The Iron Sheik "wanted to kill" his daughter's murderer, WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter says (Exclusive)
Sgt. Slaughter recently recalled how fellow WWE Hall of Famer The Iron Sheik struggled to manage after the tragic death of his daughter.
Sheik, real name Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, had three daughters and five grandchildren. His eldest daughter, Marissa Jeanne Vaziri, died in 2003 after being strangled by her boyfriend Charles Warren Reynolds.
In an interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter, Slaughter said Sheik wanted revenge for what happened to his daughter:
"That really hurt him, Bill. That hurt him more than anything. It tore out his heart that that man did that to his daughter. Khosrow wanted to kill him. I kept saying, 'You can't do that. Let the law do what it has to do. If you do something to him, you're gonna be in prison, you're gonna be in jail, and it's not gonna help anybody. Your family's gonna be by themselves.' He always listened to me." [4:45 – 5:12]
Reynolds, who passed away in 2016, received a life sentence for murdering Sheik's daughter. Two decades on from the tragedy, Slaughter is still unsure what motivated Reynolds to kill his girlfriend:
"She was brutally murdered by her boyfriend. They had only been seeing each other a short time. He strangled her and ended up doing things with her body, covered her up, and he was sorry that he did it. He lost control or whatever, lost his temper. They weren't sure why he really did it because they thought that he loved her, but evidently he didn't." [9:16 – 9:46]
Watch the video above to hear Sgt. Slaughter pay tribute to The Iron Sheik. The former WWE Champion also disclosed what he said at his long-time friend's funeral service.
When The Iron Sheik planned to attack his daughter's killer
On the day of Charles Warren Reynolds' sentencing, The Iron Sheik wanted the murderer to pay for what he did to his daughter. The WWE legend hid a razor blade in his mouth and intended to slice Reynolds' throat.
Sgt. Slaughter said others at the courthouse restrained Sheik to stop him from committing a crime that would have resulted in a lengthy jail sentence:
"They sat on top of him and wouldn't let him get up. The gentleman that was put away got out of there without any problem. Thank goodness they did because that would be the worst thing for him to do, try to do something to this guy when he had already been sentenced to life imprisonment." [10:21 – 10:49]
Sheik is widely seen as one of the most entertaining wrestlers of all time. He passed away on June 7, 2023, at the age of 81.
Do you have any favorite memories of The Iron Sheik? Let us know in the comments section below.
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