April 27: Kayfabe Cinema — A movie with a pro wrestler in it.

Made between Scream of the Demon Lover and Hell Comes to Frogtown, Donald Jackson directed this pro wrestling mockumentary based around Big Time Wrestling in Detroit and super villain The Sheik. It states that this came out in 1985, but it was filmed in the 1970s, long before pro wrestling gained popularity — it never wasn’t, despite what accepted WWE history may tell you — in the mid-1980s.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Detroit area, Ed Farhat was known as The Sheik, starting in 1947, after serving in World War II. Despite being a Maronite Catholic from Lansing, Michigan, in the world of wrestling, he became an Arab Muslim from the Syrian Desert. Managed by Abdullah Farouk — The Grand Wizard in WWF — he was quite different than other stars of his day, as he rarely wrestled and instead used weapons, chokeholds and fire. His most famous feuds would be with Bobo Brazil, Fred Blassie, the Funks, and Abdullah the Butcher.

Unknown to many fans was the fact that he ran both Toronto and Detroit wrestling, with his father-in-law, Francis Fleser, as his business partner and kayfabe owner. Until Big Time Wrestling faced issues after the 1973-1975 recession, they were running weekly live events and two to three TV shows a week, all in Detroit.

For example, booking was the main reason why shows really lost their draw, as well as losing wrestlers to other promotions. You’ll pick up on that formula booking in this, as no one beat The Sheik, even ex-NWA champs like Terry Funk, big box office names like Dusty Rhodes, and even Andre the Giant, who lost to The Sheik in Toronto.

In this film, there is a storyline about the Stop the Sheik Society, which features Joyce Farhat, the Sheik’s real-life wife and former valet, Princess Saleema. They keep begging anyone to defeat the madma,n and the only reason helosese to Ox Baker (he’s in Escape from New York) is because he gets sold out by his manager, Eddie Creachman, bringing back Abdullah Farouk.

There’s also “Bulldog” Bob Kent, who says the main line of this movie, “I like to hurt people.” Plus, Heather Feather, who wants to wrestle men. There’s no storyline — this is almost a mondo movie where things just seem to happen.

According to an interview with director of photography Bryan Greenberg, this was initially intended to be a horror movie called Ringside In Hell. Continuity was impossible with wrestlers coming in and out, so they decided to make a documentary. In that SLAM! Wrestling story, it’s explained that Greenberg had no idea the movie was going to be released until he saw it for sale. The article goes on to say, “Donald G. Jackson, director and producer of the film, had struck a deal with New World Video to sell movies he produced for New World’s new laserdisc line. New World funded Jackson to shoot additional footage in 1984, which is when “Stop the Sheik” footage was shot (for those who have seen the movie, no explanation is needed).”

I also discovered that cameraman Dennis Skotak would go on to work on special effects for films such as The Abyss, Aliens, Forbidden World, Galaxy of Terror, and more. There’s also a therapist in this, Sonya Friedman, who would go on to have a show on CNN, Sonya Live.

Other wrestlers that appear include Dick the Bruiser, Al Costello, Don Kent, Luke Graham, Abdullah the Butcher, Andre the Giant, The Funk Brothers and so many more. In a world where the past of wrestling is controlled, this serves as a reminder that it has always been popular, consistently drawn crowds, and has always featured unforgettable characters like The Sheik.

You can watch this movie on Daily Motion.