Former WWF champion Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, higher identified by his wrestling persona “The Iron Sheik,” has died at age 81. The information of Khosrow’s passing was introduced on his official Twitter web page on Wednesday.
Born in Iran, Khosrow was a stable newbie wrestler who competed for a spot on Iran’s 1968 Olympic Greco-Roman crew. After failing to safe a spot, he moved to america the place he continued his involvement in newbie wrestling, serving to to teach the U.S. Olympic crew whereas persevering with to compete.
Khosrow finally transitioned to a profession in skilled wrestling after being educated by AWA promoter and achieved wrestler Verne Gagne. He would go on to wrestle for most of the largest territories in america, adopting a persona as an Iranian heel with signature curled-toe boots.
In 1983, Khosrow returned to the WWF for a second time, coming into a program with Bob Backlund, who was on the tail finish of a reign as WWF champion that lasted 1,470 days. Khosrow gained the championship on Dec. 26, 1983 when Backlund’s nook threw within the towel as Khosrow had his ending transfer, the camel clutch, locked in.
Khosrow’s title reign served as a transitional one to maneuver the title to Hulk Hogan, who defeated him to turn out to be champion 28 days after Khosrow defeated Backlund. This allowed WWF to keep away from a match between standard babyfaces Backlund and Hogan with using a short reign by a heel champion.
Khosrow continued to seek out success in WWF after his stint as champion, teaming with Nikolai Volkoff and finally successful the WWF tag crew championships.
A drug-related arrest whereas touring with storyline rival “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan in 1987 preceded Khosrow’s departure from WWF, although he returned to the promotion briefly in 1988 after which once more in 1991. The 1991 return noticed Khosrow within the new character of Colonel Mustafa, aligning with Sgt. Slaughter, the previous all-American wrestler turned Iraqui sympathizer in a controversial angle on the peak of the Gulf Conflict.
Khosrow struggled with drug habit for a few years and infrequently made media appearances the place he would swear and infrequently use homophobic and racist language.
Khosrow finally discovered sobriety and grew to become a preferred Twitter persona although the tweets have been virtually fully written by a administration crew.