Old School Profile - Iron Sheik

The subject of today's old school profile is none other than The Iron Sheik. The Sheik is one of the most popular heels of all time. His birth name is Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri and prior to becoming a superstar professional wrestler he was a world class amateur competitor and was a bodyguard for Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for his homeland of Iran.

Khosrow was member of the 1968 Olympic wrestling team that competed in the Mexico City games. After that he moved to the United States and was the assistant coach of two US Olympic teams in the 1970s. Most notably being an assistant on the 1972 Munich Olympic team.

Later in 1972 Khosrow received an invite from AWA owner and promoter Verne Gagne to train as a professional wrestler. Gagne loved to work guys who had strong amateur backgrounds. This was Gagne's first camp that was lead by legendary Billy Robinson and included Gagne's son Greg, Ken Patera, Jim Brunzell and a young unknown Ric Flair. During that time Sheik also helped train the other wrestlers most notably a young Ricky Steamboat.

Khosrow made is is professional debut later in 1972 and went of to perform as a babyface early on in his career. After a little coaching he quickly adopted the persona as a heel which he stayed with for the rest of his career. During this time he brought the Persian clubs, a sport in his native Iran, and challenged wrestlers to do as many swings as him. Being an Iranian bad guy caught on quick because of the of the Iranian revolution. He took on the name of The Great Hossein Arab and by 1979 caught the attention of the WWF where he moved to in 1979.
His first stint in the WWF only lasted for about a year, which was common in the territory days. During the 1980's he adopted the actual Iron Sheik name in the NWA territories. Which drew him a lot of real life heat because of the Iranian Hostage crisis that was going on. Despite the danger Sheik thrived with the character. He had memorable matches with the likes of Dusty Rhodes, Dick Murdoch, and Tommy Rich, and traded the National TV title with Ronny Garvin. Taking down his opponents with his signature "Camel Clutch" during this time.

In December of 1983 The Sheik returned to the WWF to challenge then Champion Bob Backlund who was in the middle of a 5 year title run. It was a return match that was won by Backlund in 1980. The Sheik won the title this time which set off major point in wrestling history. Four weeks later The Iron Sheik lost the title to the man now known as Hulk Hogan. This the start of Hulk's first title reign that lasted 4 years and kicked off the Wrestlemania era. The All American superstar taking out the Iranian villain was instant money in the beginning of the cable era of professional wrestling.
The legend has it that Sheik was offered 100,000 thousand dollars by Gagne to break Hogan's leg and bring the belt to the AWA. Which due to his background a lot people believe that he could have done it but The Sheik stated in many interviews that he is a Muslim and he would not bite the hand that fed him.

After facing Hogan he then had a feud with another American Icon Sgt Slaughter. Continuing the America vs Iran theme they fought in a series of matches that ultimately ended with Slaughter defeating him a Boot Camp Rules match. He then went on to have a successful international theme tag team run with Nikolai Volkoff from Russia. They were known as the Foreign Legion and faced teams like the US Express (Mike Rotunda and Barry Windham) whom they faced at the 1st Wrestlemania.

After this The Sheik had run a singles heel in the WWF until he was released due to an incident with him and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He and Duggan were pulled over during a New Jersey traffic stop and it was discovered that Hacksaw was high on weed and Khosrow had been doing cocaine. This was troubling for the WWF because these two were on screen rivals when kayfabe was alive and should have not been seen hanging out together. At this time wrestling was still perceived to be real life and not revolve around storylines. Not to mention two prominent superstars to be known to be using illegal drugs was not helpful for the companies image.

He returned to the WWF shortly in 1988 but then left again. He then bounced around to various organizations based on his previous popularity. In 1989, there was a run in the NWA, where he feuded with Sting over the NWA World Television Championship. Due to some of his substance abuse troubles he did not stay in places a long time.

In the early 90s he returned to the WWF as Colonel Mustafa and Iraqi who helped back Sgt Slaughter who was doing a angle as an American traitor. Once again providing some real life heat on the performers. For most of the 1990's Sheik toured various indy promotions but was mostly unseen from the national spotlight.

In the 2000's The Sheik was seen in a lot of WWF special appearances such as gimmick battle royals and various legends segments. He has had some recent popularity appearing on national radio shows shooting on other legends like Hulk Hogan and Jim Brunzell.

Story about The Sheik

The Iron Sheik Title History
WWF World Heavyweight Champion
WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Nikolai Volkoff)
NWA Commonwealth Heavyweight Champion
NWA Canadian Tag Team Champion (with Texas Outlaw)
NWA PNW Tag Team Champion (with Bull Ramos)
NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
NWA Canadian Heavyweight Champion
CWA Heavyweight Champion
NWA National Television Champion
NWA Southern Heavyweight Champion\
Twin Wrestling Entertainment Champion

Just In Case You Missed Smackdown 11/25

The Smackdown show for the WWF lately has been the better of the 2 main stay programs of the company. Especially when we are talking from a wrestling standpoint. For those of you who can not catch it live there are a lot of online resources to catch the program. Of course youtube has everything and the actual company website post the shows in their entirety.

I decided to post this weeks episode with some notes and if you guys like I will do it every week.

Entire Smackdown Show from 11/25

-Check the crowd reaction to Daniel Bryan
-Did Teddy Long almost Turn himself heel
-Sheamus/ Ryder vs Team Vickie
-Dibiase backstory / set up for Jinder Mahal beef
-Cody vs Booker T has some promise
- Fatal 4 Way #1 Contenders match

Survivor Series Recap Episode


Keshia's Blog
http://justrightfullyspeakingout.blogspot.com/

Matt Hardy Kicked Out of Rehab

So if you haven't heard the latest news on former WWE/TNA Superstar Matt Hardy. He has been kicked out of the WWE sponsored rehab program after failing a sobriety test. According to sources Hardy was given a breathalyzer after staff at the facility became suspicious. Due to this was court ordered after previous legal issues that he was having, Hardy was taken back to jail according to Moore County officials.

Hopefully Matt gets the help that he needs. Well beyond wrestling and entertainment this is about a person's life. I think all wrestling fans want to see him get better and not be part of the list of recent tragedies that we have seen in the business.


Check Out Keith on The latest Cold Slither Wrasslecast
http://coldslitherpodcast.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/csp-wrasslecast-1121-monday-night-raw-supershow-post-survivor-series-fall-out/

http://coldslitherpodcast.wordpress.com/2011/11/21/csp-wrasslecast-wwf-survivor-series-ppv-from-msg-1120-never-b4-never-again/

Does anybody Still Read Wrestling Magazines

Still to this day whenever I pass by a grocery store magazine section I have to look for the wrestling magazines. So I wondered the other day, does anyone else still read the wrestling mags?

Due to all of the wrestling web pages and podcast like this one and others produced by professional outlets I would think that the demand has dropped a little. I on the other hand still am excited to see who is in the PWI Top 500.

A Little History

In today's day and age it maybe hard to image but those magazines were like the internet for fans in the territory days of the business.
Back in those days there were a lot of regional promotions that were very popular in their respective markets. The promoters respected each others boundaries and their television shows rarely crossed markets. So for a performer to build up a buzz in other areas, he or she had to get his or her name in the magazines. Also for the fans to know what was going outside of their area they read the magazines. If you lived in the New York area then you may not have seen too much Ric Flair in 1982 but if you saw him in 3 different publications then you knew he was a player. Unlike today's day and age the books also kept the kayfabe alive where today's publications may talk the sport in real terms.

In today's wrestling landscape it is s a little different but the magazines are still a good resource to find out whats going on in the independent organizations. You are able to familiarize yourself with names like Adam Pearce, Yamoto and Kenta Kobayashi through the magazines.

If you have stopped reading you might want to stop by and pick up a wrestling magazine sometimes to see whats inside...

TNA Turning Point Recap



Survivor Series Preview

Remebering Eddie Guerrero

Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero was born into one of the wrestling's most legendary families. Eddie was just not a Guerrero but became the Guerrero that would excite crowds all over the world. It has been 6 years from yesterday that we lost this wrestling legend. Like a lot of his peers his life ended tragically too short.

I am not going to go to deep into a Eddie bio but just share some of my thoughts and feelings. I have been a fan of his since his WCW days. In recent years and thanks to the internet I was able to see a lot of his ECW and Japan work. I admired that was part of a group of wrestlers who honed their craft around the world. Like his peers Jericho, Benoit and Mysterio he has wrestled in every possible place you can only enhancing his legacy along the way.

My most memorable time of watching Eddie was during the his time on Smackdown from 2003-2005. This is in my estimation the best period of Smackdown from a pure wrestling standpoint. From beginning to end of the 2 hours you would get top notch matches from a roster that had names like Brock Lensar, Kurt Angle, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Shelton Benjamin ect... Always at the top tier of that list was Eddie. He had all elements inside the ring and outside the ring down pact. He could not only give you a good match but could cut a good promo. He could be serious and or comical and you believed him every time regardless.

Away from the lights Guerrero encountered various substance abuse problems, including alcoholism and an addiction to painkillers. What gets lost in talking about his death was that was not a result of his passing. Eddie was beginning to make a turn for the better in his battle with substance abuse. An autopsy revealed that Guerrero died as a result of acute heart failure due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Los Guerreros vs Worlds Greatest Tag Team

Eddie DVD's
Cheating Death, Stealing Life — The Eddie Guerrero Story (DVD, 2004)
Viva La Raza: The Legacy of Eddie Guerrero (DVD 2008)

Legends of Wrestling Roundtable

One of my favorite series that the WWF produces is The Legends of Wrestling Roundtable. Most of these shows can be found on their 24/7 On Demand service that is offered through most cable providers. I have watched a lot of these on Youtube by simply searching "Legends of Wrestling Roundtable".

The series is special because the WWF very rarely lets people behind the scenes and have honest conversation. People like Jim Ross, Mick Foley, Ric Flair and Gene Okerland tell about where they were and how they felt about different moments in wrestling history.

Legends of Wrestling Giants

3 Favorite Legends of Wrestling
The Territories
Soul of Wrestling
Bad Asses

Turning Point Can Actually Be That for TNA

This Sunday TNA is presenting their Turning Point PPV. With the changes made on the creative staff and coming off their big Bound For Glory show we are now moving into the story lines that will drive the company for the rest of the year.

The Card As it Stands Now
TNA World Heavyweight Title Match
- Bobby Roode (c) vs. AJ Styles

TNA Tag Team Title Match
- Mexican America (c) vs. Ink Inc.

TNA Knockouts Title Match
- Velvet Sky (c) vs. Gail Kim

TNA X Division Title Match:
- Austin Aries (c) vs. Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen

TNA Television Title Match:
- Eric Young vs. Robbie E

- Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy

- Crimson vs. Matt Morgan

- Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels

- Bully Ray and Scott Steiner vs. Ken Anderson and Abyss

Latest Ring Time Podcast Previewing the PPV

Shane Douglas still Hates Flair and Everybody Else

So "The Franchise" Shane Douglas and Ric Flair still can't stand each other. Well at least we know that's true for Shane. Not sure how much is work or shoot and trust with every wrestler there is always some work in there. We also find out that Mr. Douglas hates everything else and is a little delusional. If we see Shane in TNA anytime soon then we know what it is....

Shane Douglas appeared on Busted Open on Sirius Radio this week, discussing a number of topics, including the following highlights:
TNA Hardcore Justice: "They invited me, and offered such a ridiculously low sum of money, that I said “shove it up your backside." When I had wrestled Chris Daniels at the PPV up in Auburn Hills, between the 2 televisions and the PPV itself, I made close to $12,000 dollars for those 3 appearances. They offered me for the, a meet & greet. They wanted me to open the PPV with a “Cut the F’n Music” promo in the vein of ECW, and then they wanted me to work a match. So, basically two days of work, and they offered me an embarrassing amount of money. My comeback to Terry Taylor at the time was, “Look, if you pay Hulk Hogan $35 grand a night, and you pay Ric Flair $17,500 a night, and you have no problem paying that, clearly they must not have a problem with it because they had a chance 2 or 3 weeks ago to let their contracts expire, and they re-signed both, all 3 of them, Bischoff included, and I said in the world of ECW, in that world, I’m bigger than Hogan, and I’m bigger than Flair. So, we’ll talk in those ball parks,” and the number they offered me; I wouldn’t work for somebody in the independent scene for."

TNA's Dixie Carter: "For somebody who’s grown up in a billionaire’s household obviously with a silver and golden spoon up her backside, and in her mouth. To offer these guys the poultry amount of money, and she offered most of these guys an absurdly low sum of money. Shame on her! A, for the fact that it was the highest grossing PPV they had last year; She offered them nothing additional, and offered them such a low sum of money, it seemed funny to me for the woman who told me, “Why would I want to copy ECW after all they’ve failed,” and suddenly she’s begging the ECW alumni to come back and try to dig them out of their hole. I was gonna’ have no part of it. I wanted no part of..I’m very selective in where I allow the ECW legacy to be used, taken advantage of, and I’m not going to let somebody like Dixie Carter who has no respect for our business, and no, more to the point, no respect for the guys that built that company, and that’s evident in the pay that she gave. I have no interest in giving her any props or ups, or any under-handed pitches to allow her to prostitute the ECW legacy for her gain, as the guys don’t make a thing. My intent, clearly I wanted to send Dixie the message that I have no interest in allowing her to capitalize on what we had built, and she has no respect for. And I spoke to most of the guys afterwards, either immediately or afterwards at shows down the road. My intent was not to in anyway, undermine their ability for that show to succeed. And I have no interest in trying to make TNA destabilize. To the contrary, I see incredible possibility for TNA. Last year when they did, if it’s a misnomer, The Monday Night Wars; My 5-year-old was watching it, and so to keep myself entertained, I just sorta scribbled some notes to myself, and after 5 or 6 weeks, I had 27 pages of hand-written notes. I then wrote up in format form, Television format form that Dixie or anybody in TNA would be familiar with; I had 41 pages of single-spaced segments, and it was 41 pages, and I was gonna’ fax it to her free of, I wasn’t gonna’ ask for a dime. I didn’t want a job; I just wanted her to see what vision somebody else could have for her talent, her company, and the future of that company. I couldn’t even get the woman to call me back (And that’s amazing to me for a person in wrestling that has spent the 10’s and dozens of millions of dollars of her gas money, and her dad’s company’s money; For the poultry return that they’ve gotten on that, they she wouldn’t want to at least take a look..She could read it, and call me up afterwards, and laugh in my face, and say, “I think that’s the biggest pile of garbage I ever read,” but to not even return the call seems to me that their there to show you that Dixie Carter clearly is not the person to be running TNA."

Ric Flair: "Ric was the reason I got into the business. I idolized him, and when I met him, he fell so far short of my expectations. Not as a wrestler, but as a man. Embarrassing the things that I’ve watched him do, pulling out his privates in front of children, in a bar full of children. Running up and down hallways naked. Things that to me, and just as a man, I don’t equivocate with being a man or a champion of a company, and the politics between us, and that I’ve watched him to do hold down all the young talent that came up. Look, no one was going to take Ric Flair’s spot. He’s The Nature Boy, Ric Flair! He’s an icon, but he was so worried looking over his shoulder at young guys coming up the ladder, you know, that I think if I tried from his career in later years, and I for one called him on it. For better or for worse, and then..and there’s been a lot of worse to it. I speak my mind, but nobody can come back and say, “You’re a liar, or you twisted the truth,” or whatever. These are the things that I witnessed and I watched, and to me, it’s all part and partial. ..You know wrestling didn’t come to this bad bottom point by accident or by one or 2 accidents. It’s been a quilt of bad decisions, and bad moves, and tough breaks, and whatever else. And when I met Ric Flair as a young guy coming up that ladder with stars in my eyes. I mean, I was a young, green..greener than goose crap kid coming up, and when I met him, I was so enthralled. Nature Boy Ric Flair, the greatest wrestler in the history of our business, and then sat back night after night, week after week, month after month , watching him act like a total jerk, and treat people like a total jerk. It didn’t work for me. It was like meeting your hero, and suddenly finding out he’s an idiot or a jerk, and then..for all those things. And I called him on it. I called him on it, and I guess he didn’t like it. Oh well! You know you got 2 choices, shut up or put your fists up, and he chose not to do the latter."

Sources for Interview
411 Mania Website
PWInsider Website

Big TNA and OVW News

Just in case you haven't followed the Facebook or Twitter of TNA or Ohio Valley Wrestling then you may have missed the big news. OVW has been named the official training territory for TNA. If you have read a past "Indy Report" then you know that they were once the training territory for the WWE.

OVW has been a spot where names like Beth Phoenix, Shelton Benjamin and CM Punk have honed their craft.
Their alumni roster is a who's who of major wrestling talent. This is exciting news for an organization like TNA who already has some very talented in ring performers. This kind of move shows that they are serious about competing in the professional wrestling business.

The Latest Episode of Ring Time Pro Wrestling

Weekly DVD Suggestion - Beyond The Mat

This weeks selection is a little old but still a great watch for any wrestling fan. Especially if you are interested of the inner workings of the business and how what goes on in the ring really effects the wrestlers.

The 1999 documentary was directed by by Barry W. Blaustein and mostly follows the lives of Mick Foley(ManKind), Jake Roberts and Terry Funk. The 3 at very different stages of their career. There is Mick who is at the height of his career and competing for WWF titles, then there is Funk who is pondering retirement and then you have Roberts who is living the Mickey Rouke(The Wreslter)life. Also Blaustein has a sitdown with WWF Chairman Vince McMahon in a non WWF produced interview. Something that you probably won't see much of anymore.

You also get a look at the ECW organization as they get prepared for their
Its probably not a show that you should watch with the kids. There are some images that are strictly for adult viewing. Especially during the Jake Roberts segment which will have some moments. What the movie does at the end of the day is show the human element of these larger then life superstars. Whether it's the love of your family as we see with Foley and Funk or the human flaws of substance abuse that we see with Roberts.

This video can be easily found on streaming Netflix or you can order it on Amazon. Youtube also has the movie broken up in a few parts of you want to view that way. Either way its a must see for any wrestling fan.

Halloween Rebooted / Make Up Show 11/02 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

Halloween Rebooted / Make Up Show 11/02 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio
Due to some technical issues we were not able to fully archive our Halloween Episode of Ring Time Pro Wrestling. So just for you we are rerecording the show. If you listened live Monday you will receive a bonus. We will talk about the last 2 Raws and get you up to date on TNA.
BTR Version

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Podomatic Version of the Show

Old School Profile - Barry Windham

The word legend is thrown around a lot when it comes to old school wrestlers. That term is very fitting for this subject of "The Old School" profile one Barry Windham. Definitely a future Hall of Famer, Windham has had a great career that has spanned more than 20 years and him holding titles on every organization he has ever been involved with.

Windham was a 2nd generation wrestler before it was fashionable to be one. He is the son of the legendary Black Jack Mulligan. His brother Kendall also became a professional wrestler and his brother in law is Mike Rotunda. Barry has held tag team titles with both men.

Barry started his career in 1979 and was trained by his father and the legendary Harley Race. He made his debut at 19 years old against his future manager J.J Dillion in Odessa, TX. The early part of his career was spent in the Championship Wrestling from Florida. He had some success with his brother in law Mike Rotunda as the tag team winning the NWA Florida United State titles a few times.
In 1984 both Rotunda and Barry made the jump to the World Wrestling Federation(WWF). There they became known as the US Express during the beginning of when the Federation was really begin to take off. They became tag team champions in the WWF 2 times while they were there. Even defending the belts at the 1st Wrestlemania against The Iron Sheik and Nikolia Volkoff.

After leaving the WWF, Barry went back to Florida as a singles wrestler for short stint. Where he feuded with Ron Bass for the NWA Florida Heavyweight title. He also wrestled in the main event of Battle of the Belts II for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair during that stint.

His career really took off when he made the jump to Jim Crockett Promotions. There Windham started off as a prominent babyface and feuding with The Nature Boy for the World Title. With a lot of the matches ending in 60 minute time limit draws. After some tag team runs with Ron Garvin and Lex Luger, Barry made the move that would define his career. He became a member of the exclusive 4 Horsemen. The most legendary faction in the history of pro wrestling. The incarnation of Windham, Flair, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson is considered by many wrestling fans as the best combination of Horsemen ever.

After a brief stint in the WWF as the Widowmaker and a short time in Japan, Barry returned to Jim Crockett which now called WCW. He rejoined the Four Horsemen which at that point consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Sid Vicious, and Ole Anderson, who was only semi-active at the time and permanently became their manager once Windham joined. During this time Windham mostly teamed with either Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious in tag matches against Horsemen adversaries.

In 1992 Windham then had another face turn as the Horsemen disbanded for a short time again. Windham reached the height of his singles career in January 1993 and pursued the NWA World Championship held by The Great Muta. He defeated Muta for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl III for the only World Title of his career. He would eventually drop the belt to Ric Flair at Beach Blast in 1993.

Barry Windham vs Ric Flair

From 1996 to 2001 Barry would go back and forth between WWF and WCW. He was apart of different stables and wrestled mostly as a tag team wrestler. Forming the New BlackJacks with Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw(JBL). An ode to the legendary tag team that his father was once apart of. After 2001 Barry enjoyed a semi retirement as an in ring performer.

Windham worked as a producer for WWE. In 2007, he appeared on the Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen DVD. Barry was also apart of the Ric Flair Hall of Fame induction and was apart of the following good bye ceremony the next night on Raw.

Recently this legend had health scare after heart attack and some liver issues. He is still in the hospital. All reports say that Big Barry is getting better.

Titles Held By Windham
NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ron Garvin
NWA Western States Heritage Championship (1 time)
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA (Mid-Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Lex Luger (1) Dustin Rhodes (1), Curt Hennig (1), and Kendall Windham (1)
WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
WWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Mike Rotunda

No PPV just Straight Up Wrestling 10/31 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

No PPV just Straight Up Wrestling 10/31 by Ringtimeprowrestling | Blog Talk Radio

Listen to internet radio with Ringtimeprowrestling on Blog Talk Radio

Keith and Keshia experience a some major tech difficulty in this episode.... We will post up a new show today to make up for this. Thanks for listening.

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