Here is a man truly rich in wrestling history. having won a gold medal in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City representing Iran in Wrestling, he also placed third in the 1969 World Cup competition. He was a body guard to the Peacock throne prior to defecting to the United States. Some claimed his defection a sham and his true allegiance to the radical Mullahs who imposed their fundamentalist rule on Iran after the revolution. Other's bitterly contend he was a true "Monarch supporter". Whatever his political allegiance, he was a brutal adversary whose bouts frequently ended in bloodbaths.
The Sheik worked as an assistant wrestling coach of the United Stets in both 1972 and 1976. He was discovered by Verne Gange in the 1972 Olympic trials and trained by Gange and debuted at the end of that year. He rose steadily through the ranks and debuted in the WWWF in 1979.
Wrestling as The Great Hosein he won the first battle royal ever held in Madison Square Garden, which featured the luminaries of the day, Gorilla Monsoon, haystacks Calhoun, the Valiant Brothers, Ivan Putski, Tito Santana, Ted DiBiase, Nikolai volkoff, Greg Valentine, and Dominic DeNucci. But it was the Sheik who won it all and a shot at the heavyweight title with a drop kick that sent the last two competitors over the top rope.
As a result of that victory he earned a title match with champion Bob Backlund. But with only a 30 min. rest between the Royale and Backlund, The Sheik still battled Backlund for 30 minutes before being pinned.
As the Great Hossein toured the WWWF the Iranian Hostage Crisis took place, Turin him and his manager "Ayatollah Blasie" the most hated team in wrestling. But his matches were classics in the art of wrestling. In the course of a match it would not be unusual to see four to five variations of the suplex used by Hossien. Here was a man who could scientifically wrestle with anyone yet was also a great brawler.
Also introduced by Hossein was the demonstration of Iranian clubs. Weighing 75lbs. each they are twirled behind the head in a continuous motion. There has been no one to this day in or out of the ring that has matched the Sheiks challenge to duplicate he repetitions.
The career of Hossein rocketed as he took the name Iron Sheik and toured the south and feuded with the various faces there, including Captain Redneck, Dick Murdoch. He then returned to the WWF in 1983 and challenged still champion Bob Backlund. It was during the Iranian Club challenge on TV that The Sheik attacked Backlund and injured his left shoulder and arm. Soon after that the Sheik, on December 26th, defeated the World Champion of 5 1/2 years with the dreaded Camel Clutch submission hold. The Wrestling World was in a state of shock. But many that knew of the Sheik's background were not. Here was, with Backlund, the most scientific wrestler on in the ring, but one unencumbered with the weaknesses of pity or compassion.
On the next card in the garden, Backlund was deemed unfit to wrestle due to the arm and shoulder injury and The Sheik was scheduled to face the recently returned Hulk Hogan. Hogan won the belt from the Sheik that night, but for the next year these two waged an all out war with the WWF belt at stake.
Also during this time a feud erupted with Sgt. Slaughter. This feud has been called tone of the greatest in the history of wrestling. Blood flowed in almost every match and both men fought with every ounce of strength that they had in each match. It concluded with the historic Boot Camp match in Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1984. But they fought in every type of match imaginable, from cage matches to stretcher matches and death matches.
Then Nikolai Volkoff returned to the WWF in Mid 1984 and now The Sheik formed an alliance with his Russian friend. Now Slaughter had both The Sheik and Volkoff to contend with. Many times they attacked the Sgt. with his various partners an a new phase of the war was on. But after Slaughter decided to leave the WWF in 1984, The Sheik and Volkoff continued to excel as a team and on March 31st, 1985 at the 1st Wrestlemania, they won the WWF tag team championship.
