The teke184 shoot interview series: iron sheik

[Guest teke184]

This is a repost of a Shoot Interview summary/review that I did on the Old Smarks Board shortly before it died.  I've made  a few changes, mostly by summarizing my thoughts at the end.

 

 

 

This is a review of the Iron Sheik shoot interview, item #3996 at RF Video for anyone who actually shops there.  As a word of warning, Sheik is a HUGE mark for himself.  It's almost as bad as listening to Dusty Rhodes or Abdullah The Butcher at times and, BTW, if anyone wants to see the WORST "shoot" tape in history, try finding a copy of the interview done with Abdullah at his restaurant in Atlanta, Abdullah's House of Ribs.  It's SO bad that it's not even funny.  

 

Now that I'm back to the Sheik, I will say that he's prone to ranting for 10 minutes at a time saying the same stuff he'd said at the beginning of the interview.  It's something like this:  "Tehran Iran, oldest country in the world, 15 years old, 155 pounds, Iranian High School Champion, Iranian Army Champion, go to '68 Olympics in Mexico City, AAU Champion, coach at University of Minnesota and '72 Olympics in Munich, all true wrestling fans know I let blond guitar player beat me because HE not AAU champion, etc. etc. etc."  

 

It's almost like the Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker skit that Chris Farley used to do on Saturday Night Live where he'd say the phrase "Livin' in a VAN down by the RIVER" 50 times in 4 minutes.  In fact, to preserve MY sanity, I'll just replace any reference to his amateur background and Iranian heritage with "Living in a VAN down by the RIVER" to simplify it.

 

 

Anyway, we start the interview with Iron Sheik (Kozrow Vasiri) holding his copy of the WWF title and talking about how he was "Living in a VAN down by the RIVER" until he was brought to the US in the 60's by wrestling coach Al Rice and settled in Minnesota.  He trained AAU and college wrestlers such as Brad Rhengians, a later AWA star and trainer.  He then stops to talk about how Bob Backlund was a great shooter, proven by the fact that he held the belt for 6 years, thereby ignoring the fact that wrestling is a work.

 

After about 20 minutes of dancing around how he adapted from Greco Roman and Freestyle wrestling to the pro style, he eventually talks about how he drove the ring truck, set up the ring, was a referee, and did various other things for the AWA until he was properly trained as a wrestler.  Among the other wrestlers that attended Verne's AWA camp alongside him were Jim Brunzell (most known for being a Killer Bee in the WWF), Ric Flair, and Greg Gagne.

 

He's then asked about Hulk Hogan and talks about "Living in a VAN down by the RIVER" before coming back to the subject and running down Hogan for his "Say your prayers and take your vitamins, and don't take drugs" comments while he was taking enough steroids to kill a blue whale.  He also talks about how "real wrestling fans know that Iron Sheik never lose to Hollywood blonde jabroni unless he let him win.”  Tell that to Verne Gagne, who was supposedly embarrassed by having to submit to Hogan after an argument.  Gagne, an Olympic alternate in the 40's, was upset and asked if the front facelock Hogan used was the only move that he knew.  Hogan's response was something like "It's the only hold I need to know to beat you"

 

He then talks about "Living in a VAN down by the RIVER" before covering most of the territories that he worked in before the (W)WWF.  These include: Stampede, where he claims to have taught all of the Hart brothers and some of Stu's local workers.  World Class, where he claims he taught all of the Von Erich brothers.  And, finally, Mid Atlantic, where he won the tag titles with Blackjack Mulligan (father of Barry Windham).

 

He then talks about how Pro Wrestling is the toughest sport in the world and how he loved working in Japan.  He says he worked on top with Giant Baba, Antonio Inoki, and Rikidozan, but that last one is DEFINATELY bullshit because Rikidozan was murdered by the Yakuza in 1963 and Sheik didn't debut as a pro until the early 70's.

 

He then goes back to talk about how he worked for 3 years as a bodyguard for the Shah of Iran.  My bullshit-detector is reading off the chart on this one, as you'd think that Ayatollah Khomeini would have done something about people so closely associated with the hated Shah.  He does come back to reality and addresses my point when he talks about an Iranian wrestling legend who "committed suicide" after the Shah fell, and talks about how far against the beliefs of Islam it is to do such a thing.  He says that the Shah was both good and bad, and that the bad didn't really come until the uprisings started against him in the 70's.

 

He then moves on to his time in Mid-Atlantic, where he beat Ronnie Garvin for the TV title and Jim Brunzell for the Heavyweight Title. (BTW, this is NOT the same as the NWA World title, which at this point was practically the sole property of Mid-Atlantic owner Jim Crockett)

 

Next he then went to Mid-South, where he worked with Junkyard Dog and Paul Orndorff, among others.  Around this time he starts talking about "Living in a VAN down by the RIVER" AGAIN before putting over Kurt Angle for being a true "shooter" and Olympic champion.

 

After stops in Georgia and the Middle East, he ended up in the (W)WWF under Vince McMahon Sr., where he spent about 10 years before encountering legal troubles.  When prompted, he goes back to the early 70's and lists some other territories he's worked in including Central States, which was run by Harley Race and Bob Geigel, and Nick Gulas's promotion in Tennessee, although this may have been before the split between Gulas and his protégé, Jerry Jarrett.

 

Iron Sheik beat Bob Backlund with the Camel Clutch on December 26, 1983, the biggest day in his career.  He said that Backlund knew he was losing the belt, but was too proud to submit.  When he got Backlund in the hold, he told Backlund’s manager Arnold Skoalan that he had two choices: Throw in the towel for Backlund or watch him break Bob’s back.  Soon after this, the Sheik started bitching about how he didn’t get a series of matches against Hogan once he lost the belt in early 1984.   He also said that the attack on Backlund with the Persian clubs was the idea of his manager, Freddie Blassie.  

 

He’s then asked about an infamous $100,000 offer made by Verne Gagne in 1984 to break Hogan’s leg in their title match.  Sheik talks about how Hogan had jumped from the AWA and that he didn’t have any problems with breaking Hogan’s leg because he was “blonde guitar player”, but that he didn’t want to dishonor the memory of Vince McMahon Sr. by taking the belt with him.  (And he WONDERS why he wasn’t given more matches against Hogan after this…)  He also make some comments that imply that Backlund was asked to job the (W)WWF title to Hogan but refused.

 

From there, he moves on to Wrestlemania I.  He and Nikolai Volkoff beat US Express, better known as Mike Rotundo (IRS, Michael Wallstreet) and Barry Windham, for the WWF Tag Titles.  He put over both Windham and Rotundo because Windham is the son of Blackjack Mulligan and Rotundo was an accomplished amateur wrestler at Syracuse.

 

His next feud after that was against Sgt. Slaughter, who he put over as being a good wrestler and having great psychology.  He says his favorite match in that series was the Boot Camp match.

 

At Wrestlemania 2, he was a part of the battle royal between wrestlers and football players.  Sheik talks about how he manhandled both William “Refrigerator” Perry and Bill Frelich because football, while a tough sport, is very team-oriented and not good for individual efforts.

 

The next topic is the famous bust that derailed his career.  In 1987, the Sheik was riding in a car with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan when they were pulled over because cops had seen Duggan drinking a beer while driving.  The cops also found various drugs in the car, which lead to a nasty bit of PR for the WWF.  Duggan got off lightly, but the Sheik was suspended from the WWF for two years and was sent to rehab by Vince Jr.

 

About the time that his suspension was lifted, he went to WCW and was used as a jobber for Sting to squash at Wrestlewar 89.  He wasn’t happy to be jobbing, but that the money was right and sometimes you have to leave your pride at home.  He talked about how Sting was a nice guy, but that he was another bodybuilder like Hogan.

 

The Ultimate Warrior is the next big subject, as the Sheik was one of his opponents at Summerslam 91, which was the night Warrior took off not to be seen again until the Hogan-Sid match at Wrestlemania 8.  The Sheik thinks that Warrior may have been pissed about how his career was going, as Sid was being set up as Hogan’s next big challenger, but that the rumors floating around about Warrior’s old job as a male escort caused him to lose face and probably impacted his decision to leave.  Warrior supposedly didn’t even stop to shower, as he threw his stuff back into his bag and disappeared from Madison Square Garden.

 

His work for the Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalo Championshit Wrestling is then brought up, as he participated in the first ever Crackpipe on a Pole match to my knowledge, although I’ll refrain from making any Jake Roberts or Sunny jokes to the contrary.  Sheik claims that the money was right to do the match and that a promotion that kind of low-class gimmick matches won’t last very long.

 

Just about the last thing of interest is the Sheik’s response to some allegations made by promoter Dennis Corraluzzo (who died this past year).  Corraluzzo told some funny stories in his shoot about the Sheik accepting less money to work a show if he was given drugs.  The Sheik starts going off on a LONG rant talking about what a piece of shit that Corraluzzo is for going behind his back to make these comments.  

 

 

In closing:  Iron Sheik is VERY full of BS, but not quite as much as HBK because he didn't blatantly lie about nearly as much.  It still doesn't mean this interview is as enjoyable as some of the others out on the market.  This gets a C, or mild recommendation to avoid, and a recommendation to instead get the shoots by Jim Cornette, Ricky Steamboat or Arn Anderson (These are good, well rounded shoots) OR the first Steve Corino shoot and one of the Missy Hyatt ones (pure comedy in the case of Corino and some laughably stupid comments alond with a LOT of dirt on wrestlers in the Missy shoot)

[Guest goodhelmet]

well, this rant was more entertaining than having to sit through three hours of broken English and found myself laughing out loud a few times so Good Job Teke!!! You have saved me some money but I know a little more about the IronSheik at the same time.

[Guest Tony149]

Awesome job. I also found myself laughing reading some of that stuff. I can just picture him doing that shoot interview.