146-731: Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri ( Persian : حسین خسرو علی وزیری , romanized: Hossein Xosrô 'Ali Vaziri; March 15, 1942 – June 7, 2023), better known by his ring name the Iron Sheik was an Iranian professional wrestler , amateur wrestler , and actor . To date he is the only Iranian champion in WWE history, having won the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in 1983. This villainous character peaked during
292-563: A shot putter . He eventually won the championship at the Yokohama Junior High School track and field competition. The family fell on hard times in the post-war years, and in 1957, the 14-year-old Inoki emigrated to Brazil with his grandfather, mother, and brothers. His grandfather died during the journey to Brazil. Inoki won regional championships in Brazil in shot put , discus throw , and javelin throw , and finally
438-496: A "medicine test" in various interviews) and was released. 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. Rather than being booed for winning, the villainous Sheik (who had gained something of a cult following among wrestling fans) was cheered as a fan favorite. He eliminated Hillbilly Jim to win
584-676: A Backyard Squabbles event. Inoki converted to Shia Islam in 1990 during a pilgrimage to Karbala , the Shiite holy city in Iraq . He was in Iraq negotiating for the release of several Japanese hostages. While in Iraq, Inoki was bestowed the Islamic moniker Muhammad Hussain Inoki ( Arabic : محمد حسين اينوكي , romanized : Muhamad Husayn Aynwky ), later reportedly describing himself as both
730-655: A Dari dialect. In the 19th century, under the Qajar dynasty , the dialect that is spoken in Tehran rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous Russian , French , and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology. The first official attentions to
876-527: A Japanese video company, purchased Inoki's controlling 51.5% stock in New Japan. In 2007, Inoki founded a new promotion called Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). On February 1, 2010, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced on its Japanese website that Inoki would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame . Inoki was presented with a Hall of Fame certificate by WWE's Ed Wells. In 2017, Inoki created
1022-410: A New Japan wrestler was against Karl Gotch . In 1975 he faced Lou Thesz , with Inoki taking a vicious Greco-Roman backdrop within the first seconds of the match. In 1976, Inoki fought with Pakistani Akram Pahalwan in a special rules match. The match apparently turned into a shoot , with an uncooperative Akram biting Inoki in the arm and Inoki retaliating with an eye poke . At the end, Inoki won
1168-505: A Rikidōzan memorial event, Inoki was defeated by Japanese actor and singer Hideaki Takizawa ; later that year during a New Year's Eve event, he wrestled Brazilian mixed martial artist Renzo Gracie to a time limit draw. On December 31, 2001, he teamed with The Great Sasuke to defeat Giant Silva and Red & White Mask; two years later, on December 31, 2003, Inoki wrestled the final match of his career, facing Tatsumi Fujinami as part of Fujinami's retirement ceremony. In 2005, Yuke's ,
1314-502: A WWF event, suspecting Duggan of DUI . After a search of the vehicle and the persons, police discovered that Duggan was under the influence of marijuana while the Sheik was high on cocaine . Small amounts of cocaine were also found in the vehicle. Duggan received a conditional release while the Sheik was placed on probation for a year. The mini-scandal that erupted after two in-ring enemies were found drinking and doing drugs together led to
1460-402: A bear for a 1976 Japanese film titled The Strongest Karate 2 . This bout ended when a doctor stopped the fight after both competitors repeatedly fell out of the ring. Although many of the matches were predetermined and scripted, they are seen as a precursor to modern mixed martial arts (MMA). When asked about Inoki's fighting skills, business colleague Carlson Gracie stated Inoki was "one of
1606-804: A crucial link to the people of the North. He was reportedly considering running for governor of Tokyo in 2014 following another visit to North Korea. Inoki joined the splinter of the Japan Restoration Party, Party for Future Generations , in 2014. In January 2015, he helped to establish a new party named the Assembly to Energize Japan , which he left in 2016, to sit in the Independents Club . In September 2017, Inoki re-established his position that Japan should make more of an effort to have co-operative dialogue with North Korea, in
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#17327832911021752-510: A daughter, Hiroko. Inoki married for a third time in 1989, with his third wife giving birth to Inoki's first son. The couple divorced in 2012. Inoki's son later attended Columbia University in New York City . In 2014, Inoki took Haroon Abid, nephew of his Pakistani rival Zubair Jhara Pahalwan , under his guardianship. Inoki's fourth wife, Tazuko Tada, died on August 27, 2019. Inoki has two grandsons, Hirota and Naoto Inoki. Hirota
1898-452: A defensive position for almost the entire duration of the match of 15 rounds, hitting Ali with a low kick repeatedly. The bout ended in a draw, 3–3. Ali left without a press conference and suffered damage to his legs as a result of Inoki's repeated kicks. Following his retirement from professional wrestling, Inoki promoted a number of MMA events such as UFO Legend, NJPW Ultimate Crush (which showcased pro wrestling matches and MMA matches on
2044-418: A dictionary called Words of Scientific Association ( لغت انجمن علمی ), which was completed in the future and renamed Katouzian Dictionary ( فرهنگ کاتوزیان ). The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name Academy of Iran . It was established by the initiative of Reza Shah Pahlavi , and mainly by Hekmat e Shirazi and Mohammad Ali Foroughi , all prominent names in
2190-523: A documentary, Iranian Legend: The Iron Sheik Story Originally, the documentary was scheduled for a 2008 release under the title Iron Sheik: From A to Z . Sheik's documentary was released in 2014 under the title The Sheik . On November 6, Vaziri challenged the then- Mayor of Toronto , Rob Ford , to an arm wrestling match at his office. Starting in the late 2000s, Vaziri became known for his Twitter account, which features violent, profanity-ridden Tweets denouncing various pop culture events. He did not write
2336-505: A language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century. Farsi , which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name Persian is still more widely used. The Academy of Persian Language and Literature has maintained that the endonym Farsi is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that Persian
2482-417: A literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time. This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian". There are three standard varieties of modern Persian: All these three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from
2628-552: 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 . Mustafa would challenge for the WWF World Championship during the star-studded 1992 Royal Rumble match. Shortly thereafter, Adnan left the WWF and Mustafa would be without a manager for his final four months with
2774-490: A match between the two at Music City Showdown . On May 7 the two faced off, and Sheik was defeated by TV Champion Sting. In August 1989, he would form a brief alliance with Ron Simmons , appearing in his corner during a match with Jon Brewer . He would appear later that month in the corner of Simmons & The Cuban Assassin in a victory over Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert. On August 26, Simmons and Sheik were guests of Paul E. Dangerously 's "Danger Zone", where he admitted that he
2920-491: A match that aired on Prime Time Wrestling. 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. During his matches, comments were regularly made about the Iron Sheik's weight gain and diminished mobility. Iron Sheik had also cut promos to challenge then-World Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage, but nothing came of it. Ultimately
3066-417: A match with then-prominent karate competitor Everett Eddy. Eddy had previously competed in a mixed skills bout against boxer Horst Geisler and lost by knockout. The bout with Eddy ended with the karateka knocked out by a professional wrestling powerbomb followed by a Hulk Hogan -esque leg drop . Another such match pitted Inoki against 6'7" Kyokushin karate stylist Willie Williams , who had allegedly fought
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#17327832911023212-570: A naked Spenny with a beer bottle. He also appeared in Maz Jobrani 's 2009 stand-up comedy special Brown & Friendly . The Sheik made an appearance as himself in Robot Chicken , as well as The Eric André Show on Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim . In 2014, The Iron Sheik acted in a documentary about his life titled "The Sheik." Sheik's persona was an Arab who wore a keffiyehs , a traditonal Arab clothing, and called himself “Sheik”
3358-550: A new company, ISM. ISM held its first event on June 24 of that year. On March 23, 2018, Inoki left IGF. In October 2019, Inoki appeared at a Pro Wrestling Zero1 event at the Yasukuni Shrine , which is controversial for its relation to World War II . In August 2022, Inoki established the Inoki Genki Factory to serve as his official management company. It was later reported that the Inoki Genki Factory
3504-612: A parliamentary alliance with the Democratic Socialist Party . On October 14, 1989, Inoki was stabbed during a political event in Aizuwakamatsu , Fukushima Prefecture . Imitating Muhammad Ali , Inoki traveled to Iraq in 1990 in "an unofficial one-man diplomatic mission" to negotiate with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War . He personally organized
3650-536: A period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and
3796-458: A reputation bolstered by his 1976 fight against world champion boxer Muhammad Ali – a fight that served as a predecessor to modern day MMA. In 1995, with Ric Flair , Inoki headlined two shows in North Korea that drew 165,000 and 190,000 spectators, the highest attendances in professional wrestling history . Inoki wrestled his retirement match on April 4, 1998 against Don Frye , and
3942-634: A series palm strikes , grounding him with a single leg takedown and following with up repeated kicks , and then stomping his head repeatedly as he lay on the mat before the match was stopped. In June 1979, Inoki wrestled Akram's countryman Zubair Jhara Pahalwan , this time in a regular match, and lost the fight in the fifth round. In 2014, 22 years after Zubair Jhara's death, he announced he would take Jhara's nephew Haroon Abid under his guardianship. On November 30, 1979, Inoki defeated WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund in Tokushima , Japan, to win
4088-808: A series of bouts including cage matches and Texas street fights lasting until May 1981. In July 1981, Vaziri unsuccessfully challenged Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship . Vaziri left Jim Crockett Promotions in August 1981. In September 1981, Vaziri joined the Louisiana -based Mid-South Wrestling promotion. He left the promotion in January 1982, making brief returns in October 1982. In January 1982, Vaziri joined Championship Wrestling from Florida . He left
4234-599: A speaker of Persian. Persian is a member of the Western Iranian group of the Iranian languages , which make up a branch of the Indo-European languages in their Indo-Iranian subdivision . The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which Kurdish and Balochi are
4380-552: A title shot at then-champion Bob Backlund , who pinned him later that night in a 30-minute battle. He later feuded with Chief Jay Strongbow and Bruno Sammartino before leaving in 1980. In April 1980, Vaziri began wrestling for the Charlotte, North Carolina -based Jim Crockett Promotions . He wrestled a handful of matches as "Hussein Arab" before settling on "The Iron Sheik". His villainous persona played upon topical events such as
4526-521: A traditional "buffo" style mustache and added wrestling boots with the toe curled up — a nod to his ethnic background, which, according to Vaziri, was an idea from Jimmy Snuka . He also introduced the Persian clubs , a sport in his native Iran, and challenged wrestlers to do as many swings as he. His Iranian gimmick received attention due to the events of the Iranian Revolution . Taking
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4672-404: A wrestling event in Iraq to entice Saddam to free the 41 captive Japanese nationals, this ultimately proved to be a success with 36 Japanese nationals freed. Inoki subsequently retained his seat in the 1992 Japanese House of Councillors election . He failed to win re-election in the 1995 Japanese House of Councillors election following a number of scandals reported in 1994, and left politics for
4818-615: Is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages . Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and used officially within Iran , Afghanistan , and Tajikistan in three mutually intelligible standard varieties , respectively Iranian Persian (officially known as Persian ), Dari Persian (officially known as Dari since 1964), and Tajiki Persian (officially known as Tajik since 1999). It
4964-664: Is a continuation of Middle Persian , an official language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of Old Persian , which was used in the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE). It originated in the region of Fars ( Persia ) in southwestern Iran. Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages. Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in West Asia , Central Asia , and South Asia . Old Persian
5110-628: Is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian. Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian. Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian." The known history of
5256-850: Is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within Uzbekistan , as well as within other regions with a Persianate history in the cultural sphere of Greater Iran . It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the Persian alphabet , a derivative of the Arabic script , and within Tajikistan in the Tajik alphabet , a derivative of the Cyrillic script . Modern Persian
5402-675: Is attested in Old Persian cuneiform on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in Aramaic -derived scripts ( Pahlavi and Manichaean ) on inscriptions and in Zoroastrian and Manichaean scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see Middle Persian literature ). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the Muslim conquest of Persia , since then adopting
5548-425: Is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable. New Persian texts written in the Arabic script first appear in the 9th-century. The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of
5694-460: Is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with
5840-475: Is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with Pashto . The term Dari , meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital Ctesiphon , which was spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of Parthia ( Parthian ). Tajik Persian ( форси́и тоҷикӣ́ , forsi-i tojikī ),
5986-585: Is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages. According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in Southwestern Iran (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called Parsuwash , who arrived in the Iranian Plateau early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became
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6132-408: Is one of the most important influences of modern shoot wrestling . Inoki named his method of fighting " strong style " and it is sometimes referred to as "Inokiism". Inoki faced many opponents from all dominant disciplines of combat from various parts of the world, such as boxers , judoka , karateka , kung fu practitioners, sumo wrestlers, and fellow professional wrestlers. These bouts included
6278-495: Is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity. Iranian historian and linguist Ehsan Yarshater , founder of the Encyclopædia Iranica and Columbia University 's Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on Iranology , rejecting
6424-614: Is typically reserved for Arab leaders. The Iron Sheik has appeared in video games: he made his video game debut in Legends of Wrestling and has since appeared in Legends of Wrestling II , WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain , Showdown Legends of Wrestling , WWE Legends of WrestleMania , in WWE 2K15 , and WWE 2K16 under the Col. Mustafa gimmick, and in WWE 2K24 as downloadable content . Vaziri
6570-517: Is viewed as uninterrupted from 1978 to 1983. In 1995, Inoki and the North Korean government came together to hold a two-day wrestling festival for peace in Pyongyang, North Korea . The event drew 165,000 and 190,000 fans respectively to Rungnado May Day Stadium . The main event saw the only match between Inoki and Ric Flair , with Inoki coming out on top. Days before this event, Inoki and
6716-491: The Encyclopædia Iranica notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist. The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects: More distantly related branches of the Iranian language family include Kurdish and Balochi . The Glottolog database proposes
6862-506: The Kalila wa Dimna . The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional lingua franca , a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century. In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on
7008-528: The 1980s WWF wrestling boom and his rivalry with Hulk Hogan turned Hogan into one of the greatest television heroes of the decade. He later formed a tag team with Nikolai Volkoff , which won the WWF Tag Team Championship at the inaugural WrestleMania event. In 2005, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame . A heel throughout the 1980s, Sheik later gained popularity on Kidd Chris , The Howard Stern Show , Opie and Anthony, and
7154-591: The 2016 Summer Olympics by the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia . From 2015 until 2016, Inoki served as the supreme advisor of the Assembly to Energize Japan , a political party he co-founded with Kota Matsuda . Inoki was amongst the group of professional wrestlers who were tutored in the art of hooking and shooting by the professional wrestler Karl Gotch . This method of wrestling taught to Inoki by Gotch borrowed heavily from professional wrestling's original catch wrestling roots, and
7300-668: The British colonization , Persian was widely used as a second language in the Indian subcontinent . It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the Mughal emperors . The Bengal Sultanate witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of
7446-610: The Gregorian calendar and the Solar Hijri calendar . In his youth, he idolized Iranian Olympic champion wrestler Gholamreza Takhti , and he subsequently made a name for himself as an amateur wrestler. He also worked as a bodyguard for Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family for several years. Vaziri competed for a spot on Iran's Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City . After Takhti
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#17327832911027592-692: The Iran hostage crisis . He quickly began feuding with Jim Brunzell over the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship , defeating him for the championship in May 1980. 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 February 1981, Vaziri began feuding with Blackjack Mulligan . The two men faced one another in
7738-662: The Pride Fighting Championships ; with a reported attendance of 91,107, Shockwave remains the highest attended live event in MMA's history. The event's opening ceremony saw Inoki dropping into the National Stadium by parachute and then being joined by Hélio Gracie . After being dubbed the "founding fathers of MMA", the two lit a ceremonial Olympic Torch together. Future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida began his career in MMA under
7884-529: The Soviet 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 (and Canada) (followed by a simulated spitting act)." It was all designed (very successfully) to get major heat from the crowd. He also got heat in his interviews with "Mean Gene" by concluding with the demand "Hey cameraman, zoom it," as he flexed his muscles. During his stint in
8030-455: The Sultanate of Rum , Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia , Delhi Sultanate , the Shirvanshahs , Safavids , Afsharids , Zands , Qajars , Khanate of Bukhara , Khanate of Kokand , Emirate of Bukhara , Khanate of Khiva , Ottomans , and also many Mughal successors such as the Nizam of Hyderabad . Persian was the only non-European language known and used by Marco Polo at the Court of Kublai Khan and in his journeys through China. A branch of
8176-439: The Turkic , Armenian , Georgian , & Indo-Aryan languages . It also exerted some influence on Arabic, while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages. Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi , the works of Rumi , the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám , the Panj Ganj of Nizami Ganjavi , The Divān of Hafez , The Conference of
8322-408: 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. Part of the pair's regular entrance consisted of waving the flags of Iran and the Soviet Union, then demanding that the crowd be quiet and "show respect" while Volkoff sang a throaty version of
8468-423: The ezāfe construction, expressed through ī (modern e/ye ), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system. Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian
8614-479: The " Persianized " Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries. Persian during this time served as lingua franca of Greater Persia and of much of the Indian subcontinent . It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, Buyids , Tahirids , Ziyarids , the Mughal Empire , Timurids , Ghaznavids , Karakhanids , Seljuqs , Khwarazmians ,
8760-485: The 1960s for the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) under the tutelage of Rikidōzan . After he changed his in-ring moniker to Antonio Inoki in 1963, a homage to accomplished Italian wrestler Antonino Rocca , Inoki became one of the most popular stars in Japanese professional wrestling . He is credited with developing strong style and shoot style wrestling in the 1970s and 1980s. He parlayed his wrestling career into becoming one of Japan's most recognizable athletes,
8906-492: The 60th anniversary of the armistice in the Korean War , and had met with senior North Korean figure Kim Yong-nam during his visit. This was Inoki's 27th visit to North Korea; he explained in an interview that the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens had caused the Japanese government to "close the door" on diplomacy with the North, but that the issue would not be resolved without ongoing communication, and that he saw his relationship with North Korean-born Rikidōzan as
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#17327832911029052-399: The All Brazilian championships in the shot put and discus. Inoki met Rikidōzan at the age of 17 in Brazil and went back to Japan for the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) as his disciple . He trained in the JWA dojo under the renowned Karl Gotch , complementing further his training under amateur wrestler Isao Yoshiwara and kosen judoka Kiyotaka Otsubo. One of his dojo classmates
9198-444: The Battle Royal and was immediately attacked by former rival/partner Sgt. Slaughter who put him in his Cobra clutch . 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. Slaughter. 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. On
9344-572: The Birds by Attar of Nishapur , and the miscellanea of Gulistan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi , are written in Persian. Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were Nima Yooshij , Ahmad Shamlou , Simin Behbahani , Sohrab Sepehri , Rahi Mo'ayyeri , Mehdi Akhavan-Sales , and Forugh Farrokhzad . There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including Persians , Lurs , Tajiks , Hazaras , Iranian Azeris , Iranian Kurds , Balochs , Tats , Afghan Pashtuns , and Aimaqs . The term Persophone might also be used to refer to
9490-544: The December 24 episode of All- American Wrestling , also accepted Sheik's weekly Persian club challenge. He was successful in his third attempt to swing the clubs, and the Sheik immediately attacked him from behind, injuring his neck in a work. 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. Sheik capitalized by applying his Camel Clutch chin lock finisher. Backlund didn't submit, but his concerned manager Arnold Skaaland threw in
9636-533: The Final Countdown tour, Inoki made a rare World Championship Wrestling appearance; defeating WCW World Television Champion Steven Regal in a non-title match at Clash of the Champions XXVIII . On April 4, 1998, Inoki defeated Don Frye in the final official match of his professional wrestling career. After his retirement in 1998, Inoki founded a new wrestling promotion, the Universal Fighting-Arts Organization (UFO). Inoki would later participate in four exhibition matches after his retirement. On March 11, 2000, at
9782-525: 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. Vaziri was born in 1942, in Damghan , Imperial State of Iran, and grew up in a working-class family which had little money and no running water. Although his passport read March 15, he celebrated his birthday on September 9 due to his family alternating between
9928-424: The June 18 episode of Raw , he approached McMahon's executive assistant Jonathan Coachman about having his own interview show on Raw . Coach replied saying, "I like the idea and I will really take some time to consider it." Sheik's last match was on April 24, 2010, teaming with Jay Lethal defeating Dylan Kage with Paul Bearer in a handicap match for Millennium Wrestling Federation in Melrose, Massachusetts. It
10074-434: The Korean press went to the grave and birthplace of Rikidōzan and paid tribute to him. Inoki's retirement from professional wrestling matches came with the staging of the "Final Countdown" series between 1994 and 1998. This was a special series in which Inoki re-lived some of his martial arts matches under traditional professional wrestling rules, as well as rematches of some of his most well known wrestling matches. As part of
10220-500: The Middle Ages, and is because of the lack of the phoneme /p/ in Standard Arabic. The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from Persian and Farsi , by names such as Iranian Persian and Western Persian , exclusively. Officially, the official language of Iran is designated simply as Persian ( فارسی , fārsi ). The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named Dari ( دری , dari ) since 1958. Also referred to as Afghan Persian in English, it
10366-429: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah , a glorification of Selim I. After
10512-530: The Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods: As a written language , Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscription , dating to the time of King Darius I (reigned 522–486 BC). Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now Iran , Romania ( Gherla ), Armenia , Bahrain , Iraq , Turkey, and Egypt . Old Persian
10658-481: The Persian language, a language historically called Dari, emerged in present-day Afghanistan. The first significant Persian poet was Rudaki . He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in
10804-401: The Persian model: Ottoman Turkish , Chagatai Turkic , Dobhashi Bengali , and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian. "Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of medieval Persia used in literature and poetry . This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and lingua franca under
10950-886: The Perso-Arabic script. Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of Arabic on writing in the Muslim world , with Persian poetry becoming a tradition in many eastern courts. It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the Ottomans in Anatolia , the Mughals in South Asia, and the Pashtuns in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages,
11096-484: The Sasanian Empire (224–651). However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as pārsīk , commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of Fars and used in Zoroastrian religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon and the northeastern Iranian region of Khorasan , known as Dari. The region, which comprised
11242-537: The Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While Ibn al-Muqaffa' (eighth century) still distinguished between Pahlavi (i.e. Parthian) and Persian (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date. "New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian)
11388-518: The Seljuks, the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia. They adopted the Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
11534-548: The Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff who would now be managed by the "Doctor of Style". 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 Sheik was the 13th participant eliminated, at 5:22 by Bruno Sammartino . In May 1987, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan (an on-screen rival) and Vaziri were pulled over by New Jersey State Police on their way to
11680-815: The Sheik from behind with his 2x4 piece of wood while he had Brunzell in the Camel Clutch. After Sheik's arrest, he worked in house shows until leaving the WWF in October 1987. 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 . Sheik continued to wrestle on house shows in February and March, beating Lanny Poffo and Ken Patera , and losing to Bam Bam Bigelow . He would not appear on television until July 18, when he defeated Scott Casey in
11826-575: The Tweets himself; his managers, Jian and Page Magen, handled the account. Vaziri died at home in Fayetteville, Georgia , on June 7, 2023. His cause of death was cardiac arrest with congestive heart failure and hypertension as contributing factors. Persian language Russia Persian ( / ˈ p ɜːr ʒ ən , - ʃ ən / PUR -zhən, -shən ), also known by its endonym Farsi ( فارسی , Fārsī [fɒːɾˈsiː] ),
11972-435: The WWF again on March 11, 1991, making his re-debut on Wrestling Challenge as Colonel Mustafa, and was aligned with former enemy Sgt. Slaughter . Along with Iraqi General Adnan , Slaughter and Mustafa were portrayed as Iraqi sympathizers during the Gulf War and feuded with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior . Following Slaughter's face turn after SummerSlam 1991 , Mustafa remained aligned with Adnan. He dropped to
12118-595: 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 . 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 . 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. This included
12264-498: The area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III . The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian pārsa itself coming directly from the older word * pārćwa . Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, Median , according to P. O. Skjærvø it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before
12410-579: The best fighters he'd seen." His most famous bout was against heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali on June 26, 1976, in Tokyo . Inoki initially promised Ali a predetermined match to get him to fight in Japan, but when the deal materialized, Ali's camp feared that Inoki would turn the fight into a shoot , which many believe was Inoki's intention. Ali visited a professional wrestling match involving Inoki and witnessed Inoki's grappling ability. The rules of
12556-548: The bout with a double wrist lock , injuring Pahalwan's arm after the latter refused to submit. According to referee Mr. Takahashi , this finish was not scripted and was fought for real after the match's original flow became undone. On December 8, 1977, Inoki was involved in a match against former strongman turned professional wrestler Antonio Barichievich better known as The Great Antonio . Barichievich inexplicably began no-selling Inoki's attacks and then stiffing Inoki; Inoki responded by shooting on Barichievich, retaliating with
12702-474: The championship. Backlund then won a rematch on December 6. However, WWF president Hisashi Shinma declared the re-match a no contest due to interference from Tiger Jeet Singh , and Inoki remained champion. Inoki refused the title on the same day, and it was declared vacant. Backlund later defeated Bobby Duncum in a Texas Death match to regain the title on December 12. Inoki's reign is not recognized by WWE in its WWF/WWE title history and Backlund's first reign
12848-457: The code fas for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan. This consists of the individual languages Dari ( prs ) and Iranian Persian ( pes ). It uses tgk for Tajik, separately. In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of Iranian history ; Old era being sometime around the Achaemenid Empire (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being
12994-512: The collapse of the Sassanid state, Parsik came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the Arabic script . From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called Pahlavi , which was actually but one of the writing systems used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by
13140-522: The company, His final match was at a Superstars taping on May 19, 1992, where he defeated Reno Riggins , after which he left the promotion again. In late 1996, the Sheik teamed with his old nemesis Bob Backlund to manage WWF wrestler The Sultan , who had a Middle Eastern gimmick . He would manage Sultan until December 1997. He also for a time during the summer of 1997 co-managed Tiger Ali Singh (with Ali's father, Tiger Jeet Singh ). By year's end he had failed another drug test (he has referred to this as
13286-539: The company. On July 7 at Great American Bash 1990 he faced Mike Rotunda in a losing effort in his first match back. 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. His final match was against the Junkyard Dog on January 26, 1991, in Columbia, South Carolina, after which he left the company. He returned to
13432-490: The end of the angle, the Sheik's release, and Duggan's temporary departure from the WWF. At the time, the Sheik and Volkoff were embroiled in a feud with the patriotic Duggan. Before the Sheik's release from the company, he and Volkoff had defeated The Killer Bees ("Jumping" Jim Brunzell and B. Brian Blair ) by disqualification at WrestleMania III in front of 93,173 at the Pontiac Silverdome when Duggan had hit
13578-652: The extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially Hindi - Urdu (also historically known as Hindustani ), Punjabi , Kashmiri , and Sindhi . There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious execution in Qajar Iran and speak
13724-437: The following phylogenetic classification: Antonio Inoki Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Antonio Inoki (アントニオ猪木, Antonio Inoki , born Kanji Inoki ( Japanese : 猪木寛至 , Hepburn : Inoki Kanji ) and later Muhammad Hussain Inoki ( Arabic : محمد حسين اينوكي , romanized : Muhamad Husayn Aynwky ); February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022)
13870-577: The formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, Central Asia , and South Asia . Following the Turko-Persian Ghaznavid conquest of South Asia , Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians. The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties. For five centuries prior to
14016-476: The formation of the Achaemenid Empire and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE. Xenophon , a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like
14162-466: The language of the Persians. Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was Avestan , the language of the Zoroastrian liturgical texts. The complex grammatical conjugation and declension of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed
14308-686: The management of Inoki. Machida was described by Inoki as a symbolic "successor" figure for himself, as Naoya Ogawa and Kazuyuki Fujita had been in the past. In 2003, Inoki co-founded the Brazilian MMA promotion Jungle Fight with Wallid Ismail . Inoki was also the ambassador for the International Fight League 's Tokyo entry before that promotion's demise. Additionally, Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation promoted both professional wrestling matches and mixed martial arts fights. Inoki had 10 siblings. His brother Juichi Sagara
14454-453: The match and return to the AWA with the WWF title, though Gagne's son Greg Gagne has disputed this claim. He then bitterly feuded with Sgt. Slaughter , winning a few matches by disqualification, but losing the rest by pinfall or submission, including a "Boot Camp Rules" match. As a tag team partner with Nikolai Volkoff , and under the management of "Classy" Freddie Blassie , Iron Sheik won
14600-403: The match were announced several months in advance. Two days before the match, however, several new rules were added which severely limited the moves that each man could perform. One rule change, specifying that Inoki could only throw a kick if one of his knees was on the ground, had a major effect on the outcome of the fight. Ali landed a total of six punches to Inoki, and Inoki kept to his back in
14746-432: The middle-period form only continuing in the texts of Zoroastrianism . Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian. The native name of Middle Persian was Parsig or Parsik , after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of Pars ", Old Persian Parsa , New Persian Fars . This is the origin of the name Farsi as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following
14892-536: The most widely spoken. The term Persian is an English derivation of Latin Persiānus , the adjectival form of Persia , itself deriving from Greek Persís ( Περσίς ), a Hellenized form of Old Persian Pārsa ( 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 ), which means " Persia " (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day Fars ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the term Persian as
15038-698: The name The Great Hossein Arab , he won his first title, the Canadian Tag Team Championship, with a partner the Texas Outlaw. He wrestled in Japan against the likes of Steve Day and Antonio Inoki in 1978. 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 . This earned him
15184-466: The nationalist movement of the time. The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many Arabic , Russian , French , and Greek loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created
15330-499: The necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of Persian orthography , were under the reign of Naser ed Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1871. After Naser ed Din Shah, Mozaffar ed Din Shah ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903. This association officially declared that it used Persian and Arabic as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal
15476-588: The next eighteen years. On June 5, 2013, Inoki announced that he would again run for a House of Councillors seat in the National Diet under the Japan Restoration Party ticket. Inoki won the election to return to Japan's Upper House as an MP. In November 2013, he was suspended from the Diet for 30 days because of an unauthorized trip to North Korea. He had visited on the occasion of
15622-414: The next period most officially around the Sasanian Empire , and New era being the period afterward down to present day. According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language" for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian
15768-732: The northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
15914-542: The official language of the Achaemenid kings. Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash (along with Matai , presumably Medians) are first mentioned in
16060-562: The owner of NJPW until 2005 when he sold his controlling share in the promotion to the Yuke's video game company. In 2007, he founded the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). In 2017, Inoki founded ISM and the following year left IGF. He was also a co-creator of the karate style Kansui-ryū (寛水流, Kansui-ryū ) along with Matsubayashi-ryū master Yukio Mizutani. In 1989, while still an active wrestler, Inoki entered politics as he
16206-638: The present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted Parthian language , which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use. New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from eastern northern and northern Iranian languages such as Sogdian and especially Parthian. The transition to New Persian
16352-559: The promotion at the end of February 1982. In July 1982, Vaziri returned to Georgia Championship Wrestling for the first time since 1974. In May 1983, he won a tournament for the vacant NWA National Television Championship . His reign lasted until July 1983, when he lost to Ronnie Garvin . Vaziri left the promotion the following month. The Iron Sheik returned to the WWF in September 1983 and challenged Bob Backlund for WWF World Heavyweight Championship again. Backlund accepted, and on
16498-588: The region during the following centuries. Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in Punjab through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the Sikh Empire , preceding British conquest and the decline of Persian in South Asia. Beginning in 1843, though, English and Hindustani gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent. Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in
16644-602: The reign of Sultan Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet Hafez ; a poem which can be found in the Divan of Hafez today. A Bengali dialect emerged among the common Bengali Muslim folk, based on a Persian model and known as Dobhashi ; meaning mixed language . Dobhashi Bengali
16790-754: The return was short-lived. He left again in July of that year. In 1987, The Iron Sheik competed in Dallas' World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), where he feuded with Matt Borne over the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship . He stayed with that organization for only a few months, followed by brief stints with the AWA, where he attacked Sgt. Slaughter during a match, and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC). In addition to reigniting his feud with Slaughter and teaming with Colonel DeBeers , his main opponent during this time period
16936-497: The same card), and the annual Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye shows which took place on New Year's Eve in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Some of the major attractions of these events involved the best of NJPW against world-renowned fighters in legitimate MMA matches. Inoki faced mixed martial artist Renzo Gracie in an exhibition match at the 2000 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye. On August 28, 2002, Inoki participated in the Shockwave event co-promoted by K-1 and
17082-501: The same class as Ric Flair at Gagne's wrestling camp under trainer Billy Robinson and then wrestled for Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA). He also worked as a trainer, teaching Ricky Steamboat , Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell . 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 . Vaziri obliged and adopted what came to be his signature look : He shaved his head bald, grew
17228-668: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . The Persian language influenced
17374-573: The standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as Tajik ( тоҷикӣ , tojikī ) since the time of the Soviet Union . It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general. The international language-encoding standard ISO 639-1 uses the code fa for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard ISO 639-3 uses
17520-717: The standard Persian. The Hazaragi dialect (in Central Afghanistan and Pakistan), Herati (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), Basseri (in Southern Iran), and the Tehrani accent (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility . Nevertheless,
17666-550: The towel and forfeited the championship. This allowed the title to transition to Hulk Hogan without Hogan having to face a babyface champion. 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. This match
17812-485: The use of Farsi in foreign languages. Etymologically, the Persian term Farsi derives from its earlier form Pārsi ( Pārsik in Middle Persian ), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term Persian . In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym Pārs ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars. The phonemic shift from /p/ to /f/ is due to the influence of Arabic in
17958-493: The wake of North Korea launching ballistic missiles over Hokkaido . This was succeeded by another of Inoki's controversial trips to the nation. In June 2019, Inoki announced his retirement from politics. On June 23, 1989, Inoki founded the Sports and Peace Party , his own political party. Inoki served as the party's leader until the 1998 House of Councillors election when he was succeeded by Iichi Nishime. In 2002, Inoki
18104-648: Was Giant Baba . After Rikidozan's murder , Inoki worked in Baba's shadow until he left for an excursion to the United States in 1964. After a long excursion of wrestling in the United States, Inoki found a new home in Tokyo Pro Wrestling in 1966. While there, Inoki became their biggest star. The company folded in 1967, due to turmoil behind the scenes. Returning to JWA in late 1967, Inoki
18250-552: Was Tony Atlas , with whom he feuded in both WCCW and WWC. 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 April 11, he challenged Sting at a television taping to a Persian clubs swinging competition. On the April 29 episode, the competition ensued which Sting admitted that Sheik had won, leading to
18396-579: Was a Japanese professional wrestler , professional wrestling trainer , martial artist , politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). He is best known as the founder and 33-year owner of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is considered to be one of the most influential professional wrestlers of all time, and one of the biggest key influences on MMA in Japan and internationally. After spending his adolescence in Brazil , Inoki began his professional wrestling career in
18542-485: Was a Shia Muslim and a former soldier in the Imperial Iranian Army . He married American Caryl Peterson on March 21, 1976; the best man at the wedding was "Mean" Gene Okerlund (whom the Sheik often referred to as "Gene Mean" in his broken English). His eldest daughter Marissa Jeanne Vaziri was murdered by her boyfriend Charles Warren Reynolds after an altercation in May 2003 at the age of 26. Reynolds
18688-622: Was a No Disqualification/Countout Match ending when Sheik made Kage submit to the camel clutch on the floor. The Iron Sheik made his film debut in The Tale of the 3 Mohammads in 2005. He then appeared alongside Daniel Baldwin and Corey Feldman in Operation Belvis Bash in 2011. Sheik also made an appearance on the Canadian show Kenny vs. Spenny on the "Who is a better pro wrestler?" episode where he attempted to sodomize
18834-500: Was a danger to himself and others and forced him to enter rehabilitation; an employee allegedly snuck in cocaine for him. In 2007, Peterson walked out on Vaziri after several failed attempts to make him quit drugs. She returned two years later on the condition that Vaziri sever ties with a friend who helped him acquire them. In 2013, Vaziri said he had been off cocaine for four years. In August 2013, Iron Sheik's managers Page and Jian Magen crowdsourced $ 40,441 to write, direct and produce
18980-548: Was a karate master and is credited with bringing Shōtōkan to Brazil . Inoki's brother Pablo Inoki , a tenor and political activist , once led the Inoki-founded Sports and Peace Party . Inoki married American woman Diana Tuck (also known as Linda Tuck) in 1965. The couple would have a daughter together, but separated two years later. Inoki's daughter later died at age 8. Inoki was married to actress Mitsuko Baisho from 1971 to 1987, and together they had
19126-554: Was a swimmer at Santa Monica College , having previously set school records in swimming at El Segundo High School . In June 2023, Hirota was appointed to the board of directors of the Inoki Genki Factory. In January 2024, it was reported that Naoto was training in professional wrestling under Katsuyori Shibata , having previously trained under the staff of the L.A. Inoki Dojo. Naoto additionally trains in mixed martial arts (MMA) at Black House MMA . On July 20, 2024, Naoto made his professional wrestling debut, defeating Casanova at
19272-597: Was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the Tahirid dynasty (820–872), Saffarid dynasty (860–903), and Samanid Empire (874–999). Abbas of Merv is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of Hanzala Badghisi were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time. The first poems of
19418-678: Was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of Palau ; Inoki would again be appointed a Japanese Goodwill Ambassador to Palau in 2013. From August 2014 until December 2014, Inoki served as the director of the National Sports Bureau of the Party for Future Generations and as a chairperson of the Policy Research Committee of the House of Councillors. On March 1, 2015, Inoki was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for
19564-448: Was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors . During his first term with the House of Councillors, Inoki successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of Japanese hostages before the outbreak of the Gulf War . His first tenure in the House of Councillors ended in 1995, but he was reelected in 2013. In 2019, Inoki retired from politics. Kanji Inoki was born into an affluent family in Yokohama on February 20, 1943. He
19710-497: Was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010 . Inoki was a twelve-time professional wrestling world champion , notably being the inaugural IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the first Asian WWF Heavyweight Champion (and one of only four overall WWF/WWE Champions of Asian descent, the others being The Iron Sheik , Batista , and Jinder Mahal ) – a reign not officially recognized by WWE . Inoki began his promoting career in 1972, when he founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He remained
19856-501: Was later included in WWE's Legends of Wrestling 3 compilation. Two days later, at Madison Square Garden, The Iron Sheik was scheduled to rematch Backlund, who was replaced by Hulk Hogan . Five minutes in, Sheik had Hogan locked in the Camel Clutch. 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. According to The Iron Sheik, Gagne had offered him $ 100,000 to break Hogan's leg during
20002-478: Was looking into the idea of hosting professional wrestling and mixed martial arts events. Following in his father's footsteps, Inoki entered politics in 1989, when he was elected into the House of Councillors as a representative of his own Sports and Peace Party in the 1989 Japanese House of Councillors election . Inoki's win secured him among the highest offices ever won by a professional wrestling personality in politics . The Sports and Peace Party later formed
20148-404: Was made Baba's partner and the two dominated the tag team ranks as the "B-I Cannon", winning the NWA International Tag Team Championship belts four times. On May 16, 1969, during the 11th World Big League , Inoki stopped Giant Baba's fourth consecutive victory and won his first tournament. In July 1969, when NET (currently TV Asahi ) started broadcasting Japanese professional wrestling, Inoki
20294-426: Was mysteriously found dead in 1968, Vaziri began fearing for his safety and decided to emigrate to the United States to advance his career. In 1971, he was the AAU Greco-Roman wrestling champion at 180.5 pounds (81.9 kg). He later became assistant coach to the USA team for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich . In 1972, Vaziri was invited to become a professional wrestler by promoter Verne Gagne . Vaziri trained in
20440-486: Was now training Simmons and was looking for a tag-team partner for him. 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. The Iron Sheik would return after a seven-month absence following Ole Anderson's elevation to head booker. A lapse in issuing a contract notice allowed Sheik's one-year deal to accidentally roll over and continue to work with
20586-484: Was patronised and given official status under the Sultans of Bengal , and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion. Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule over the northwestern frontier of the subcontinent . Employed by Punjabis in literature, Persian achieved prominence in
20732-399: Was taken into custody and later convicted of the crime. Reynolds himself died in prison on May 31, 2016. Despite promising to repair his family, Vaziri was unable to successfully quit drugs following Marissa's death. Vaziri was reported to have been extremely angered after his daughter's death to the point where he considered retaliation against her killer. In 2005, the family believed Vaziri
20878-488: Was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas . Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in
21024-458: Was the ace of NET's wrestling broadcasts, as Baba's matches were monopolized by Nippon TV under the agreement between the JWA and Nippon TV. On December 2, 1969, he challenged Dory Funk Jr. for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship , and on March 26, 1971, won the NWA United National Championship . Fired from JWA in late 1971 for planning a takeover of the promotion, Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in 1972. His first match as
21170-410: Was the sixth son and the second-youngest of the seven boys and four girls. His father, Sajiro Inoki, a businessman and politician, died when Kanji was five years old. Inoki was taught karate by an older brother while in 6th grade. By the time he was in 7th grade at Terao Junior High School, he was 5 feet 11 inches tall and joined the basketball team. He later quit and joined a track and field club as
21316-425: Was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as rāh-āhan ( راهآهن ) for "railway", were printed in Soltani Newspaper ; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention. A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in
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