Andre The Giant's Real Life Beef With The Iron Sheik, Explained
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Back in the old days, Andre the Giant was seen as the locker-room leader of the WWE. Hulk Hogan was the biggest star in the business, but it was Andre who held the most respect backstage in WWE. He was Vince McMahon Sr’s favorite superstar, and once Vince McMahon Jr. took charge of the company, he developed a close friendship with the Giant. So, in addition to being friends with the boss, Andre, one of the biggest individuals in any sport, was respected and feared by all.
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Andre The Giant Was A Locker Room Leader
Even someone like the Ultimate Warrior carried a great deal of respect for Andre, especially after the Giant humbled him a bit inside the ring. Hulk Hogan once said that if someone was acting unruly backstage then it was Andre the Giant who established order and kept that unruly wrestler in line.
As mentioned, Warrior, a notoriously stiff worker, was taught by Andre to dial the intensity down a notch, and he listened, becoming much less stiff inside the ring. The other guy Andre checked was Iron Sheik, but unlike Warrior, who became friends with Andre, Sheik did not. In fact, he probably still hates Andre to this day.
Andre The Giant Didn't Get Along With The Iron Sheik
According to rumors, Andre held an intense dislike for the Iron Sheik, mostly due to the fact that Sheik was a stiff worker. This led to Andre beating the hell out of him whenever they were booked together. The most noteworthy example of this was their “match” at the Nassau Coliseum in 1984. It wasn’t really a match. Rather, it was a 20-minute beat down delivered upon the Iron Sheik, and he was the heel in the match.
Normally, heels are tasked with the majority of the action but as soon as Andre and Sheik got in the ring, the Giant commenced the beat down and mauled his opponent. Whenever Sheik attempted to fight back, Andre just shrugged him off and carried on beating him up.
Towards the end, Andre laid the Sheik out with a boot to the face, and then a leg drop to the face. Ouch. Imagine a 500-pound leg drop to the head and neck. There wasn’t a lot going on in the match but nonetheless, this encounter was a spectacle, a 20-minute squash match where the babyface absolutely mauled the heel, with not a single relevant strike credited to the Sheik.
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The Iron Sheik Has Had Bad Things To Say About Andre The Giant Over The Years
Apparently, Andre had a habit of beating Sheik up whenever they were booked together and the match in New York was just one example of that. When the Iron Sheik was asked about his problems with Andre during a shoot interview, the WWE legend went on another long rant and said that he disliked Andre because he was really rude to his fans. He added that, no matter the character he was portraying on television, whether heel or a face, he was good to whoever came up to him.
Andre, as per the Sheik, did not treat the fans with disrespect. One incident in particular, where Andre told a fan to “Get the f**k out of here” really pissed off the Iron Sheik. In a tweet from 2013, Sheikh said that Andre never really cared about the fans, nor the wrestlers in the locker room.
Tom Prichard, brother of Bruce, and former professional wrestler, was once asked whether there was some heat between the late Andre and the Iron Sheik. Prichard said that Andre did not appreciate folks with bad manners, implying that Sheik was not well-mannered and that his “habits” caught up to him. Prichard also confirmed that if Andre didn’t like someone, he had more than enough power to make them look bad inside the ring, and that is exactly what he did to Sheik during the match at Nassau Coliseum. It is important to mention here that Andre did have a few enemies in the locker room. He did not get along with Big John Studd or Kamala, but when it came to fans, Andre was known as a pretty chill guy.
