Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri (Persian: حسین خسرو علی وزیری; born March 15, 1942), better known by his ring name The Iron Sheik, is an Iranian-American retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and actor. Vaziri is the first-and-only Iranian world champion in WWE history, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983. Coming off the Iranian hostage crisis, The Iron Sheik is considered to be one of the greatest heels of all time. His villainous character peaked during the 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade. He would later form a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff, with whom he won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. A heel throughout the 1980s, he later gained popularity on Kidd Chris, The Howard Stern Show, and on the internet due to his shoot interviews, vulgar language, and his intense dislike for some of his fellow professional wrestlers.
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