13 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: The Original Sheik
8. How Much Money He Made In One Year
You've got to give Farhat credit for sticking to his gimmick when it would've been easier to throw his hands up and shout, 'Right! Boo me on shows all you like, but enough with the guns already!'. His commitment to the cause paid off big time. Literally. The Sheik purchased Big Time Wrestling out of Detroit, and he booked the territory smartly with himself on top against a string of cherished babyface opponents.
Cornette told a story on the episode about Sheik reportedly raking in as much as $400,000 in 1973. Adjusting that figure for inflation, the savvy promoter was stacking cash to the tune of roughly $2.8 million. As Jim said, "That's just what he reported". Nobody's suggesting Ed was up to anything illegal here, but there's a chance Big Time made him even more than that in '73.
He was earning so much money that he bought a second house. More accurately, Sheik had a four-storey home built on private land with an indoor pool, sauna, top class gym and more. When regular foe Abdullah The Butcher saw it, all he could say was: "Holy s***!". Who knew that carving up your own forehead or being such a violent heel could reap such rewards?
Sadly, Sheik made a mistake many wrestlers would make after him. He thought the money would continue rolling in like that, and he didn't live within his means. Lavish suits, jewellery, cars and more were bought, and he began gambling his cash away. That put Big Time in a sizeable financial hole.
The slide had started.