Kayfabe! – YouShoot with Iron Sheik

KAYFABE!
YouShoot w/ Iron Sheik

If you’ve seen one shoot interview with Sheiky you’ve seen them all, right? Wrong! This time around, Sheik isn’t under the influence of the A to the Z and he’s not going off on crazy tangents about making people humble. I really can’t say it any better than KC said it: “Not what you’d expect from him. Everything you’d expect from YouShoot.”

I’ve said it before, I’m of the belief that a good shoot must be both interesting and entertaining. Well, this is Sheiky, so you know it’s going to be entertaining, but Sheik also has some interesting stories to tell. He starts with growing up in Iran and first getting involved with wrestling. He rode his bike two miles to his workouts. He didn’t do great in school, but usually got preferential treatment due to his standing as a wrestler. He completed up to eleventh grade in Iran and then moved to Minnesota where he got his diploma and then joined the University of Minnesota.

Sheiky tells some good stories about his early years in the business, that I’m sure some will take with a grain of salt. He earned Verne Gagne’s respect by shooting on the mat with him and actually pinning him, while Gagne scored no points. Later on, he embarrassed Ole Anderson in a friendly shoot, so Ole came back with a screwdriver and Sheiky got it away from him and humbled him (no, not that way!) again. Sean Oliver: You should have shoved it up his ass. Sheiky tells the whole story of Verne offering him $100,000 to break Hogan’s leg. It wasn’t just Verne either, Bill Watts and Crockett were also putting up some money for him to do it.

When asked about other wrestlers, Sheik usually has some good things to say. Much better than his 2007 RF shoot (when he obviously had too much of the medicine) where he resorted to throwing beer bottles and yelling the F word. He calls his longtime tag partner a Russian Jew, because all he did was save money. But he respected him for it. The only person who could keep up with him when it came to A to the Z was Jim Neidhart. The funniest one though is when he’s asked about Pat Patterson. Sheiky says he has a lot of respect for him because “He’s not a gay.” He does address his issue with Larry Zybyszko from 2007 and he says it’s because he has a lot of respect for Bruno and didn’t like Larry leeching off his legacy.

There are plenty of videos to be found as well, and not just the usual ones from the usual folks either. The funniest one being from a girl who tells Sheiky that she’s been very bad and that she wants him to come humble her (yes, that way). Sheiky is all for humbling. There are several videos played from the ‘80’s, including a commercial for WWF Thumb Wrestlers featuring Sheiky telling the kids to go back to class. There’s also one that’s downright odd, it’s Lawyer Mickey Sherman interviewing several WWF personalities about some legal issue Sheik had in CT. He interviews Blassie, Heenan, Mean Gene, Captain Lou, and Cindi Lauper, and they all have great things to say about Sheiky, even the babyfaces.

When Sheiky sees a video from the Billdozer ranting about how he killed kayfabe, Sheiky asks Sean “Who was that Jabroni?” Later on when he’s asked about Dave Meltzer he says “Dave Meltzer? Who is that Jabroni?” The usual three games are played, that being What’s in the Bag? The Ho Bag (renamed “The Douche Bag” this time” and “What A Dick.” When he sees the bottle of JD, the first name that comes to his mind is Jack Daniels. When he realizes he needs a wrestler’s name it’s Blackjack Mulligan. Muraco is the green medicine, Snuka is the white medicine, for crack he says “Maybe Iron Sheik?” and Hogan is steroids. Sheiky is the first person to not put Johnny Ace in the dick bag. Mel Gibson isn’t so lucky. When asked about “The Situation” and its explained that he’s on Jersey Shore likes to show his abs Sheiky says “Must be he’s a dick!” The only wrestling related people in the dick bag are Scott Hall, Dan Mirade, and John Nord. Sheik even admits to being a fan of Justin Bieber! The Douche Bag is equally as entertaining. “Sara Palin? That bitch who tried to president? Fuck her, she’s douche bag!” Fabulous Moolah is also in the bag, although Sheiky at least takes a moment to honor her memory before putting her in.

There’s a whole chapter dedicated to Sheiky’s relationship with Eric Simms, which I personally don’t care about, but others might. I don’t personally think many people really want Sheik’s agent right there fielding questions for him, but that’s just me. Sheiky’s not above giving a few plus. He says that Highspots is number one. When asked who the number one producer of the shoot interview is, he says it’s Sean.

The 411: This is easily the best shoot interview ever done with Sheiky, and further proof of why YouShoot sets the standard for shoot interviews. It's at least as entertaining as any other interview from Sheik, and easily the most interesting and informative.
Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]