In bygone eras of professional wrestling, performers were expected to protect kayfabe as much as possible. This often led to many performers living their gimmicks and essentially having to become the wrestling personas full-time. That would prove rather difficult for some performers. For other performers like The Iron Sheik, their gimmick would become a way of life.The Iron Sheik has had an interesting wrestling journey, to say the least. From amateur wrestler and Olympic hopeful to World Champion and dastardly heel in WWE, Sheik has seemingly lived multiple different lives in pro wrestling. Some of them were less than ideal while a few other incarnations helped make him the beloved legend he is today.
10 Manager
Today, managers are making a bit of a comeback in pro wrestling. In the recent past though, traditional pro wrestling managers were all but fazed out of the product. In the 80s, it seemed as though every heel had a manager. During the 90s, managers began getting deemphasized a bit.
In 1996 however, The Iron Sheik would be brought in to help manage The Sultan character, portrayed by the future Rikishi, alongside Bob Backlund. Despite everyone's best efforts, the experiment was a failure. The Sultan would never catch on and Sheik would go his separate way. The Iron Sheik would briefly manage Tiger Ali Singh in 1998, but that would also reap very little rewards.
9 Colonel Mustafa
During the territory days of pro wrestling, the world was significantly smaller in terms of sharing information. This made it a lot easier for performers to go from territory to territory and change up their character a bit at every stop. Some performers even went as far as taking on completely new personas. This became a lot less common with the rise of cable television.
Still, in 1991, WWE decided to repackage the legendary and unmistakable Iron Sheik as Colonel Mustafa. Mustafa would be part of Sgt. Slaughter's Triangle of Terror alongside General Adnan. It wouldn't exactly be the role of a lifetime for Sheik, but it did allow him to main event SummerSlam 1991 as part of a tag team match.
8 Early Career
Some athletes can step away from the sport they love with no problem. Others, struggle to step away. For former amateur wrestler Ali Vaziri, stepping completely away from the sport he loved was something he couldn't do. Instead, Vaziri would pivot to professional wrestling.
At first, Vaziri would wrestle as a babyface. Eventually, though, he would follow a promoter's advice and turn heel. He would shave his head and grow a mustache, which would eventually become his signature look. It would be nearly a decade before Vaziri finally put it all together to become the legendary Iron Sheik, but it was worth the wait.
7 Legend
After retiring from in-ring competition, many performers fall out of the public eye. Even before the advent of social media, The Iron Sheik always tried his best to stay relevant. In 2001, a retired Sheik took part in WWE's Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania 17. At the time, Sheik was still supposed to be hated by fans, but he wasn't.
In fact, when Sheik eliminated Hillbilly Jim to win the match, the crowd was fully behind him. This was the first glimpse of just how much of a cult following the legendary performer had gained since retiring. His popularity would only grow from there.
6 Television Character
In life, sometimes you meet people that are so outlandish and unique that they seem like a character straight out of a book or television show. The Iron Sheik was one of those people for Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. As a matter of fact, Sheik made such a big impression on a young "Dewey" Johnson, that he would eventually become a character on a television series.
Young Rock debuted on NBC in 2021. It's a flashback-style sitcom that covers the life of a young Dwayne Johnson. The show features an Iron Sheik character that contributes some nice comic relief to the show. The character is played by Brett Azar and is one of the highlights of the hit show. Having a television character based on him has to be a nice feather in Sheik's cap.
5 Tag Team Wrestler
There's always been sort of a stigma in pro wrestling towards singles performers who form a tag team. Many times, when an established singles performer is put into a tag team, it can be interpreted as a sign that they're no longer viewed as a worthy singles star. That was kind of the case for The Iron Sheik in 1985 when he began teaming with Nikolai Volkoff.
Sheik was no stranger to tag teams as he had been a successful tag team competitor while part of the NWA. However, in WWE, being placed in a tag team must've seemed like a step-down for the former WWE Champion. Sheik made the best of it though. He and Volkoff would win the WWE Tag Team Championships at the first WrestleMania and hold on to them for 78 days.
4
Amateur Wrestler 
Many pro wrestlers have a background in amateur wrestling. The names that most fans are familiar with as amateur wrestlers are pretty long and include names like Kurt Angle and The Steiner Brothers. However, one accomplished former amateur wrestler often goes overlooked, The Iron Sheik.
Sheik almost made the Iranian Olympic Wrestling Team for the 1968 Olympics, just missing the cut. After that, he'd go on to be an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Wrestling team for two Olympic Games during the 70s. This must come as a shock to some fans considering how well Sheik played the role of an anti-American.
3 The Great Hossein Arab
It is difficult for some wrestling fans to see established legends as anything other than their legendary personas. However, at one point or another, every pro wrestling superstar was presented with a different name or gimmick. The Iron Sheik was no exception. During the 70s, Sheik went by a different name, The Great Hossein Arab.
The character wasn't a great departure from his Iron Sheik persona, but he wouldn't adopt that name until 1980. Before that, The Great Hossein Arab was establishing himself as a devious heel across the country, even in Madison Square Garden. There's no telling if Sheik would've found the same success had he not opted to change his name, but the foundation for his legendary character had already been laid when he changed his name.
2 WWE Champion
In modern-day pro wrestling, title changes have become all too common. Except for Roman Reigns, most World Champions in recent history struggle to have a reign longer than a year. During pro wrestling's Golden Era, long title reigns were the standard. Unfortunately for The Iron Sheik, he was one of the few exceptions.
In 1983, The Iron Sheik would shockingly defeat Bob Backlund to become WWE Champion. His reign would be extremely brief though as he would drop the title to Hulk Hogan shortly after. His reign would only last 28 days, which is unfortunate considering he was sandwiched in between two 1,400-day reigns. Despite the brevity of Sheik's time as WWE Champion, it remains the highlight of his wrestling career.
1 Twitter Troll
Where would modern-day pro wrestling be without social media? One thing is for sure, without social media, The Iron Sheik wouldn't be as beloved by the younger generation of fans as he currently is. Sheik officially joined Twitter in 2009 and has been God's gift to wrestling fans ever since.
Sheik has no filter and no shame on Twitter. Furthermore, he never passes up an opportunity to take a shot at his old nemesis, Hulk Hogan, online. Some of his tweets are presumed to be tongue in cheek, but that's the beauty of The Iron Sheik's Twitter persona, no one will ever know for sure.