The Iron Sheik died Wednesday at the age of 81, according to his Twitter account. He became a WWE champion in 1983 and was elected to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.

Legendary WWE star The Iron Sheik has died at age 81. The WWE Hall of Famer’s representatives announced the former WWF World Heavyweight Champion’s death in a statement on social media. "Today ...

The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport’s biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died ...

The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport’s biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, d… ...

The Iron Sheik has died at 81. Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri played a main villain during the height of pro wrestling's popularity in the mid-1980s. Continue to Deadline SKIP AD.

The Iron Sheik rose to prominence as a comic foil in 1980s America, when tensions between the U.S. and Iran reached a boiling point during the hostage crisis in Tehran.

The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport's biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died ...

The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport's biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died ...

The Iron Sheik, the notorious pro-wrestling villain who warred with Hulk Hogan in the 1980s and whose gimmick capitalized on U.S. tensions with Iran, has died at 81.

The Iron Sheik, whose real name was Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 after an in-ring career that spanned four decades, starting in 1972.