5 Uncredited Architects Of WWE's Attitude Era

5. The Original Sheik

Witnessing action spill from the ring and into the arena remains one of wrestling's most thrilling sights, several years after it became commonplace.

At its best, the trope engages fans because it's a simple method of maintaining the illusion that wrestling can both be real and involve two grapplers whose hatred for one another is such that it cannot be confined to the ring. Steve Austin made the trope his own in 1998, but you'd have to go back several decades to discover its true originator - the 'Original' Sheik, Ed Farhat.

Farhat in his legendarily innovative matches with Bobo Brazil would terrify audience members by careening through them, blowing fireballs and eating paper ravenously, all in an attempt to maintain and enhance his reputation as a lunatic. It was also a smart way of hiding his limitations in the ring. Unlike the majority of his peers, the Sheik didn't possess much technical prowess - so much so that he drew their ire.

They thought that he was hurting the business by taking so many cheap shortcuts. Little did they know at the time, he was actually prolonging its lifespan.

It would take years for Sheik's influence to take hold, which just illustrates the extent to which he was the true Innovator of Violence.