Adnan Al-Kaissie obit

“The Sheik” Adnan Al-Kaissie dead at age 84

 

He was not on the list.

Longtime pro wrestler, manager, and promoter Adnan Al-Kaissie (Adnan bin Abdul Kareem Ahmed Alkaissy El Farthie) died on Wednesday at age 84. The cause of death was not disclosed when it was announced on Mick Karch’s Facebook Page.

Powell’s POV: Al-Kaissie wrestled as Billy White Wolf before he became “The Sheik” Adnan Al-Kaissie in the AWA. I didn’t see his Billy White Wolf days, but I grew up on watching The Sheik’s Army on AWA television. In fact, he worked the first live pro wrestling event that I attended when he filled in for the advertised Jerry Blackwell in a match against Jim Brunzell in Prescott, Wisconsin. Al-Kaissie went on to work as General Adnan during Sgt. Slaughter’s heel run in WWE. My condolences to his family, friends, and many fans. Al-Kaissie was a colorful character and a terrific heel manager.

He was a wrestler and manager best known as Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey, Billy White Wolf, or General Adnan. In 1971 he defeated André the Giant in Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad, under the auspices of his former friend at high school Saddam Hussein. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). On December 7, 1976, he won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship with Chief Jay Strongbow.

In 1981, Adnan Al-Kaissie joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in 1990 he joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF formerly WWWF, now known as the WWE), where he managed Sgt. Slaughter under the name "General Adnan". He competed at SummerSlam 1991 with his partners Sgt. Slaughter and Col. Mustafa in a Handicap match with Sid Justice as special guest referee against Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Al-Kaissie became the first Iraqi and the first Arab to compete in a WWF/WWE ring.

Adnan Al-Kaissy was born Adnan Bin Abdulkareem Ahmed Al-Kaissy El Farthie in Baghdad, Iraq. According to his autobiography, he came from a fairly distinguished family, with his father being an imam. One of his high school classmates was Saddam Hussein. Al-Kaissy played association football and was an amateur wrestler in Iraq. He received a scholarship to play American football at the University of Houston, transferring to Oklahoma State University, emerging as a wrestler. He almost qualified for the U.S. Olympic team but was not an American citizen.

Al-Kaissy began wrestling in the state of Oklahoma in 1959 under the ring name Billy White Wolf, a Native American character.

Kassey wrestled for Pacific Northwest Wrestling in the 1960s. In 1964, Adnan, who had married an American woman, became a United States citizen.

During the 1970s, he took professional wrestling to Iraq under the direction of Saddam Hussein. In one such match, he defeated André the Giant in Baghdad in 1971 and he defeated the Scottish Ian Campbell and the Canadian champion George Gordienko in Baghdad. He also wrestled Bob Roop there in 1972. Al-Kaissy became enormously popular in his home country, being gifted palaces, a fleet of Mercedes Benz cars, and money from the government. He began to fear for his safety after overhearing conversations from his nephews in the Republican Guard and later felt he was being used by Saddam. He left Iraq in 1980.

In 1974, Adnan debuted in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as the Sheik of Sheiks of Baghdad, he teamed with Nikolai Volkoff and they tried to win the NWA North American Tag Team but they failed after losing the Best Two Out Of Three Falls match against Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Aichi, Japan. Later he feuded with the likes of Antonio Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino, Osamu Kido, Haruka Eigen. After he left NJPW, Adnan returned to the United States, where he wrestled in Eddie Graham's promotion Championship Wrestling from Florida under his real name.

In the World Wide Wrestling Federation, in 1976, under the Native American gimmick Billy White Wolf, he won the World Tag Team Championship with Chief Jay Strongbow. Needing neck surgery, Kassey agreed to work an injury angle where he had his neck broken by Ken Patera via the Swinging Neckbreaker on television. After he left the territory for his neck surgery in 1977, the "Indians" were stripped of the title.

In 1981, with tensions between the US and Middle East running high, he debuted in the American Wrestling Association as "Sheik Adnan El Kaissey," where his stated goal was to win the AWA title from champion Nick Bockwinkel. He failed at that task, so he then enlisted Jerry Blackwell, now wearing a sheik's outfit and renamed Sheik Ayatollah Jerry Blackwell, to team with him to try to win the AWA Tag Team Championship. That failed, too, so Adnan bought Ken Patera from manager Bobby Heenan to team with Blackwell, and Adnan would act as Blackwell and Patera's manager. The team of Blackwell and Patera captured the AWA World tag team title from Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell. Adnan had to quit wrestling when he was injured, which is the real reason Patera was brought in to team with Blackwell. On April 23, 1983, at the AWA Super Sunday, he teamed with Blackwell in a tag team match against Verne Gagne and Mad Dog Vachon which they lost. In 1986 at AWA WrestleRock he lost to Verne Gagne in a steel cage; he then teamed with Boris Zhukov in a tag team match against The Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels). Kassie later left the AWA, but returned on a November 26, 1988, card in Bloomington, Minnesota, when he managed The Iron Sheik (who he would also later manage in the WWF) in a match against Sgt. Slaughter.