The wrestling world lost a genuine legend last week when Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, better known as The Iron Sheik, passed away at age 81.
Since then, tributes have poured in from all over the place. Whether it’s wrestlers, wrestling fans, or others out there that’ve seen or heard one of Sheik’s many unfiltered rants and promos.
Another person to share memories of the Iron Sheik is Eric Bischoff who, despite never getting to know Sheik on a personal level, described how influential the Iranian wrestler was and how much he respected him on an a recent edition of his Strictly Business podcast.
Eric Bischoff says the Iron Sheik was “universally loved and well-respected”
“The Iron Sheik lived such an amazing life [and] experienced some amazing things. He’s a walking, talking book of history.
Not only in wrestling, but if you think about where he came from, how he got to the United States, and what he became in a period of time when Iran was universally looked upon as the ultimate enemy in this country, Sheik was able to become an American hero in a way. An American icon for sure, if not an American Hero, and I think that’s amazing in and of itself … What an amazing career.
What an amazing guy, love him or hate him, [but] hopefully hated him because that’s what he was making his money from.”
The Iron Sheik’s last major appearance was in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-Seven, but he also had at least one match after that in 2007, which is believed to be his last official wrestling match before retiring officially in 2010.
h/t WrestlingInc for the transcription