He grew up in a working-class family which had little money and no running water. Although his passport read March 15, he celebrated his birthday on September 9 due to his family alternating between the Gregorian calendar and the Solar Hijri calendar. In his youth, he idolized Iranian Olympic Gold-Medalist wrestler Gholamreza Takhti, and he subsequently made a name for himself as an amateur wrestler; he also worked as a bodyguard for Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family for several years.
The Iron Sheik was also an actor and he made his film debut in The Tale of the 3 Mohammads in 2005. He then appeared alongside Daniel Baldwin and Corey Feldman in Operation Belvis Bash in 2011. Sheik also made an appearance on the Canadian show Kenny vs. Spenny on the "Who is a better pro wrestler?" episode where he attempted to sodomize a naked Spenny with a beer bottle. He also appeared in Maz Jobrani's 2009 stand-up comedy special Brown & Friendly. The Sheik made an appearance as himself in Robot Chicken, as well as The Eric André Show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. In 2014, The Iron Sheik acted in a documentary about his life titled "The Sheik."
Vaziri was a Shia Muslim and a soldier in the Imperial Iranian Army. He married American Caryl J. Peterson on March 21, 1976; the best man at the wedding was "Mean" Gene Okerlund (whom the Sheik often referred to as "Gene Mean" in his broken English). He has two living daughters as well as five grandchildren. His eldest daughter Marissa was murdered by her boyfriend Charles Warren Reynolds in May 2003 at the age of 26. Reynolds was taken into custody and later convicted of the crime. Reynolds himself died on May 31, 2016.
Despite promising to repair his family, Vaziri was unable to successfully quit drugs following Marissa's death. In 2005, the family believed Vaziri was a danger to himself and others and forced him to enter rehabilitation; an employee allegedly snuck in cocaine for him. In 2007, Peterson walked out on Vaziri after several failed attempts to make him quit drugs. She returned two years later on the condition that Vaziri sever ties with a friend who helped him acquire them. In 2013, Vaziri said he had been off cocaine for four years.
In August 2013, Iron Sheik's managers Page and Jian Magen crowdsourced $40,441 to write, direct and produce a documentary, Iranian Legend: The Iron Sheik Story. Originally, the documentary was scheduled for a 2008 release under the title Iron Sheik: From A to Z. Sheik's documentary was released in 2014 under the title The Sheik. On November 6, Vaziri challenged the then Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, to an arm wrestling match at his office.
Starting in the late 2000s, Vaziri became known for his Twitter account, which features violent, profanity-ridden Tweets denouncing various pop culture events. He did not write the Tweets himself; his managers, Jian and Page Magen, handled the account. Vaziri died at his home in Fayetteville, Georgia, on June 7, 2023, at the age of 81. As a life long fan I hope he's now resting in peace, and my condolences to his family for the loss of the legend, and Icon. RIP...
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