DVD REVIEW: REBUILDING THE SHEIK
By Steve Wilton on 2/10/2008 11:42 PM
have been an avid listener of the Howard Stern Show for about 10 years now. This past august when Stern debuted some clips of the now infamous Iron Sheik shoot interview, I marked out so hard that I soon found myself amongst the new and quickly expanding fan base that the Sheik was building. Throughout the rest of the year I was always in search of the next awe inspiring piece of Sheik footage, but I also found myself wondering was the Sheik working us all into being huge marks, or was this really all just a shoot, I posed this question to many stars that I interviewed in the last few months of the year and was given various answers, none of which satisfied my curiosity, However I search no longer, as Kayfabe Commentaries, who seem to put out innovative project after innovative project, now offer up Rebuilding The Sheik, a in depth documentary like look at Shieks new found stardom featuring Sheik and his long time agent Eric Simms as they shoot on all the infamous incidents and interviews from this past year of renewed Sheik popularity.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Rebuilding The Sheik is your definitive Sheik shoot that sets the record straight on just how much of his recent act is a work, but its also a disturbing look at how a 65 year old man is battling a severe addiction that causes him to have to act the way he does.
In a solo interview that gets peppered in throughout the 90 minute feature, Long time Sheik agent, Eric Simms sets the record straight right off the bat saying When its time to turn it on, its turned on, and when its go time, hes the best in the business, and youve seen it, hes crazy We then have Sheik start in on Brian Blair, and I feared for a moment that this was going to be another one of Sheiks now normal rant filled shoot interviews, But luckily things are kept short on that end and host Sean Oliver moves into talk of Sheiks use of medicine and how open he has been about it in previous shoot interviews. Sheik though begins to deny some of his medicine use because he is in front of the camera, and ends up in a argument with Simms about what is worse to abuse, Alcohol or Marijuana. Simms in private sets the record straight saying that Sheik uses it all but Marijuana is his favorite, as is beer, and his addiction has become so bad to it that Simms says I cant go to the airport without a six pack..and a pack of Marlboro. Later in the interview, Simms reveals an even darker side to Sheiks current abuse of various substances, as it has caused a financial strain on Sheiks family, as he spends most of his wrestling paydays on medicine and then calls and begs Simms for more money pretending to need to pay a bill for his wife, but its just a prime example of how he Sheik has truly become an addict, but it probably wont end up killing him, instead, taking him into rehab, which has not worked for him in the past, and getting him off the gimmick will probably kill him more.
Looking beyond the drug abuse, Rebuilding The Sheik looks at the series of incidents from the past couple of years that Sheik has ranted on time and time again, from the Boston/Dan Murotti incident, the Toronto/MCW incident, to the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan fag rants, The difference between Rebuilding The Sheiks look at these incidents, and previous shoot interviews look at them is that for once Sheik and Simms talk about them calmly and specify the who what where and why these incidents happened. They also talk about how some of those Sheik rants about realize how much of a work his current act currently is as they speak of a recent meeting with Hulk Hogan where they hugged and kissed and were very cool with each other, meanwhile the heat with The Ultimate Warrior is legit and they explain why. There is also some new rants on Bubba The Love Sponge and Artie Lange of the Howard Stern Show.
They also look at the business side of things and how his recent resurgence in popularity has been handled as Simms explains how he tries to protect the gimmick by preventing from everyone exploiting and killing the sound bytes and Whether they have increased the asking price for an appearance.
Also for the first time you get to hear and see how hard it is for Simms to have a client like The Shiek. Stories of how the two nearly ended up in physical brawls in a restaurant during Wrestlemania weekend, and how Sheik nearly got himself arrested in a airport screaming at Simms for being late are highlights.
Rebuilding the Sheik is exactly what I was looking for and Its probably what many of you have been looking for. Its not your everyday shoot interview, there may be a couple of instances where this borders on that, but this is as the DVD cover puts it an investigative journey into Sheiks new act. Something tells me there is probably a whole bunch of deleted scenes from this as host Sean Oliver seems exhausted by the end of it, but its probably better that whatever typical Sheik BS was left out as this DVD was not meant for it. Therefore it doesnt matter if you have seen every Sheik interview form the past year, this is a new, entertaining, and informative watch, and Id recommend picking it up.
REBUILDING THE SHEIK is now available on DVD. For more information or to order your own copy, head on over to highspots.com , Also feel free to check out our previous KC product reviews in our reviews section at www.maineventradio.com/reviews.htm , previous KC reviews include those for My Side of the story : Tito vs Greg, Guest Booker with JJ Dillon and You Shoot : With The Honky Tonk Man,
