The Undertaker shares a story about rooming with The Iron Sheik.
Undertaker's wrestling career spans multiple decades and saw him cross paths with almost every genuine character to come through the wrestling scene in the modern era.
There is perhaps no greater example of a genuine character in wrestling than Khosrow Vaziri, better known as The Iron Sheik. Early in his career, the Undertaker shared a room with Sheik. Per the story, Undertaker shared on his Six Feet Under podcast on Patreon, the experience went about as well as fans would assume, with Sheik keeping Undertaker up all night.
The story starts with Iron Sheik waking the Undertaker up by entering their hotel room in the middle of the night.
"I ended up back in my hotel room around 1:30 in the morning. Sheik comes in, I don't know, maybe another 30 or 45 minutes after. I'm just right there on the edge of getting some good sleep and he goes, 'Excellent, Marky, bubba. You getting good rest? That's excellent, brother."
Undertaker wakes up again hours later, freezing, because it's 4:30 in the morning and Sheik is out on the balcony doing 1,000 squats, because, "Bubba, it's good for the lungs."
At this point, the Undertaker was doing all he could to be respectful of his elder, but the night was far from over,
"'Oh my gosh, what am I what have I got myself into?' I'm just trying to wrap these little thin blankets — I don't know where we were, we were out of roadway or something. I mean, the covers were thin," he adds. "I'm trying to just wrap myself up like a burrito to create some friction. Finally, I'm trying to fall back asleep and I hear the sliding glass door shut and I was like, 'Oh, my God.' Instantly, the room was warmer. I'm looking at the clock and I was like, 'Man I've got another two hours that can sleep before we got to get up and get on the road again. So the next thing I hear, the shower is on. He's in there taking a shower and I mean, it's the longest shower I've ever heard a human take.
"Actually, I'm getting a little pissed but I'm still a greenhorn, I'm still a rookie. I got no say and he could twist me up in a knot anyway. He's a veteran. He had already had his big run with Hogan, it's the Sheik, dude. Didn't mean I'm not mad but I also got to pay respects to the guys that came before me," he continued.
Undertaker tried to go back to sleep when he heard Sheik start using a blow dryer. Because Iron Sheik was a bald man, Undertaker decided to get out of bed and see exactly what he was blow-drying and, of course, it was his mustache.
"He's blow-drying his mustache. 'Excellent, bubba. Makes mustache look good,'" 'Taker recalled.
Ultimately, he was very selective about whom he shared a room with after that.
"From that point forward, unless I absolutely had to, or it was Godfather or Brian Adams, those are the only two guys that I should have room with."
Recently on his podcast, 'Taker shared stories about when the WWE rings got softer because Vince McMahon started bumping in them. Read more here.
Sadly, Iron Sheik passed away in 2023. Fans can read reactions to his passing from those within the industry at this link.
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