Pro wrestling icon the Iron Sheik dead at 81 [View all]

CBC News



The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport's biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died on Wednesday, the WWE said. He was 81.

The wrestling organization posted an article confirming his death, and a statement about his passing was also posted on his Twitter page giving details of his life. Neither statement mentioned a cause of death nor where he died, but the Twitter post said he "departed this world peacefully."

The Iron Sheik, whose real name was Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, grew up in a small village in Iran, where he embraced wrestling in his youth.