Sam Khandaghabadi (born July 27, 1985), better known by her

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Dark Sheik (sometimes stylized as DARK Sheik), is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

currently working as a freelancer. She is best known for her tenure with

Game Changer Wrestling Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), formerly known as Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW), is an American Independent circuit, independent professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in New Jersey. The promotion was original ...

All Pro Wrestling All Pro Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion and training school, based in Hayward, California. The company was founded by Roland Alexander and managed by him until his death on November 5, 2013. It is located 45 miles so ...

and various other promotions from the American independent scene. She is also the founder of

Hoodslam Hoodslam (stylised as HOODSLAM) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Oakland, California. Created in 2010 by Sam Khandaghabadi (known professionally as Dark Sheik) as a regular gathering for wrestlers who wanted to perform edgier acts fo ...

, an avantgarde style promotion based out of

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

Professional wrestling career

American independent circuit (2001–present)

Khandaghabadi made her

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

debut in Big Time Wrestling at a

house show A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...

promoted on September 20, 2005, under the ring name of "Sheik Khan Abadi", where she fell short to Mike Silva in singles competition. She known for her tenures with various promotions from the American independent scene with which she has shared brief or longer stints such as

, Devil Mountain Wrestling, North American Wrestling and West Coast Pro Wrestling. At ''Kitsune Gong!'', the first-ever event promoted by Kitsune Women's Wrestling on October 22, 2023, she competed in a

three-way match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

for the inaugural Kitsune World Championship won by

Unagi Sayaka is a Japanese professional wrestler working as a freelancer. She is best known for her time with World Wonder Ring Stardom, where she is a former Artist of Stardom and Future of Stardom Champion. In the Japanese independent scene, she worked f ...

and also involving Tae Honma.

Hoodslam (2010–present)

In 2010, Khandaghabadi founded the

promotion as a regular gathering for wrestlers who wanted to perform edgier acts for adults. Hoodslam performances combine the athleticism and tropes of professional wrestling with more bizarre, absurd characters, as well as profanity, sexuality, and public consumption of drugs and alcohol, which are not considered appropriate at mainstream professional wrestling events. As a result, entry to Hoodslam shows is restricted to those aged 21 years or older. In Hoodslam, , she is a former three-time Best Athlete In The East Bay Championship, a former Hoodslam Golden Gig Champion and a former Intergalactic Tag Team Champion, title which she has won on two separate occasions, both alongside Vipress and Anton Voorhees, stablemates of the "Caution" unit.

Game Changer Wrestling (2020–present)

Dark Sheik made her debut in

at ''GCW Effy's Big Gay Brunch 2020'' on October 10, where she fell short to Still Life With Apricots And Pears in singles competition. Dark Sheik competed in various signature events of the promotion. She made her first appearance at the 2022 edition of the Joey Janela's Spring Break, where she competed in the traditional Clusterfuck Battle Royal won by The Second Gear Crew (AJ Gray, Mance Warner and Matthew Justice) and also involving various notable opponents, both male and female such as Jimmy Wang Yang,

Joey Janela Joseph Janela (born July 3, 1989) is an American professional wrestler, working for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), where he is the promoter of the Joey Janela's Spring Break event series. Janela is most known for his work with All Elite Wrestling ...

Josh Barnett Joshua Lawrence Barnett (born November 10, 1977) is an American mixed martial artist, submission wrestler, professional wrestler, and color commentator. Barnett previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the y ...

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

LuFisto Genevieve Goulet (born February 15, 1980), better known by the ring name LuFisto, is a French Canadian professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (1997–present) LuFisto began training when she was 17 years old in ...

Maven MAVEN is a NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars to study the loss of that planet's atmospheric gases to space, providing insight into the history of the planet's climate and water. The name is an acronym for "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution" w ...

and others. At The Wrld on GCW on January 23, 2022, she competed in a

Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Blue Ribbon, commonly abbreviated PBR, is an American lager beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1844 and currently based in San Antonio, Texas. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, ...

Kickoff Battle Royal won by Big Vin and also involving

Psycho Clown Psycho Clown (born December 16, 1985) is the ring name of a Mexican '' luchador'' '' enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler, signed to Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). Psycho Clown's real name is not a matter of public record, as is often ...

, Ruckus, Janai Kai,

B-Boy A b-boy is a person devoted to breaking or break dancing. B Boy may also refer to: Music * "B-Boy", a song by Tech N9ne featuring Big Scoob, Bumpy Knuckles, Kutt Calhoun, and Skatterman from the album '' K.O.D.'', 2009 * "B Boy" (song) by Meek ...

Thunder Rosa Melissa Cervantes (born July 22, 1986), known by her ring name Thunder Rosa, is a Mexican professional wrestler and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a former AEW Women's World Cham ...

and many others. Dark Sheik competed for various titles promoted by GCW. At ''GCW The Coldest Winter 2'' on February 3, 2024, she unsuccessfully challenged Blake Christian for the

GCW World Championship The GCW World Championship is a professional wrestling World championship (professional wrestling), world championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, promotion Game Changer Wrestling (GCW). It is the promoti ...

. At ''GCW Ashes To Ashes 2024'' on March 9, she teamed up with Sawyer Wreck as "Xunt" and unsuccessfully challenged Violence Is Forever (Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku) for the GCW Tag Team Championship. At ''GCW Vs. DDT'', an event co-promoted alongside

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

on March 31, 2023, Dark Sheik defeated

Saki Akai is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, idol, model, and tarento, currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) and its sister joshi promotion Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW). Her father is fo ...

Personal life

Khandaghabadi came out publicly as a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

during a

show in 2019. She was born in

Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States, and part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Alpharetta's population was 65,818; in 2010, the population had been 57,551. History In the 1830s, ...

, in an

Iranian-American Iranian-Americans, also known as Persian-Americans, are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry, or who hold Iranian citizenship. Most Iranian-Americans arrived in the United States after 1979, as a result of the Irani ...

family and has an older brother. Her mother died of cancer in 1994. Along with her professional wrestling life, Khandaghabadi said she had also trained in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

and participated in the

adult film Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

industry.

Championships and accomplishments

*Devil Mountain Wrestling **DMW Championship (4 times) **DMW Triple X Championship (1 time) **ACE Unified Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Alexis Darevko **DMW Title Tournament (2011) *

** Best Athlete In The East Bay Championship (3 times) (1 time - with Ean Hancement) ** Hoodslam Golden Gig Championship (1 time) ** Intergalactic Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Vipress (1), Juice Lee (1) and Anton Voorhees (1) *North American Wrestling **NAW American Championship (2 times) **NAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Alexis Darevko *Paris Is Bumping **Paris Is Bumping Grand Prize Championship (1 time) *Piledriver Pro Wrestling **PPW Golden State Championship (1 time, inaugural) * ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **Ranked No. 184 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' of 2023 **Ranked No. 116 of the top 150 female singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI Women's 150 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The mag ...

'' in 2021 *Underground Wrestling Alliance **Queen Of The Underground Tournament (2023) *Wrestling Pro Wrestling **WPW Midcard Championship (1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Sheik 1985 births 21st-century female professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers American female professional wrestlers American people of Iranian descent 21st-century American sportswomen LGBTQ professional wrestlers Living people People from Alpharetta, Georgia Sportspeople from Alpharetta, Georgia Transgender sportswomen American transgender sportspeople LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state)