Today is a sad day for wrestling fans, and if you’re not a wrestling fan you’re probably wondering why everyone is losing it. WWE Hall of Famer Hossein Khosrow Ali Vazir, known to the world as the inimitable Iron Sheik, passed away at the age of 81 and tributes are pouring in from all over, with an especially poignant one from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
He posted a video from — where else — the gym, and shared some fond anecdotes about the late wrestler.
“Rest in Power, Uncle Sheiky. Thank you for paving the way. Love, light and strength to Caryl & the ohana.”
He started out the tribute with condolences to Vazir’s family, who he considers “Ohana,” which also happens to be something you can buy on a T-shirt from the Rock’s clothing collection. Serendipity!
“I grew up calling the Iron Sheik ‘Uncle Sheiky,'” he said. “And when my Dad and the Iron Sheik used to wrestle together, not only in the WWE but also before that when we were living in the Carolinas, and my dad and the Iron Sheik were wrestling together there for the National Wrestling Alliance, Uncle Sheiky would come over to the house and his wife would babysit for me and I was about 8 years old at the time and I was a pain in the *ss.”
He thanked Carol for “putting up with all my sh*t as a kid.” Johnson went on to say that “as someone who has professional wrestling in his blood” he wouldn’t have the life he does without out, and the Iron Sheik was a big part of that. Johnson then talked about how there were “so many” legendary Iron Sheikh stories, before he launches into one.
Johnson said that when he “first started at the WWE” as a rookie, things weren’t easy. The locker room was “tough” and you had to “tie your boots up pretty … tight” to survive.
When he was early on, Johnson said, the Iron Sheik pulled him aside and said “Buba, let me tell you something.” He said “You come into the locker room, you sit down, you shut your mouth, you don’t say anything and you just watch and you learn. And then you understand who the good people and who the jabronis.”
That’s good advice for life in general, to be honest. Johnson that’s exactly what he did, and then when he became The Rock a few years later, he borrowed the term “jabroni.” Johnson said he gets credit for the word, which is “in the lexicon now,” but “no no no. The truth is all the credit goes to the Iron Sheik.” RIP Iron Sheik.