The cruel tragedy of The Iron Sheik

[DainBramaged]

His voice was instantly recognizable, like that of a long lost friend. But it was a joyless voice, and sounded a bit feeble.
Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, is 73, and is in pain. He badly needs knee surgery that he can't afford, but if the truth is to be told, every joint on his body could use fixing.

A lifetime in wrestling, amateur and professional, will do that to a man.

So Vaziri, better known as the evil pro wrestler, "The Iron Sheik," would on this day rather sit in his chair and let the hours pass by than talk about his life.

He aches all over, he's not making a lot of money and he wants to be left alone.

"Bubba, please, I will talk to you and answer all of your questions," he says, pleadingly. "But let's do it another time. Now is not good."

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/iron-sheik--the-man-behind-the-mask-224707360.html

[shenmue]

1. I watched wrestling all the time when I was a kid

It was so funny back then.

[Ohio Joe]

2. A shame Vince won't suffer the same fate as so many of his employees...

The fucking turd.

[DainBramaged]

3. Linda McVince (McMoron) spent HUNDREDS of millions of dollars trying to gain elected office

and not a penny for the Sheik.........

[Prophet 451]

4. Vince has been awful for wrestling

He doesn't take care of his performers, most of them are underpaid and he considers himself to have no obligation to them when they end up with lifelong health problems. And that's even getting into what he's done artistically to the business.

[NaturalHigh]

6. As much as I dislike Vince McMahon...

and believe me, I do, wrestlers have never been taken care of, either when they were active or after they retired. Vince isn't any more ruthless in that regard than most wrestling promoters of the past. Verne Gagne famously said in a promotional video that "if you get hurt, you don't work. If you don't work, you don't eat."

As for the wrestling business itself, yes, it's gone downhill ever since McMahon ran the old territories out of business.

[Prophet 451]

8. True enough

But WCW and ECW both covered medical expenses and paid guys when they were out with an injury. Vince fired Andrew "Test" Martin while he was out with a broken neck and fired Jackie Gayda when she became pregnant and could get away with it because his workers are falsely classified as independent contracters.

You're right on the larger point though. The business has always been bad for taking care of it's workers. The only professional atheletes without a union (and Vince keeps firing people who try and start one).

And artistically, we're in total agreement.

[hfojvt]

5. I felt really bad for him

until I read about the drug abuse.

Then it seemed like his wounds were self-inflicted.

More horrible what happened to his daughter, who was killed by a psychotic boyfriend.

One thing that still jumps out at me is this

"Charles Warren Reynolds, her boyfriend of several weeks, was arrested and later convicted for strangling her to death. "

And it amazes me "her boyfriend of several weeks". What causes some guy to become so possessive after just a few weeks of a relationship? And I am wondering - were they already having regular sex after just "several weeks"?

Not that that excuses anything, but perhaps explains something.

[NaturalHigh]

7. The Iron Sheik would occasionally make trips through Mid-South...

in the early 80s. Even when Hacksaw Duggan was a heel (bad guy), he would always fight Sheik.

It's too bad to see how hard Sheik's life is now. If you've seen any of his interviews over the past several years, it's obvious that he has become pretty unstable. Long-term chronic pain, especially when self-treated with drugs and alsohol, can do that. I've read that the Sheik has had a bad hip ever since his initial profesional training in Verne Gagne's camp when Billy Robinson intentionally injured him. Robinson was a real prick like that.