10 Awesome Facts From The Iron Sheik’s Documentary
5. He Was The Instrumental Force In Hulkamania
Arguably the biggest era in pro wrestling history, Hulkamania was the period when wrestling had the most pop culture reference and popularityand it couldnt have happened without the Iron Sheik. The WWF Champion at the time, Bob Backlund, didnt want to drop the belt to Hogan, because he didnt think that Hogan was enough of a pure athlete to defeat him. So WWF devised a plan whereby Sheik, with his legitimate grappling experience, would defeat Backlund, and Hogan would later defeat Sheik to usher in Hulkamania. It was the perfect combination; right place, right time, right opponent. Sheik defeating a respected athlete in Bob Backlund, who brought legitimacy to pro wrestling, only to lose it to Hogan, was the ideal set of circumstances in fulfilling Vinces vision of a national and then international wrestling brand. Furthermore, as several WWE alumni suggest, without the Iron Sheik, there wouldnt have been Hulkamania; and without Hulkamania there wouldnt have been a WrestleMania; and without WrestleMania, WWE might not even exist as it does today. This is especially poignant considering Verne Gagne offered Vaziri $100,000 to break Hogans leg and take the belt to the AWA. But Vaziri was loyal to Vince and helped him build WWE into the #1 wrestling promotion in the world. In the end, virtually everyone can agree: The Iron Sheik did the right thing.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
