Iron Sheik had captured the WWF World Heavyweight Championship from Bob Backlund less than a month prior, and he was set to defend his newly won title against rising superstar Hulk Hogan at ...

The Iron Sheik is often associated with being the man who lost the WWF Championship to Hulk Hogan, but winning the title from Bob Backland is his best moment.

Sheik beat Bob Backlund for the WWE Championship in December 1983, ending Backlund's reign as champion at more than 2,100 days.

Along the way, Sheik (real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) won the WWF Heavyweight Title from Bob Backlund in 1983, lost it to Hulk Hogan a month later (touching off the next decade of Hulkamania ...

The Iron Sheik remained with the AWA until 1979 and bounced around the U.S. working for various wrestling promotions until 1983 when he returned to the WWE and challenged then champion Bob Backlund.

On the day after Christmas in 1983, the wrestler known as The Iron Sheik won the World Wrestling Federation belt, beating the champion Bob Backlund in a classic “heel” vs “babyface” match ...

Local wrestling promoters and talent are mourning the loss of pro wrestling legend — and one of the greatest bad guys of the 1980s — the Iron Sheik. The Iron Sheik, whose real name was ...