Almighty Sheik on his NWA World Title Controversy

Hannibal TV has a line of a documentary line of videos on YouTube. What would these videos be without controversy? In this installment they speak to Joseph Cabibbo, better known as the “The Almighty Sheik” or Sheik II.

Joseph currently runs the wrestling PCW Ultra, based out of Southern California. Prior to running PCW Ultra, he ran Pro Wrestling Fusion in Florida. It was during that time his promotion joined efforts with the National Wrestling Alliance and specifically Ed Chuman.

In this video, The Sheik talks about the circumstances that led to his NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship and his departure from the brand. Cabibbo’s involvement with the NWA predates Billy Corgan’s involvement with the brand.

Much of Sheik’s reign and subsequent removal of champion was covered in the 2012 Documentary History & Tradition: The Story of the National Wrestling Alliance.  Voices from within the NWA spoke at length about what happened with the Sheik, it was clear from the office’s perspective, Sheik was unwilling to do business.

Unfortunately, there were a few pieces of the story that didn’t add up.  Sheik stated in the interview he as the first NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion to appear in Japan in over a decade.  That is false.  Lucha Firesta 2009 – Night One in Zepp Tokyo, Japan featured an appearance of the Legendary 10lbs of Gold.  On March 20th 2009, Blue Demon Jr. (who was the NWA Worlds Champion) teamed with Ultimo Dragon to face Hajime Ohara & OKUMURA. Cabibbo also responded to say that his booking in Zero One was made prior to his match being booked in Ohio, however, he didn’t end up wrestling at the event he was “double booked” for. Sheik also fails to mention in the documentary that he never returned the Championship Title to the National Wrestling Alliance.

Ultimately Cabibbo’s perspective of the fiasco with his title reign and stripping of the title adds closure to the entire incident.