The Iron Sheik, 81, flamboyant Iranian pro wrestler

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

The Sheik died today at 81...but as I haven't paid even scant attention to the pro wrestling scene since the Gorgeous George era, I'll leave it to y'all to issue the appropriate tributes.

BRYAN STYBLE
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Sheik

[Travoltron]

From what little I've seen of wrestling, he was an entertaining heel. I
heard that his Twitter account was pure gold.

[Travoltron]

Apparently there were a number of guys who called themselves The Sheik,
but The Iron Sheik was actually a real wrestler from Iran. He absolutely
capitalized on the Iran hostage thing and when that was over he teamed
up with the "Soviet" character.

I remember the kids at school had the toys of these guys. Kids thought
wrestling was real back then. Not sure if that's still the case.

[MJ Emigh]

On Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 10:52:42 AM UTC-5, Travoltron wrote:
> The Iron Sheik was actually a real wrestler from Iran. He absolutely
> capitalized on the Iran hostage thing and when that was over he teamed
> up with the "Soviet" character.

Hello! Yeah, I deleted my post when I realized that I was thinking of the wrong guy. But whoever the one I knew was DID start out as a Nazi character and made the switch to middle eastern when the Iran hostage thing came along. I only worked with some of those guys over a period of a maybe three weeks about 40 years ago. Interesting people. I specifically remember an Italian guy from Jersey named Joe who played a Native American called Chief Strongbow. Really funny guy! And what a costume he would come onstage in!

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

If I got this correctly, MJ, you (with a magician and/or mentalist act) worked for a few weeks with some costumed pro wrestler exhibition? What, and your presumed "lovely and talented assistant" magician's sidekick played ref?

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[MJ Emigh]

On Thursday, June 8, 2023 at 12:28:38 PM UTC-5, radioacti...@gmail.com wrote:
> If I got this correctly, MJ, you (with a magician and/or mentalist act) worked for a few weeks with some costumed pro wrestler exhibition? What, and your presumed "lovely and talented assistant" magician's sidekick played ref?
>
> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

HA! Yeah,Bryan, ya' blew my cover. My first job in the entertainment racket was as a concert promoter. I wasted my FIRST two years after college teaching. I guess it was around '79 or '80. Washed up has-beens like The Coasters (with one original guy), Danny & the Juniors (with a record TWO original guys!), and stuff like that. At some point, there was a deal with someone producing wrestling shows that followed us around. I suppose they were, in reality, probably both produced by the same outfit. That's where the money is, so my career in promotion was followed by production pretty quickly. Six months, tops. So, these wrestlers would come onto the stage in full regalia between the acts, firing up the crowd for their show the following...week? Weekend? My memory doesn't work that far back. Offstage, they were ALL good guys.