Iron Sheik

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri is a former professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor better known by his ring name The Iron Sheik. Vaziri is a one-time world champion, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983. He was what is referred to as a transitional champion, which saw him end the nearly six-year reign of Bob Backlund as champion only to lose the belt four weeks later to Hulk Hogan, who began a four-plus year reign himself. Coming off the Iranian hostage crisis, The Iron Sheik, an Iranian citizen who praised his home country and bashed the USA, is considered to be one of the greatest heels of all time. His villainous character peaked during the 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade. He would later form a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

In 1972, Khosrow was invited to become a professional wrestler by promoter Verne Gagne. Khosrow trained at Gagne's wrestling camp under trainer Billy Robinson (in the same class as Ric Flair) and then wrestled for Gagne's American Wrestling Association. He also worked as a trainer, teaching Ricky Steamboat, Greg Gagne, and Jim Brunzell.

Subject ID: 67490

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Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri is a former professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor better known by his ring name The Iron Sheik. Vaziri is a one-time world champion, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983. He was what is referred to as a transitional champion, which saw him end the nearly six-year reign of Bob Backlund as champion only to lose the belt four weeks later to Hulk Hogan, who began a four-plus year reign himself. Coming off the Iranian hostage crisis, The Iron Sheik, an Iranian citizen who praised his home country and bashed the USA, is considered to be one of the greatest heels of all time. His villainous character peaked during the 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade. He would later form a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

In 1972, Khosrow was invited to become a professional wrestler by promoter Verne Gagne. Khosrow trained at Gagne's wrestling camp under trainer Billy Robinson (in the same class as Ric Flair) and then wrestled for Gagne's American Wrestling Association. He also worked as a trainer, teaching Ricky Steamboat, Greg Gagne, and Jim Brunzell.

In August 1989, he would form a brief alliance with Ron Simmons, appearing in his corner during a match with Jon Brewer. He would appear later that month in the corner of Simmons & The Cuban Assassin in a victory over Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert. On August 26, Simmons and Sheik were guests of Paul E. Dangerously's "Danger Zone", where he admitted that he was now training Simmons and was looking for a tag-team partner for him. The angle was eventually dropped and Simmons went on to team with Butch Reed as Doom, while Sheik finished his initial WCW tenure in house show matches against Norman in January 1990.

Col. Mustafa was a ring name used by Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri in addition to The Iron Sheik.

Subject ID: 67490

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