Review of The Sheik (2014) by Evan M — 16 Jul 2016

Iron Sheik, number-one! This documentary, hack-phooey!

Khosrow Vaziri, better known as The Iron Sheik, is an interesting individual, who has lived a fascinating life. From being an Olympic wrestler, to being a bodyguard for the Shah of Iran, to having a Hall of Fame career in professional wrestling as one of the most hated villains of all-time (including a stint as WWF Champion) to becoming a social media icon; any one of those accomplishments could be the subject of it's own documentary.

This documentary, The Sheik, attempts to cram 72 years of Vaziri's life into 95 minutes... an impossible task. The Sheik had the feel of being a Cliff's Notes version of a life worthy of an epic novel. For example, Vaziri endures a unfathomable tragedy in his personal life, becomes addicted to crack cocaine, miraculously overcomes his addiction, and reinvents himself as a crazy (but likeable) character with a HUGE social media following leading to him becoming a fixture on The Howard Stern Show... all in the span of 10 minutes!

Having followed The Iron Sheik's career for over 30 years, I knew his story going in. I didn't really learn anything new about him. I suppose it would serve as a nice primer for someone unfamiliar with The Iron Sheik and his story, but for wrestling fans, it was nothing new.