Brian R. Solomon - Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestlings Original Sheik

Being part of the Sheiks clan earned us a lot of respect from the boys, while we were coming up. My first two or three years in the business, introductions were met with a special look in peoples eyes. There was a tight group of five of us that had the honor of beating the crap out of each other in The Sheiks ring: Thom, George, Dango, myself, and Sabu. A few other wrestlers would pass through, often never returning, or showing up once every three months, comparing us to safer schools. Thats how we realized we wrestled much, much stiffer than well, everybody.

One of our first shows was in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dango and I had a tag team match against a couple of young guys that were acrobatic like us and had some really cool moves. Before our match, everybody thought itd be a good idea to rib our opponents and tell them that we thought everything was real and they better be careful. Im guessing that after feeling a few of our slams and kicks, they believed it was true because very early in the match, our opponents surprised us by not kicking out of a random pin, to end the chances of anyone getting hurt.

There was no getting hurt in the ring for Sheiks boys. While training, when one of us complained that we needed to stop and take a few minutes to shake something off, Sheik would tell us that he was stabbed in the leg in Puerto Rico by a crazy fan and continued the match. We were always amazed at his stories, and we loved hearing them while we sat around the dinner table after training. It felt like we were part of a significant group of very few, select people. We were a family. Still, Sheik kept all of us constantly intimidated, even Sabu.

I remember trying to peek over Sheiks shoulder in the locker room before a show in Vermont in 1991. We wanted to see what was in Sheiks mysterious briefcase, and he had it partway open on his lap while he sat in a folding chair. As we crept our way closer to peek inside unnoticed, he slammed the case shut while snapping around toward us yelling, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?

We ran like little kids.

Later that night, Sheik wrestled Abdullah the Butcher, and the match called for the entire locker room to run out and aid in a big pull-apart on the floor. Sabu and I decided to stay away from everyone out there because we knew what to expect. Afterward, all the boys came back surprised because they didnt realize they had been cut and thought the blood belonged to someone else. They all got sliced by Sheik or the Butcher, or both. Same two blades for the entire locker room. When Abby came back from the chaos, he was pissed and yelled at me and Sabu because when we came out, to avoid the melee on the floor, we hit the ring and started doing high spots. Its funny to think of how inconsiderate that was of us, and how pissed Abby was. I dont think Sheik saw us in the ring.

His words and his teachings will always stick with me. Still, I didnt realize how little I knew about my mentor until reading Blood and Fire. In fact, the only time I remember him showing a soft side was when his granddaughter Susi was visiting. He loved her so much and was so warm and inviting to her. It was almost embarrassing for us, like we shouldnt have access to this side of him. He would almost be in baby-talk mode, he was so happy, but I dont remember ever feeling comfortable enough to joke with him about it or anything.