As we reported, WWF Legend The Iron Sheik passed away on June 7th 2023, and his age at that point is listed everywhere as 81 years old, with his official birth date being March 15th 1942.
The Wrestling Observer reported that there is actually a lot of uncertainty about the WWE Hall of Famer’s real age and The Iron Sheik himself wasn’t exactly sure when he was born.
Here’s what they reported:
“He was listed as being 81 years old, but given he didn’t know his own birthday and there are different years listed in different places at different times for his birth, it’s more safe to say he was probably 80, and may have been as old as 84.
He was listed as being born on March 15, 1942. In 1983, when I saw the Texas database with listed birthdays for pro-wrestlers who were licensed in the state, his birthday at the time was listed in their records as March 15, 1939.
His biographer, Keith Elliot Greenberg, who wrote what he once said was the best wrestling biography never published, said he was actually born September 9, 1942, which would have made him 80.
Greenbergsaid: ‘The March birthday that’s on his passport is incorrect. He celebrated the September date in coordination with the Persian calendar. He told me he was born in 1942.’
Greenberg did admit in an article on Sheik that Sheik was not exactly sure when he was born.”
The Iron Sheik wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation from 1983 until 1987, then briefly in 1988 and again from 1991 till 1992.
In December 1983, Sheik defeated Bob Backlund for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, a title he lost a month later to “The Incredible” Hulk Hogan. The rest is history.
His last major match happened in 2001, when he won the famous ‘Gimmick Battle Royal’ at WWF WrestleMania X-Seven.
He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by his old rival Sgt. Slaughter.
Also Read: Hulk Hogan’s Statement On The Iron Sheik’s Death
WATCH: The Iron Sheik Hated Andre The Giant
