Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, better known by his ring name The Iron Sheik, was an Iranian-American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor. He was the only Iranian champion in WWE history, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983.
What was the name of The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff’s tag team?
After the Iron Sheik had lost the WWF World Championship to Hulk Hogan, and Nikolai Volkoff, who had left the WWF after previously being billed as Bepo Mongol as part of a tag team called The Mongols and had since returned in July 1984, they were soon teamed up, where they became one of the most hated tag teams in WWF.
As a tag team partner with Nikolai Volkoff, and under the management of “Classy” Freddie Blassie, they won the WWF (World) Tag Team Championship from The U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) at the first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden when he knocked out Windham from behind with Blassie’s cane.
Part of the pair’s regular entrance consisted of waving the flags of Iran and the Soviet Union, then demanding that the crowd be quiet and “show respect” while Volkoff sang a throaty version of the Soviet national anthem, a demand that usually only attracted boos from the usually pro-American crowds.
