my favorite manager of all time at a time when there were some greats!!
So I saw this last night, had no idea what to expect and I must say I was really impressed, tbf they skipped ahead a bunch of times but I guess from an editing stand point there was only so much they could keep in.
I agree someone in the comments said they stopped watching the a&e docs cus they put in the bare minimum but I disagree they have to fit the story in a 2 hour show with commercials so they have to keep it moving I thought they did a good job with it I wasn't expecting them to show him acting crazy on Howard stern and shoot interviews that we can watch on UA-cam
I remember hearing that when The Iron Sheik was working in Dallas that he helped train the Von Erich boys. I also remember that the way they tried to explain Sheik becoming Col. Mustafa was because Sarge had renamed him.
The reason I remember for him being called Col. Mustafa was that the Iron Sheik had been banned from the WWF. Piper as I recall called him out on commentary during one of his first matches much like he did Tony Atlas saying that he wasn't supposed to be there.
I hated the Iron Sheik when I was a kid, but what a life he led. Just watched the WWE Legends of the Sheik, condolences to his family and rest in peace to one of the all time greats.
Not only did Verne hire Shieky to break Hogan's leg for 100,000 bucks , I heard that Verne was possibly trying to pay Brody around that sum to beat the shit out of Mr. T right before the main event of Mania 1 to sabotage the event . But Ive heard several versions of that story with different promoter's names like Bill Watts . So ...who knows if there is any truth to that . But also we do all know every territory was freaking out about Vince at the time hurting their biz . So its not far fetched .
I can't believe there are people that actually believe this. Verne's ego was such that he couldn't admit that Hogan's leaving had an effect on the AWA.
His name was changed to col mustafa because they was meant to be an army you had General Adnan in the stable too. Shiek is a title not a name , so the name change isn’t really that bad. No reason it couldn’t still be the same character.
It would have been hilarious if they did an angle where Sheik breaks Hogan's leg and Sheik gets the the $100,000 then later on Verne finds out it was just a work and he's out $100k
On a side note, "kos" means pussy, or more accurately, c#&t, in farsi. Somehow seems so appropriate for the Sheik. One of a kind, will NEVER be duplicated.
The Iron Sheik's shoot interviews are the stuff of legend!!! & only legends have seen the shoot Interview with Iron Sheik, New Jack, & Honky Tonk Man!!! XD
Iron Sheik is really made of Iron... He outlived Scott Hall and has done more drugs than most of us and he was also amazing on Howard Stern. What a legend! Im happy The Rock always tries to help Sheik out and I come from TEhran Iran #1 wrestling AAU CHAMPOING GRECO ROMANN WRRRRRRASTLINg
Outlived Hall, Anvil, Davey Boy, New Jack, Hennig, Warrior…. Sheiky Baby is up there with Keith Richards in terms of longevity compared to substances consumed.
So ya know how great sheik was as a heel when I was young in the 80s I was in grade school my dad knew wrestling was a show they choreographed things an. Characters weren't real but when iron sheik came on my dad would cuss holler tell at the tv wanting somebody to beat his ass ..good times I miss the old days of wrestling when it was "kinda' believable they just don't have it anymore 😢
As an iranian wrestling fan i feel underrepresented and if u ignore the mohammad hassan angle which was racist and weird towards the fans in the middle east , we basically had nothing but the iron shiek . Living legend , solid worker , never broke character since entering the business doesnt get any better than this I rather have 1 shiek than 100 mohammad hassans
Saw the Iron Sheik in 1984 at a WWF show....we were standing by the heels entrance and sheiky baby came out to have a look at crowd (I guess) and he turned a gave a lil wave to us...i feel bad today😅but he was the first adult i ever flipped off...i was maybe 11 ...he turned around just walk back in the lockeroom...Andre was there too....never saw a man get in a car twice at one time
The Iron Sheik was the very definition of a heel bad guy! When I was growing up, I knew it was predetermined, so I loved his character work! His shoot interviews are priceless! R.I.P. Sheiky Baby! ❤
Yeah, the Col. Mustafa stuff didn't make sense. I think Vince was downplaying the age demo of who was watching in 91, probably thinking the older fans from Hulkamanias peak were long gone by then.
I was in 8th grade when my family went to Wrestlemania 7 as the LA sports arena. We got there early in hopes of seeing the wrestlers arrive and get pictures with them. The Iron Sheik was the first one we saw and we were scared and intimidated by him and he knew it. He saw us cowering and yelled over to my brother, my cousins and I and said 'Come, come and take picture with the Iron Sheik!' He was so nice and cool and put his arms around us and posed for a bunch of pictures. I'll never forget that.
Wow, that's pretty cool. Did your family intend to go to the LA Coliseum before the switch?
Did you notice Lou Ferrigno and the Fonz?
@@quentinkaasa47 If I remember correctly at the end of WM6 the tickets for WM7 went on sale and we got them that night.
My dad owned Mobil station off River and Higgins in Rosemont for decades. Just blocks from the Horizon and the wrestlers would always stop at his station for cigs, Pop, chips, etc. He said Shieky Baby was always very friendly and respectful
@@quentinkaasa47 Only problem is if you were there live then ya missed the legendary commentary between Gorilla and Bobby!
@@dansokulski4039 he g** asf talking about sheiky baby
"Russia, #1! Iran, #1! USA, Hacktui!" Good 80's memories.
Can’t do that today. Everyone would cry and be offended
@@eriksmith7829 Can't do it today because you'd have to probably find a Chinese wrestler. Think it could still work but if that guy lost you'd have some backlash from the Chinese market (however large or small that'd be). Imagine... "China #1!..." That'd be interesting at least.
@theatagamer90 they made John Cena apologize for calling Taiwan a country. Further proof Cena represents everything that sucks about WWE today.
FACK HO KOGAN!
Sheiky baby was the first "hawk tuah" girl.
Possibly the greatest foreign menace heel EVER. Could walk the talk and was legit as it gets.
Saw thei Iron Sheik in Memphis back in the 80's
@@tonybob47 must've been a great experience.
I agree.
100% legit! The sheik was the ultimate heel.
Sorakichi Matsuda and The Terrible Turk would have had words with you, if they were still alive.
" Sheik always positive " " It was that Jabroni Hacksaw Jim Dugan "
Sheik: "I don't know how I was in the car with him" lmao
Jim talks about the Iron Sheik's drug abuse at the 45:36 mark likely severely hindering his mental state but I think that there's more to that. I mean, Sheik's daughter, Marissa being murdered back in 2003 was utterly devastating. I don't know how any father can recover from not only the loss of a child, but losing said child in a such a violent way. This is why, I feel horrible at laughing at Sheik's late in life reinvention as a lovably vulgar and eccentric grandfather because I don't know if that's just Sheik playing up his "foreign menace" gimmick for comedic effect or something deeper.
People don't mind they business his narcotic abuse doesn't involve them at all lmaoo
They said it in the documentary that he let it all out during the HOF speech. So really what from our POV was an old crazy guy babbling was really an old guy after years of hardships and after a whole life of not being the guy who needs to jump into every conversation, finally having a release, which probably was something he legit needed as a human being.
Really this documentary reveals so much about many things including how Sheik pretty much became a joke as an old man when really he was legit, a solid man and anything but a joke.
@@PiCheZvaraI don’t think his HOF speech was considered a joke. If anything, most guys would’ve gotten gently escorted off-stage if they had gone on forever the way Sheiky did. Instead, they more or less allowed him to do his thing, which was a show of respect.
Picturing the sheik riding with Him and Momma Cornette made my fucking DAY!! 😂😂😂
Same.
Man that visual should've been the thumbnail 😂😂😂 Long live Sheiky Baby!
Jim and Brian didn't mention the true crime moment of Shiek's daughter being killed by her boyfriend. And then Shiek was going to try to kill the guy at trial, but his family talked him out of it.
The funniest Sheik moment for me was in 1988 in AWA when they aligned Iron Sheik with Sheik Adnon Al-Kaissie stating it was part of the signed truce between Iran and Iraq to end their war in the 80's.
Who says Verne Gagne was behind the times?
@@Rjensen2 I remember Shawn saying in his autobiography that when he and Jannetty pitched Verne the idea of being the Rockers he asked them if the fans would confuse the name for rocking chairs. For context, this was the late 80s.
@@terminallumbago6465 So, what?
@@Rjensen2 I was referring to Verne being behind the times
It was considered "peace for our times"
Jim is good enough that he invokes nostalgia from me explaining things that I never heard about
The importance of wrestling history is getting forgotten today, thank god we have these two brains to educate us
Don't forget Brother Bruce.
@@quentinkaasa47 Eh, Bruce is good, but he's an often unreliable narrator, especially because of his sycophanting toward Vince. The good thing about Jim and Brian is that they swear no allegiances.
@@karma_coinMy comment was tongue in cheek.
@@quentinkaasa47 oh, well, derp on me
Freddy Blassie was lowkey the star of this too. I loved seeing him cheesing and laughing the entire time 😂😂😂😂😂
So true, he really created an aurora of hate and knew what to say.
Being a child of the 80s, I remember being terribly confused by Hacksaw and Iron Sheik getting busted together....wasn't long after that, was watching a Celtics game on TBS and Dusty and Flair were sitting together....I began to suspect wrestling might be not be all it said it was.....
Getting busted on the road together in the cover of night on a lonely interstate Highway is one thing but Jesus Christ how tf did Crockett not lose his shit over these two enjoying the lakers Celtics series together smh😅 wtf
@@tobiasfarragut292 I always wondered that too....Skip Caray was calling the game, and he even said something like "uh, aren't those guys enemies?" and laughed... I assume he was smart to the business as they say. Im guessing if it was anyone other than Crockett's 2 biggest stars they would have been in deep shit. Funny enough, this was also when Dusty was always showing up to do promos on the tv show wearing a Celtics jacket, because I remember Flair cutting one of his wild promos yelling about that jacket and wanting to destroy it 😂
@@samspurgeon4222 he said “If you wear that CELTIC GREEN JACKET!!…me and Tully are gonna stuff it down yer throat!!” Something like that
Wow flair and dusty at a Celtics game? Maybe that happend during one of flair’s short stints as a baby face?
@samspurgeon4222 probably because there's nothing you can do to Ric and Dusty... You gonna fire them? They could have spun it to Ric trying to con Dusty... and Dusty spinning it saying "He had the tickets, and I wanted to see the best basketball athletes in the world, baby" These soul brothas have a dream too baby, and I love seeing men living out the American Dream"
Them doing Iron Sheik & Dusty & Lawler makes me hope we’ll get a “Superstar” Billy Graham one.
Totally Agree
They'll just shit on him now. Plus he supported that idiot Canadian wannabe pay them to let me wrestle Hannibal. Billy Graham sux.
Poor Superstar is on his death bed.
I’d love one on Snuka, Andre, and Vader if they haven’t already been done.
I would love a terry funk one or Jim Duggan
I always said that the Iron Sheik had balls of steel to stand in the middle of Madison Square Garden and scream Iran #1 and spit on the ring after saying USA. I legit thought someone would kill him.
Iranian Jim Cornette is possibly the greatest art I’ve ever seen in my life
Ayatollah Corny
Lawler is like Rembrandt.
This and the Dusty Rhodes one both left me crying by the end in a good way lol
Cried when they told the story of his daughter.
Hulk Hogan vs the Iron Sheik had a really good, bloody brawl for the WWF World Title about a month or two after Hogan won the belt.
Slaughter was the best WWF worker of the early 80s. His feud with Backlund was also one of the best of Bob’s title reign.
The street fight with Pat Patterson was insane.
Slaughter was a really good heel.
He said “I dont wanna talk about politicians but left Iran” leads me to believe its deeper than they told
yeah they went over that part waaaaaaay too quickly
It's good to see a doc on someone that's still around,let's give the iron sheik his flowers 💐
Umm they did Bret/Mick/Shawn/Booker/Austin/Mysterio/Edge/DX/Angle/Goldberg/Taker/Charlotte/Lawler/Kane/Jake/Shiek...16 out of 29..17 if you count the NWO...Most of them ARE alive
He meant someone from sheiks era. So people like Sheik, Dusty, lawler. If its a documentary on Charlotte flair of course shes alive. There’s significantly less as old as the Sheik. (Due to age and how hard wrestlers can be on there health)
@@Getwright- Not the way I read it but if thats the way you read it..ok
Imo nobody has benefited more from the invention of Twitter than Shieky Baby 😂
Imagine Sheik being on the Dairy Queen trip with Corny.
Ive enjoyed almost all these Bio's , but Jim and Brian breaking them down makes them even better !
If these get put out on DVD , These reviews should be an added bonus .
Glad they didn't show the face off interview with The Iron Sheik and New Jack where he asks Jack to get him some "medicine"
I Heard About That Would've Been Priceless
Or when him,New Jack and Honky Tonk Man were in a motel and moon’d the camera
I want more Sheik and Cornie stories lmao
The Iron and Hacksaw story was fking huge. It was in the news cycle for a moment minute
I have been going back to watch old wrestling as the current stuff sucks and my first time seeing Precious Paul not as a manager was in a Persian club challenge against the Sheik. Both of them really grew on me between those two and Hacksaw jim duggan and Ernie ladd it made me realise just how much i had missed outside of the WWF.
His wife seems so sweet, my lord what she has been through. The daughter being murdered was just horrific, I can’t imagine that pain. As a kid I loved the “bad” guys. My brother and I got in so much trouble for standing for the Russian national anthem. The bad guys were fun and interesting.
The Iron Sheik is the best bad guy
Lawler painting Jim as Khomeini is legendary 🤣
They also missed out on his few WWF world title defenses, one against Tito Santana in January 1984
The Sheiky's Howard Stern segment made me laugh so hard that i literally cried 🤣😭
I liked iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff back in the day. They were some great heals.
The Iron Sheik was my favorite wrestler as a kid (I loved the heels and he was the best). When The Sheik beat Backlund for the belt....I was in heaven!! This doc was a bit vanilla however. I did not really learn anything - except for Verne Gagne's wife given him the moniker!! I never knew that!!! Still it was a decent watch.
Ayatollah Cornetti!
There was another Sheik documentary that involved his wife called From A to Z
I remember in 1978/79 when he was in the WWWF as the Great Hossein Arab, managed by Fred Blassie. And he would twirl the Persian clubs, and my dad said "Those Goddamn things are probably hollow!"
Strangely enough the Ayatollah that is painted on the cartoon pic for the video looks more like Khomeini's son and also his grandson who ironically is a dissident cleric who doesn't like the regime.
Dusty and Graham's bullrope match was pretty bloody
Wait.... did this special not talk about his daughter's murder?! That happened in 2003, amidst his issues at the time - they covered it in The Sheik doc a few years ago, which is when I first heard of it & I was horrified something like that disappeared in the shadows of all his weird antics & issues of the time. Also feel like it goes without saying her murder possibly exacerbated those issues.
They got to it in the last 10 minutes or so. It happened about 20 years ago now, so it felt weird with them bringing it up so late, before the program wrapped up.
They really should have cut out some of the stuff in the middle, about Sheik dropping the title to Hogan. It was a pivotal moment in history for sure, but it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as what Hogan did afterwards with Piper.
Was a great documentary. Really incredible story his amateur career. Was a wrestler who lived his gimmick in real life he become his gimmick. I still say wwf would have succeeded without him but I can’t take away his important and impact on the the wrestling business . I’m willing to bet 100 grand wasn’t much money to him at that time, really seems out of line to ask him that. I don’t see the Duggan and shiek arrest being a black eye on the industry that really destroyed sheiks career cost him a lot of money. He’s another important wrestler that helped develop wrestling into a mainstream sport. I still say throughout the 80s and 90s wrestling was on as grand a stage as nfl nba mlb.
Him and Duggan getting pulled over was a HUGE deal when it happened. You had local newscasts that never reported on wrestling(or making fun of it somehow) covering the story all over the US. Back then kayfabe was in full swing so it wasn’t about the drugs the big deal was that a heel from Iran and the all American babyface were traveling together and friends. That was big big news. Nowadays nobody would care because kayfabe pretty much died around 1996 after the curtain call, Vince Russo, and the attitude era killed it. Back then there was no such thing as shoot interviews and podcasts.
I don't think kayfabe was in full effect in 1987. Everyone had to know it was a work by that point.
@@johnnyargon5454 people suspected but really until the internet a couple tv specials in the late 90s and the attitude era flat out telling everyone there was always plausible deniability on the wrestlers end. The only ones that really KNEW it was a work were in the business already, related to someone in the business or one of the few smart fans out there that subscribed to the dirt sheets and/or were trying to break into the business themselves. Most intelligent people suspected but the wrestlers and their families protected the business and kayfabe with their lives because breaking it would cost them their livelihood. Dr D lost his job protecting in in the wwf, Vader was arrested in Saudi Arabia and Richard belzer retired to “Che Hogan” his home in France paid for by Hulk Hogan after choking him out on tv. You have to keep in mind that wrestling as a whole was something that mostly unintelligent people really went nuts over and believed and the ones that pretty much figured it was a work still had that plausible deniability because some stuff really looked legit. I don’t know if you were alive in 87 but I was and kayfabe was still in full swing and that arrest was huge news because every newsroom or small time newspaper in the country wanted to be the first to tell everyone wrestling was “fake”.
Yeah that one old news reporter seemed really offended. I feel for sheik cause it did kind of ruin him.
At no point was wrestling comparable to the NBA or NFL lmao not in payment, not in commitment, not in skill, not in any way lol
Was not expecting the Fort Wayne name drop lol hello from there
2:40 It's the same principle as Ancient Aliens. Real historians would get in the way of the story by telling the truth.
For me this was by far the best of the season
I think Dusty’s was my favorite imo.
Why didn't they just turn Hacksaw heel and have him come out with Sheik saying he's been converted like they did with Sgt Slaughter?
I'm gonna have to buy me some Shady Rays now and stare right at the sun for hours!!!! Lmao😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I like when they dig into the history of WWE guys when it comes to their work outside of WWE.
Classy Freddie Blassie was awesome!!!! Ayatollah Blassie!! Great manager gimmick!!! He was my favorite manager of all time at a time when there were some greats!!
the iron sheikhs family was featured on his documentary film a few years back. movie was really popular.
Hulk Hogan was my favorite wrestler as a kid and Iron Sheik is my favorite wrestler as an adult.
So I saw this last night, had no idea what to expect and I must say I was really impressed, tbf they skipped ahead a bunch of times but I guess from an editing stand point there was only so much they could keep in.
I agree someone in the comments said they stopped watching the a&e docs cus they put in the bare minimum but I disagree they have to fit the story in a 2 hour show with commercials so they have to keep it moving I thought they did a good job with it I wasn't expecting them to show him acting crazy on Howard stern and shoot interviews that we can watch on UA-cam
I remember hearing that when The Iron Sheik was working in Dallas that he helped train the Von Erich boys. I also remember that the way they tried to explain Sheik becoming Col. Mustafa was because Sarge had renamed him.
The reason I remember for him being called Col. Mustafa was that the Iron Sheik had been banned from the WWF. Piper as I recall called him out on commentary during one of his first matches much like he did Tony Atlas saying that he wasn't supposed to be there.
Was because their stable was meant to be military. Sgt slaughter , col masts Fa and General Adnan.
Jim selling ads may be my favorite thing of all time.
Sheiky Baby!!! Great heel. Very entertaining.
I hated the Iron Sheik when I was a kid, but what a life he led. Just watched the WWE Legends of the Sheik, condolences to his family and rest in peace to one of the all time greats.
"Back when men were men! And sheep were scared." Haha
Reminds me of something Al Bundy would have said about Wanker County.
I know I've heard the joke before on some popular thing
Not only did Verne hire Shieky to break Hogan's leg for 100,000 bucks , I heard that Verne was possibly trying to pay Brody around that sum to beat the shit out of Mr. T right before the main event of Mania 1 to sabotage the event . But Ive heard several versions of that story with different promoter's names like Bill Watts . So ...who knows if there is any truth to that . But also we do all know every territory was freaking out about Vince at the time hurting their biz . So its not far fetched .
I can't believe there are people that actually believe this.
Verne's ego was such that he couldn't admit that Hogan's leaving had an effect on the AWA.
Sheik always positive 😂
I looked at the iron shiek being col. Mustafa the same as hulk hogan being mr. America.
Hahaha the agent story was fantastic.
The A&E Bio can't be better than this...
His name was changed to col mustafa because they was meant to be an army you had General Adnan in the stable too. Shiek is a title not a name , so the name change isn’t really that bad. No reason it couldn’t still be the same character.
It would have been cool if they called him "Colonel Vaziri" or "Colonel Khosrow", since Mean Gene often introduced him with his full name.
I’m 39 and my brother was a year old and we had iron sheik and Hillbilly Jim action figures this was in 1987-88 lol.
It would have been hilarious if they did an angle where Sheik breaks Hogan's leg and Sheik gets the the $100,000 then later on Verne finds out it was just a work and he's out $100k
On a side note, "kos" means pussy, or more accurately, c#&t, in farsi. Somehow seems so appropriate for the Sheik. One of a kind, will NEVER be duplicated.
Please, we need some follow-ups to some of the questions asked in this video.
I remember hacksaw Jim Dugan in the car like it was yesterday. Wow! Time flies.
"Ahh... Mrs. Cornette... make-a the arch for the Sheik."
I remember Bobbby's line. Still makes me laugh today.
Shieky Baby! He confronted and demanded a match with his arch nemesis "CAPITOLA REDANECKA DICKA MUUUURDOCK!"
His Hall of Fame speech was the best!😂 just kept going on when they played his music to leave 😅
Then Mean Gene has to step in to end his speech hahaha
I love the term Jim said " He was suicided " lol !!
The Iron Sheik's shoot interviews are the stuff of legend!!! & only legends have seen the shoot Interview with Iron Sheik, New Jack, & Honky Tonk Man!!! XD
Hogan and Slaughter had a bloody match in 1991.
Oh yeah. That was the bloodiest WrestleMania match up to that point. Not sure if Flair/Savage surpassed it a year later.
@@quentinkaasa47 They had another one in the summer. Hogan wore fatigues. I think it used to be on the Wrestlefest video.
Iron Sheik is really made of Iron... He outlived Scott Hall and has done more drugs than most of us and he was also amazing on Howard Stern. What a legend! Im happy The Rock always tries to help Sheik out and I come from TEhran Iran #1 wrestling AAU CHAMPOING GRECO ROMANN WRRRRRRASTLINg
Outlived Hall, Anvil, Davey Boy, New Jack, Hennig, Warrior….
Sheiky Baby is up there with Keith Richards in terms of longevity compared to substances consumed.
So ya know how great sheik was as a heel when I was young in the 80s I was in grade school my dad knew wrestling was a show they choreographed things an. Characters weren't real but when iron sheik came on my dad would cuss holler tell at the tv wanting somebody to beat his ass ..good times I miss the old days of wrestling when it was "kinda' believable they just don't have it anymore 😢
Still have his rubber 1986 LJN action figure
Artwork. Dope. Kudos 👍
Haha for me Sheik shaving Gene's mustache would have hurt the business more than breaking Hogan's leg.
As an iranian wrestling fan i feel underrepresented and if u ignore the mohammad hassan angle which was racist and weird towards the fans in the middle east , we basically had nothing but the iron shiek .
Living legend , solid worker , never broke character since entering the business doesnt get any better than this
I rather have 1 shiek than 100 mohammad hassans
The Corny Sheik, love it 🤩😂
That's a Corny Ayatollah
I think the Golden Sheik was Big Steve Petitepas from the maritime territory of Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling.
That ad at the end had me rolling
Saw the Iron Sheik in 1984 at a WWF show....we were standing by the heels entrance and sheiky baby came out to have a look at crowd (I guess) and he turned a gave a lil wave to us...i feel bad today😅but he was the first adult i ever flipped off...i was maybe 11 ...he turned around just walk back in the lockeroom...Andre was there too....never saw a man get in a car twice at one time
The boots TERRIFIED me as a 7 year old, I thought they were hard plastic or metal and would cut and blind the babyfaces with even a simple kick.
Great episode. I heard Jimmy Snuka gave The Iron Sheik the suggestion to wear the pointy boots?
as someone from Evansville. it does indeed suck. lol
Damn I loved Post Toasties as a kid and the Shady Ray's promo is the best!
He spent time in Calgary with Stu Hart as well.
Top of the day to everyone in the cult of Cornette!
Should've just said Iron Sheik beat Duggan in Puerto Rico, with the loser having to be the winner's chauffeur
I thought this one was good as well but I also didn't know much about him
I’m buying Shady Rays because of Jim’s comments. Hilarious!
The sheik 🇮🇷 vs. sgt slaughter. In a bootcamp match. At msg. Was a bloodbath. 👋
The Golden Sheik was Kenny Omega’s uncle Larry Dubesky.
Don Callus' Golden Sheik
In tears at the shady rays promotion
The Iron Sheik was the very definition of a heel bad guy! When I was growing up, I knew it was predetermined, so I loved his character work! His shoot interviews are priceless! R.I.P. Sheiky Baby! ❤
Yeah, the Col. Mustafa stuff didn't make sense. I think Vince was downplaying the age demo of who was watching in 91, probably thinking the older fans from Hulkamanias peak were long gone by then.