Iron Sheikh Khosrow Hossein Athlete Ali Vaziri, who was born in Iran and became well-known in the 1970s and 1980s, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 81.
Iron Sheikh, a US professional wrestler
Known as the “Iron Sheikh,” Vaziri established himself in the American professional wrestling industry before subsequently turning into a fixture on social media. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later changed its name to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), was where he made some of his most illustrious appearances.
The wrestler “transcended the realm of sports entertainment,” according to a statement released on his Twitter profile, with “his larger-than-life persona, incredible charisma, and unparalleled in-ring skills.”
Both devoted followers and media analysts remembered a legacy marked by contradiction. Vaziri, who frequently appeared on the wrestling circuit as a heel or villain, embodied a variety of Middle Eastern clichΓ©s by donning a traditional ghutrah headdress and pointed-toe boots.
Critics have remarked that his performances, though not outright mainstream xenophobia, reflected the geopolitical tensions of the time. He even occasionally used a traditional Persian club.
However, despite the extravagant theatrics of broadcast professional wrestling, William Lafi Youmans, associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, warned that these preconceptions might transcend and become a sort of representation.
When Vaziri adopted the alias “Colonel Mustafa” during the 1990β1991 Gulf War, Youmans told Al Jazeera, “He was always willing to be the villain in the cultural moment and sort of exploit the politics of xenophobia.”
WWE is saddened to learn that Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, known the world over as WWE Hall of Famer The Iron Sheik, passed away on Wednesday, June 7, at age 81.
WWE extends its condolences to The Iron Sheikβs family, friends and fans.https://t.co/FGE0yKeuWA pic.twitter.com/yVLpLObxFA
— WWE (@WWE) June 7, 2023
Before choosing his ring name, the Iron Sheikh, Vaziri first began professional wrestling under the possibly even more crudely called “The Great Hossein Arab.” After the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the US Hostage Crisis in Tehran, when he frequently competed against the “All American” wrestler Hulk Hogan, his career took off.
Although the Iron Sheik’s charisma and more in-depth backstory had its own seductive allure at a period when cardboard representations of Middle Eastern and Russian villains dominated US popular culture, according to Youmans.
Youmans reflected on what the Iron Sheikh meant to him personally and said, “It’s not as simple as: There’s a negative stereotype and therefore I’m going to be crushed by that.
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“As a young Arab American, we are constantly exposed to harmful stereotypes. Therefore, you may somewhat fight back in some ways by choosing who you support. Therefore, I enjoyed the Iron Sheikh as a villain.
Vaziri, an amateur Greco-Roman wrestler who competed internationally and was born into a working-class family in Damghan, Iran, rose to fame locally. Later, he worked as a bodyguard for Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the final shah of Iran.
In 2013, Vaziri revealed to Yahoo Sports that he left Iran in the late 1960s following the passing of renowned wrestler Gholamreza Takhti. Despite the government’s insistence that Takhti committed suicide, Vaziri insisted that he was killed because of his anti-government opinions.
Before breaking into televised US professional wrestling, first for the American Wrestling Association and then the WWF, Vaziri worked as an assistant coach for the US Olympic wrestling team in the early 1970s.
He would spit when the word “USA” was said out loud, embodying the geopolitical camp of the day. His catchphrase was “Russia number one!” When partnering with wrestler Nikolai Volkoff, a heel cloaked in Soviet Union stereotype, they yelled “Iran number one!”
RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER π’ pic.twitter.com/Cr6CC9pXSO
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 7, 2023
According to Niki Akhavan, chair of the department of media and communication studies at The Catholic University of America, fans found some solace in watching tensions between the US and Iran play out in the WWF ring rather than in sombre news cycles.
It sounds strange to say, but it was a relief to view it in that light because you could still support him without coming across as somehow un-American. because everything was a little amusing. You were aware that it was a joke, for example,” Akhavan told Al Jazeera. “I think he enjoyed being the bad guy. Being Iranian, I really adore that.
Vaziri’s wrestler persona, according to Akhavan, “represented a different way of being an Iranian in American culture, where you typically have to make a ‘either/or’ decision,” Either you support sanctions and war against your own nation, or you are an Iranian terrorist.
He’s kind of this complicated, paradoxical character that either fits into all of them or doesn’t, according to her.
Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, Vaziri enjoyed something of a comeback as he brought his biting one-liners to social media in his later years. At the same time, he dealt with a personal tragedy that included the 2003 homicide of his daughter due to domestic abuse.
Just 15 hours before the announcement of his death, in his last tweet, he berated Canada’s wildfires for their devastation.
On this solemn occasion, Hulk Hogan is trending only because of how much the Iron Sheik hated him.π
RIP, Sheik. You are the legend forever.ππΌπ pic.twitter.com/nHjbnIgaOv
— Huckster Finn π¬ (@FinnHuckster) June 7, 2023
Josh Hamzehee, whose play Burnt City: A Dystopian Bilingual One-Persian Show examines issues of mixed identity, masculinity, and the playwright’s own relationship with his Iranian father, was greatly affected by his passing.
A character Hamzehee grew up “not necessarily idolising” but who yet had a “big factor in how I understood my own Iranian heritage” appears in the show at various points as the Iron Sheikh.
It’s been intriguing attempting to understand the psyche of someone who must frequently assume the role of a villain and who sees their own heritage as a villain and attempts to embrace that, according to Hamzehee. “I’ve learned a lot about myself with this lens. However, it is about coming to terms with my Iranian ancestry and perhaps how the West has presented it to me.
For Hamzehee, that conflict was perhaps best exemplified in the notorious Iron Sheikh vs. Hulk Hogan match from 1984.
“At the end of it, you think he’s going to win because he has Hogan in his finishing hold, but then Hogan breaks out of it and leg drops him,” he claimed. “I believe that’s the liminal state I always experience when I consider him,” she said.