| The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff | |
|---|---|
 Iron Sheik (left) and Nikolai Volkoff (right), circa 1986 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | The Iron Sheik Nikolai Volkoff Freddie Blassie (manager) Slick (manager) |
| Name | The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff |
| Billed heights | The Iron Sheik: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] Nikolai Volkoff: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[2] |
| Combined billed weight | 521 lb (236 kg) The Iron Sheik: 258 lb (117 kg)[1] Nikolai Volkoff: 313 lb (142 kg)[2] |
| Debut | 1984 |
| Disbanded | 1987 |
| Years active | 1984–1987, 1999 |
The Iron Sheik andNikolai Volkoff were aprofessional wrestlingtag team who competed in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1984 to 1987.
After Sheik had lost theWWF World Championship toHulk Hogan and Volkoff, who had left the WWF after previously being billed asBepo Mongol being part of a tag team calledThe Mongols managed by"Captain" Lou Albano who had held theWWF International Tag Team Championship twice, had since returned in July 1984,Vince McMahon then chose to team them up, and soon they became one of the most hated tag teams in WWF history.[clarification needed][3] The team became managed by"Classy" Freddie Blassie, and they won theWorld Tag Team Championship fromThe U.S. Express (Barry Windham andMike Rotunda) at the firstWrestleMania atMadison Square Garden when Sheik had knocked out Windham from behind with Blassie'scane.[4]
Part of the pair's regular entrance consisted of waving the flags ofIran and theSoviet Union, then demanding that the crowd be quiet and "show respect" while Volkoff sang a throaty version of theSoviet national anthem, a demand that usually only attracted boos from the usually pro-American crowds. Sheik then usually grabbed the mic and said "Iran number 1, Russia number 1, USA - HACK-POOIE!" (which was followed by a simulated spitting act). It was all designed (very successfully) to get major heat from the crowd. On May 11, 1985, at the firstSaturday Night's Main Event, Sheik, Volkoff, andGeorge Steele were defeated by the team of Windham, Rotunda, andRicky Steamboat. Windham and Rotundo would win back the belts from Sheik and Volkoff.[5][6]
Volkoff and Sheik both wrestled atWrestleMania 2, but not as a team. Volkoff wrestled and lost toCorporal Kirchner in a flag vs flag match in theChicago part of the event. Sheik competed in the 20-man invitationalBattle royal, also in the Chicago portion of the event, during which 14 WWF superstars got in the ring with 6National Football League (NFL) players. Sheik was the 13th participant eliminated, at 5:22 byBruno Sammartino, and the Battle royal was won byAndré the Giant. In 1986 Sheik and Volkoff defeatedThe Hart Foundation (Bret Hart andJim Neidhart) in a heel vs heel match.[7] In late 1986 Blassie, who retired from wrestling, sold their contacts toSlick.[8]
Sheik and Volkoff had feuds with and wrestled against many top tag teams such asThe Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel andTom Zenk),The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and theDynamite Kid),The Islanders (Haku andTama)The Young Stallions (Jim Powers andPaul Roma) andThe Killer Bees ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell andB. Brian Blair), and would also often team withButch Reed andHercules, who Slick was also managing in six man tag team matches.[9] On March 29, 1987, atWrestleMania III at thePontiac Silverdome inPontiac, Michigan, Sheik and Volkoff competed as a team against The Killer Bees. At the beginning of the match when Volkoff began to sing the Russian national anthem,"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, who had just joined the WWF, came down to the ring and cleared the ring of Volkoff, Sheik, and Slick after chasing them out with his2×4. Sheik and Volkoff won the match by disqualification when Duggan interfered, due to the cheating of Slick, Sheik, and Volkoff.[10] After Windham and Rotunda had lost the tag titles toThe Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake andGreg Valentine, who were managed by"Luscious" Johnny Valiant), Sheik and Volkoff would challenge The Dream Team for the titles, but would not regain the belts, as both teams were disqualified.
AfterWrestleMania III Sheik and Volkoff began a feud with Duggan, who would often run down to the ring and attack Volkoff and Sheik. Memorable matches this occurred at was on episode 11 ofSaturday Night's Main Event when The Can-Am Connection wrestled and defeated Sheik and Volkoff after Duggan, who was sitting in the front row of the audience, interfered due to the cheating of Sheik, Volkoff, and Slick, and on the April 25, 1987 episode ofWWF Superstars of Wrestling when Sheik, Volkoff, and Reed who had teamed up wrestled and defeated The Islanders andSiva Afi.
Sheik and Volkoff were forced to disband when Sheik and Duggan were pulled over byNew Jersey State Police on their way to a WWF event. Officers suspected Duggan ofDUI (even though Sheik and Duggan were feuding onscreen they were not in real life).[11] After a search of the vehicle and the persons, police discovered that Duggan was under the influence ofmarijuana while the Sheik was high oncocaine. Small amounts of cocaine were also found in the vehicle. Duggan received a conditional release while the Sheik was placed onprobation for a year. The mini-scandal that erupted after two in-ring enemies were found drinking and doing drugs together led to the end of the angle, and Sheik's release, and Duggan's temporary departure from the WWF.
Sometime after Sheik was fired, Slick replaced him withBoris Zhukov[12] (a kayfabeRussian) asThe Bolsheviks, but the new team was not successful. Sheik returned to the WWF, again under the management of Slick, but as a singles wrestler and would not re-unite with Volkoff, and would soon leave the WWF once again in 1988. Sheik returned in 1991 asCol. Mustafa, but left in 1992. Volkoff left the company in 1992 and returned in 1994 until 1995. In the 1990s they teamed in theindependent circuit. On October 12, 1999, Sheik and Volkoff teamed up for the first time since 1987 at theHeroes of Wrestlingpay-per-view event and would wrestle against and lose toThe Bushwhackers.[13]
Sheik and Volkoff appeared together when they were into inducted theWWE Hall of Fame on April 2, 2005, at theUniversal Amphitheatre inLos Angeles, California. However, they were inducted separately, not as a tag team.
On the March 10, 2008 edition ofWWE Raw, which featured rematches from previous WrestleManias, Sheik appeared along with Volkoff to face off against Windham and Rotunda in a rematch from the first WrestleMania. However, the match never got started asJillian Hall came out to interrupt Volkoff's singing so she could singBruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A.", which the U.S. Express used as their ring entrance music in 1984–85.
On the November 15, 2010, edition ofRaw, as part of the Old School theme, Volkoff again appeared with Sheik and Slick, and they sung the Soviet national anthem before being interrupted bySantino Marella andVladimir Kozlov, the latter of whom then sung a duet with Volkoff of the Russian National anthem.[14]
Volkoff died at the age of 70 in 2018 fromdehydration and other medical issues, and Sheik died at the age of 81 in 2023 from heart failure and years of health issues.
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{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)