The Sheik (wrestler)

After completing his service in the U.S. Army, Farhat competed in his first professional wrestling match in January of 1947, wrestling as the clean-cut babyface "Eddie Farhat". Within a few years of his debut, Farhat would develop his "Sheik" gimmick, under which he would gain international fame. Farhat first started wrestling as The Sheik of Araby in the Chicago area, with the gimmick initially being that of a privileged son of a wealthy, aristocratic Middle Eastern family.[6] As the Sheik of Araby, Farhat formed a tag team with Gypsy Joe, with the duo capturing the NWA Midwestern Tag Team Championship in 1954,[7][8] before eventually moving to Texas. During this period, The Sheik received the biggest match of his career up to that point, when he was booked to face NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz in Chicago for his title. Thesz, regarded in wrestling as a legitimate shooter, had a reputation for embarrassing "gimmick wrestlers" so The Sheik left the ring during the course of the match and hid under a bus in the parking lot. The incident received much coverage in local media and helped to push The Sheik character to a more prominent level.[2] Following the incident, The Sheik began wrestling in New York for Vincent J. McMahon at Madison Square Garden where he teamed with Dick The Bruiser and Bull Curry in feuds against Mark Lewin and Don Curtis as well as the team of Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez. On August 18, 1961, The Sheik was notably defeated by Buddy Rogers in a 2-out-of-3 falls match at the Cincinnati Gardens.[9]

By the early 1960s, The Sheik's wrestling was centered on his character of an Arab wild man from Syria. Clad with his keffiyeh, before each match, he would use stalling tactics as he would kneel on a prayer rug to perform an Islamic prayer to Allah (in real life Farhat was a Maronite Christian).[10] He would lock on choke holds and refuse to break them, and use a camel clutch hold leading to submission victories. The hold would have him sit over his opponent's back as he applied a chinlock.[2] He used hidden pencils[10] and other "foreign objects" to cut open his opponent's faces.[11] Often, the tactic backfired and the opponent got hold of The Sheik's pencil, leading to the extensive blade scars on Farhat's forehead.[10] Sheik's other signature illegal move was his fireball that he threw into his opponents' faces, sometimes burning their faces severely.[11] The fireball move was performed through the use of lighter fluid soaked pieces of paper which he quickly lit with a cigarette lighter hidden in his trunks.[11] The Sheik didn't speak on camera, apart from incomprehensible mutterings and pseudo-Arabic.[11] At the start of his career, his wife Joyce played the part of his valet Princess Saleema who would burn incense in the ring. He had three different male managers during his career to cut promos on his behalf. His first manager was Abdullah Farouk but when Farouk moved full-time to the World Wide Wrestling Federation, Eddy Creatchman became his manager.[12] When Creatchman was unable to work with him later in his career, The Sheik was managed by Supermouth Dave Drason, his final manager.[11]

Farhat, circa 1973

In 1965, The Sheik made his return to the New York City area, competing for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). On September 25, 1967, he wrestled former world champion Édouard Carpentier to a 20-minute draw. In 1968, he was back brought into the WWWF for title matches with then-WWWF World Heavyweight champion Bruno Sammartino.[11] They met three times in Madison Square Garden — Sheik won the first match via count out on October 28, he lost via disqualification in the second match on November 18, and he lost to Sammartino in a Texas Death Match via submission on December 9, when Bruno grabbed a pen and attacked Sheik's arm until it was bloody. Sammartino and Sheik also had a series of matches in Boston in January and February 1969, including one on a sold-out event the day after a major snow storm; public transportation had yet to be restored in the Boston area but the event still sold-out. The two would later fight in three steel cage matches, one in Philadelphia and two in Boston.[11] On November 18, 1972, The Sheik competed in his final match for the WWWF, losing to WWWF Champion Pedro Morales by count out at Boston Garden.

The Sheik's biggest feud was his nearly career-long conflict with Bobo Brazil, beginning in The Sheik's own Big Time Wrestling promotion in Detroit before expanding throughout the country.[1] The two feuded over Sheik's version of the United States Championship, frequently selling out Cobo Hall.[1] The feud was briefly covered in the wrestling mockumentary movie, I Like to Hurt People.[6] Following their success at Cobo Hall, the two took the feud to several markets, most notably Memphis, Tennessee, and Los Angeles, California.[2] His other major opponent in Los Angeles was Fred Blassie.[12] Sheik and Blassie faced off several times, including cage matches in the Grand Olympic Auditorium.[11] In 1967, The Sheik was wrestling a match in Texas when a fan pulled a gun and tried to shoot him three times. Fortunately, the gun didn't go off and the fan was arrested; the gun later fired when police tested it at a shooting range.[2]

Starting in 1969, The Sheik began wrestling regularly in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he was undefeated for 127 matches at Maple Leaf Gardens. He defeated the likes of Whipper Billy Watson, Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Bruno Sammartino, Édouard Carpentier, Ernie Ladd, Chief Jay Strongbow, Tiger Jeet Singh, Johnny Valentine, and even André the Giant during Andre's first extensive tour of North America in 1974.[6] It was Andre who put an end to The Sheik's Toronto winning streak in August 1974 by disqualification. In 1976, he lost by pinfall to Thunderbolt Patterson and Bobo Brazil. Sheik continued to headline most shows in Toronto until 1977, but business dropped off significantly over the last three years of his tenure as headliner. In addition to wrestling in Toronto, The Sheik was the area's booker; due to the wrestling tradition of kayfabe, few fans were aware of the fact that he was actually the booker of Frank Tunney's Toronto promotion — a position he acquired following the retirement of Whipper Billy Watson in 1971. As business in Toronto failed, he began working for independent promoter Dave McKigney elsewhere in Ontario.[13]

In 1972, The Sheik ventured to Japan for the first time, competing for the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA). His JWA run was successful, but the promotion was struggling financially, so when the company went bankrupt, Sheik jumped to Giant Baba's All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He then jumped a year later to Antonio Inoki's New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but had a falling out with Inoki due to having to leave a Japanese tour early to deal with a "coup attempt" in his Big Time Wrestling promotion. He returned to AJPW in 1977, teaming, and then feuding, with Abdullah the Butcher.[12][6] His match with Abdullah the Butcher against Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk where Terry fought off Abdullah and The Sheik with his arm in a sling is credited for turning the foreign Funks into faces in Japan.[2] In Japan, he would also team with Baba, Ricky Steamboat, and Kintarō Ōki.[12]

The Sheik's Japanese feud with Abdullah would later extend to the United States. A match between the two in Birmingham, Alabama, saw them brawl outside of the Boutwell Auditorium, where they held up traffic until the police broke it up.[10] The match was described by observers as "just classic, bloody mayhem.”[10]

In 1980, The Sheik's Detroit-based Big Time Wrestling promotion ceased operations. Sheik then wrestled for various independent promotions throughout the United States and overseas.

From 1991 to 1995, he mainly wrestled in Japan, alongside his nephew Sabu, for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW).[6] FMW utilized the hardcore wrestling style that The Sheik had innovated and in FMW, he participated in various dangerous death matches.[6] On May 6, 1992, The Sheik wrestled in a Fire Death Match with Sabu against Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto, where the ring ropes were replaced with flaming barbed wire. During the match, Sheik suffered third-degree burns and went into a coma, nearly dying.[2] In 1994, he had a brief run in Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW), notably teaming with Pat Tanaka to defeat Kevin Sullivan and The Tazmaniac at The Night the Line Was Crossed.[14] On May 5, 1995, at the FMW 6th Anniversary Show, The Sheik defeated Damián 666 in front of 58,250 fans; this ended up being his last match. Following the match, he suffered his first heart attack while attempting to board a taxi.

When Sabu joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1995, The Sheik accompanied him as his manager.[9] During Sabu's match with Mr. JL at Halloween Havoc, The Sheik's leg was broken by the wrestlers during a spot he was previously unaware of, forcing him to cease his involvement with WCW. On December 11, 1998, the night before the ECW/FMW Supershow, Atsushi Onita held a retirement ceremony for The Sheik in Korakuen Hall, during which The Sheik officially retired from professional wrestling at age 72.[2]