A heel throughout the 1980s, Sheik later gained popularity on the Kidd Chris show, The Howard Stern Show, Opie and Anthony, and the Internet due to his shoot interviews, vulgar language, and apparent intense dislike for some of his fellow professional wrestlers, particularly Hogan and Brian Blair; however, the true nature of his relationship with Hogan has been a subject of debate.

[3][9] After Takhti was mysteriously found dead in 1968, Vaziri began fearing for his safety and decided to emigrate to the United States to advance his career.

[11] Vaziri first wrestled as a face in preliminary matches before a promoter suggested that he adopt a heel gimmick similar to that of the notorious Sheik.

[11] Taking the name The Great Hossein Arab, he won his first title, the Canadian Tag Team Championship, with a partner the Texas Outlaw.

[13] In 1979, Vaziri debuted in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as The Great Hossein Arab and won the first-ever Battle Royal in Madison Square Garden, New York City.

He successfully defended the championship in bouts with opponents including Brunzell, Sweet Ebony Diamond, and Johnny Weaver before losing to Ricky Steamboat in a falls count anywhere match in November 1980.

In the December 26 title bout at Madison Square Garden, Backlund attempted to roll Sheik into a bridge pin, but this aggravated his work-weakened neck.

[20] The Iron Sheik rematched Backlund indecisively at house shows and primarily defended the title against Chief Jay Strongbow, as well as Pat Patterson and Salvatore Bellomo.

On national TV, he defeated only jobbers, but wrestled Tito Santana on a live PRISM broadcast from The Spectrum in Philadelphia on January 21, 1984.

Hogan powered to his feet with Sheik still on his back, rammed him backward into the turnbuckles, and hit his Atomic Legdrop for the pin and the championship.

[19] As a tag team partner with Nikolai Volkoff, and under the management of "Classy" Freddie Blassie, Iron Sheik won the WWF (World) Tag Team Championship from The U.S. Express (Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) at the first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden when he knocked out Windham from behind with Blassie's cane.

[26] During his stint in the WWF, he appeared in the music video for Cyndi Lauper's "Goonies 'R' Good Enough" as a part of the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection.

[27] The Iron Sheik character was also seen regularly on the CBS animated series Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, where he was voiced by American actor Aron Kincaid.

[28] During 1986, Fred Blassie was beginning to wind down his career and as part of the angle, eventually sold his wrestlers contracts to new WWF manager Slick before retiring.

The Sheik was a participant in the 20-man invitational Battle royal in the Chicago portion of WrestleMania 2 which saw 14 WWF superstars in the ring with 6 National Football League (NFL) players.

The mini-scandal that erupted after two in-ring enemies were found drinking and doing drugs together led to the end of the angle, the Sheik's release, and Duggan's temporary departure from the WWF.

[32][33] On February 18, 1988, The Iron Sheik returned to the WWF and defeated S. D. Jones on a house show at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

[19] Sheik continued to wrestle that summer, facing Casey in rematches as well as Richard Charland and The Red Rooster in house shows in the States and Canada.

[36] On February 25, 1989, the Iron Sheik made a surprise appearance at a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) TV taping in Atlanta, Georgia and immediately challenged Ricky Steamboat.

On the April 29 episode, the competition ensued which Sting admitted that Sheik had won, leading to a match between the two at Music City Showdown.

The angle was eventually dropped and Simmons went on to team with Butch Reed as Doom, while Sheik finished his initial WCW tenure in house show matches against Norman in January 1990.

A lapse in issuing a contract notice allowed Sheik's one-year deal to accidentally roll over and continue to work with the company.

He wrestled Brian Pillman, Tom Zenk, Terry Taylor, Brad Armstrong, and Big Van Vader on the house show circuit through the fall and winter of 1990.

[38] He returned to the WWF again on March 11, 1991, making his re-debut on Wrestling Challenge as Colonel Mustafa, and was aligned with former enemy Sgt.

He dropped to a lower mid-card position, primarily losing matches against faces such as Slaughter, Tito Santana, British Bulldog, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, "Texas Tornado" Kerry von Erich, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Tatanka.

[40] In late 1996, the Sheik teamed with his old nemesis Bob Backlund to manage WWF wrestler The Sultan, who had a Middle Eastern gimmick.

On April 1, 2001, at WrestleMania X-Seven, The Iron Sheik won the Gimmick Battle Royal, a match between other popular or outlandish wrestlers from the 1980s and 1990s.

[18] In 2005, before WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles, The Iron Sheik was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his long-time rival and former partner, Sgt.

[42] On the June 11, 2007, episode of Raw, he, along with Jimmy Snuka, appeared in a taped segment showing their appreciation of WWE owner Vince McMahon.

[53] Starting in the late 2000s, Vaziri became known for his comedic Twitter account, which features violent, profanity-ridden Tweets denouncing various pop culture events.