Is The Iron Sheik Really Dwayne Johnson’s Uncle? Exploring The Rock and The Iron Sheik’s Special Relationship

One of the legends of professional wrestling The Iron Sheik passed away a couple of days ago He was one of the stars who was responsible for making pro wrestling a bigger spectacle and was loved by many of his peers. However, one particular individual he was close with was Dwayne Johnson. Sheik knew The Rock since DJ was a child and he called the Iranian wrestler uncle. 

The Great One knew several wrestlers since he was a child because of his family’s involvement in the business. However, apart from Andre the Giant, he had a great relationship with The Iron Sheik.

Were Dwayne Johnson and The Iron Sheik related?

For those who are confused that whether The Rock and The Iron Sheik were related, that is not true. DJ’s entire family stayed on the Hawaii islands while some of them were on the US mainland when wrestling. The late wrestler came to the United States from Iran and became a wrestling star.

Over the course of Sheik’s wrestling career, he had ample matches with ‘The Soulman’ Rocky Johnson. He knew The Rock’s parents and was a close family friend who witnessed The Rock growing up from an infant to an adult. Moreover, The Rock referred to the wrestling legend as ‘Uncle Sheiky’ as a token of respect and love towards The Iron Sheik.

Sheik would often spend time with the Johnsons when they stayed in Hawaii and even when they moved to Florida. Hence, The Rock got close to Sheik who was at his home during the weekends and even at family barbeques many times.

There are not many pictures or videos of Sheik and Johnson spending time together. However, The Rock made sure to show parts of it in his NBC series Young Rock. The Iron Sheik character, played by Brett Azar, made a few appearances on the Jumanji star’s show.

The makers have beautifully shown the relationship between young Dewey and Uncle Sheiky. The Rock knew many wrestlers like Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, etc but he only called The Iron Sheik ‘uncle’ according to the Young Rock sitcom and his social media posts.

Did The Rock The Iron Sheik have a segment in WWE?

One of the primary reasons The Rock and Sheik knew each other was because of professional wrestling. If Rocky Johnson or Sheik never joined wrestling DJ would have likely never met ‘Uncle Sheiky’.

Yes, they both got a chance to share the ring in WWE when The Rock was Rocky Maivia. Moreover, Sheik was the manager for The Sultan aka Rikishi for some time since 1996. They had a segment at WrestleMania 13 in which Rocky Johnson was involved too.

After the match against The Sultan at the grandest stage, Sheik, Bob Backlund, and Sultan attacked Maivia. The only Iranian WWE Champion put DJ under a Camel Clutch until Rocky Johnson came to save the day.

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After knowing each other for several years Sheik surely gave some wrestling tips to DJ. Moreover, the notorious thing The Rock got from his uncle was the word ‘Jabroni’ which he popularised during the Attitude Era. Johnson credited Sheik in the tribute video he shared after his Uncle Sheiky’s passing away.

Dwayne Johnson shares a tribute video for Uncle Sheiky

There is no secret The People’s Champion was close to The Iron Sheik. After the WWE Hall of Famer’s passing away, The Rock took his social media to share his condolences to Sheik’s family.

In the video, DJ said, “I want to send my love and my support, my strength, my light, my mana, and my condolences to The Iron Sheik’s family, who I consider ohana, they are family of ours, too (…) grew up calling The Iron Sheik ‘Uncle Sheiky.’…. Uncle Sheiky would come over to the house, and his wife would babysit me.” 

Cleary, DJ was very close to The Iron Sheik. Even though they weren’t blood relatives, Sheik and Johnson shared a family bond. The passing away of the WWE Hall of Famer surely would have saddened The Rock and his family.

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