The Iron Sheik Was ‘Hawk Tuah’ Before ‘Hawk Tuah’ Was Cool

But when Hailey Welch summoned that exaggerated hocking-up-a-loogie sound last month in an on-the-street interview in Nashville, it made her as beloved as the Sheik was hated. “You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang!” Welch answered when asked on camera to describe a sex move that makes a man lose his mind. In that instant, an inescapable pop-culture moment was born that continues to ripple like a body slam in the ring.

In the nearly three weeks since the interview posted, Welch has begun selling merch with a Tennessee apparel company (at least $65,000 worth so far, they claim), made a cameo onstage at Zach Bryan’s Nashville stadium show that garnered more headlines than an appearance by actual singer Kacey Musgraves, and has been offered hundreds of dollars to spit into a jar. “I was like, ‘Should I do it?’ And I was like, ‘Nah, don’t do that,’” Welch told Brianna LaPaglia on an episode of the Plan Bri podcast, the first “real” interview she’s done.

So far, Welch — who was born well after the Iron Sheik’s heyday — hasn’t said if the wrestler’s own use of the phrase may have somehow found its way into her brain. But whoever continues to run the Sheik’s Twitter hasn’t stayed silent. On June 22, the account posted a video of the Iron Sheik dropping his signature phlegm bomb with the caption, “The Original Hawk Tuah.” Only a jabroni would disagree.