10 Best Foreign Heels In WWE History

A decorated amateur wrestler and native Iranian, The Iron Sheik took the blueprint set-out by his predecessor, The 'Original' Sheik, and perfected it. Immediately adopting his villainous persona while originally wrestling as 'The Great Hossein Arab', Sheik, like so many before him, started playing on real-life political issues like the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis to draw nuclear heat from the North American audience.

Sheik was initially despised purely for being Iranian, but his willing embrace of the character saw him remain a top heel for most of the 1980s. Whether tagging with Nikolai Volkoff or ending Bob Backlund’s six-year WWE Title reign, Sheik was red hot, and served as a key inspiration for future boo-magnet Muhammad Hassan’s ill-fated 2004/05 WWE run.

Essentially portraying the exact same personalty throughout a long, successful wrestling career (even as Colonel Mustafa, an Iraqi sympathiser), Sheik wasn’t the most refined wrestler in the world, but his Camel Clutch was one of the most feared holds in the business. Not only that, but Sheik remained in great shape throughout his athletic prime, and his promos always resonated despite the language barrier and his thick Iranian accent.

The Iron Sheik’s wrestling days are long gone, but he retains a unique cult following to this day. His profanity-laced shoot interviews and Tweets have brought him to a whole new audience, and regardless of whether or not these are the result of deliberate character work or just the ramblings of a crazy old man, The Iron Sheik remains the most iconic foreign menace in WWE history.