Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, also known as ‘The Iron Sheik’, who was a former WWF champion, has died at the age of 81. The news of his passing was announced on his official Twitter page on Wednesday.
Khosrow was born in Iran and had a successful career as an amateur wrestler. He even tried out for Iran’s 1968 Olympic Greco-Roman team but didn’t make the cut. He then moved to the United States and continued his involvement in amateur wrestling. He also worked as a coach for the U.S. Olympic team.
After being trained by Verne Gagne, a wrestling promoter and accomplished wrestler, Khosrow transitioned to professional wrestling. He became known as the Iranian heel with his trademark curled-toe boots. He wrestled for various territories in the United States.
In 1983, Khosrow returned to the WWF and had a feud with Bob Backlund, who was the reigning WWF champion at the time. On December 26, 1983, Khosrow won the championship when Backlund’s corner threw in the towel while he was trapped in Khosrow’s finishing move, the camel clutch.
Khosrow’s title reign was short-lived, as Hulk Hogan defeated him 28 days later to become the champion. This decision allowed the WWF to avoid a match between two popular wrestlers by having a brief reign by a heel champion.
Even after his stint as champion, Khosrow achieved success in the WWF by teaming up with Nikolai Volkoff and winning the WWF tag team championships. However, a drug-related arrest in 1987 led to his departure from the WWF. He briefly returned to the promotion in 1988 and again in 1991 as Colonel Mustafa, aligning with Sgt. Slaughter in a controversial angle during the Gulf War.
Khosrow battled drug addiction for many years and often made media appearances where he used offensive language. However, he eventually found sobriety and became well-known on Twitter, although most of his tweets were written by a management team.
