13 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: The Original Sheik

"Sheik always and forever stood for blood and gore" - Dory Funk Jr.

Edward Farhat was a wildman brawler who stabbed opponents with countless objects during a decorated, often-controversial in-ring career that never quite made it to WWF/WWE TV. Despite that, he was posthumously inducted into the company's Hall Of Fame in 2007 and proved very successful on his own terms. Away from the ring, he was fiercely protective of his Sheik gimmick, but those closest to Farhat knew him as a loyal family man who sometimes let gambling issues spiral out of control.

This week's 'Dark Side Of The Ring' included comments from the recently deceased ex-ECW, WWE and WCW star Sabu. VICE could never have predicted that Sabu would pass away mere days before their episode examining his uncle aired - filming and editing for this season would've been wrapped up long ago, so there wasn't even scope to include a last-minute tribute to the table-breaking pioneer.

His own recent death gave Sabu's words a poignant, sometimes chilling air.

VICE packed a lot into this one besides a nephew honouring the only real father figure in his life. There were chaotic stories about the lengths Farhat went to when adhering to kayfabe, how much money he earned as a relentless self-promoter, where it all went wrong for him and more.

Talking heads like Jim Cornette and Rob Van Dam dropped by to offer valuable context, and even Bill Goldberg found his way onto the episode. Nobody watching could've predicted that!

Here's everything learned from an hour that's grown darker due to recent events.

Not many people got away with calling Ed...Ed.

Sabu said that even Farhat’s grandkids called him Sheik: “If you called him anything else, he wouldn’t answer to it”. That’s how far The Sheik would go to protect his gimmick. He was obsessed with heaping on more mystery surrounding his wild man brawling style and protecting the pro wrestling biz as a whole. There were very few exceptions, if any.

Jim Cornette told VICE that he’d hang up if you called his house and “asked for Ed". That might've cost the guy a few bookings here or there earlier on his career! Meanwhile, Sabu recalls family dinners with wrestlers. They'd have heels at one table, babyfaces at another (in separate rooms, of course). That was fascinating to the future 'Homicidal Maniac'.

According to Sabu, his uncle “would always kayfabe, even when it wasn’t necessary”. This became a way of life for Farhat. Many wrestlers followed similar protocol during the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, but few were willing to go quite as far as Ed. Sorry, Sheik. He remained in character each and every time he was out in public, which meant there were only scant clips of the man behind the terrifying persona on this week's 'Dark Side Of The Ring'.

VICE won big by getting their hands on some of this archived footage and personal family photographs though. Seeing Farhat play with his grandchildren or stick his tongue out during family get-togethers humanised him to the viewer. That was honestly needed, otherwise this would've turned into a routine wrestling character study and nothing more.