Ari Daivari Recalls Asking Vince McMahon To Rehire A Former Wrestler
Ari Daivari once asked Vince McMahon to bring back someone with the same last name.
The name “Daivari” might conjure up two different images upon reading. Those that have watched WWE and AEW more recently may recall the Persian cruiserweight that competed on WWE 205 Live and on AEW Dark as well as their TV shows sometimes.
However, those with longer memories may remember that name belonging to Shawn “Khosrow” Daivari who was in WWE from 2005 to 2007 alongside famous heat magnet Muhammad Hassan and he also was a manager for Kurt Angle as well.
Shawn Daivari is older than Ari Daivari but the two still look very similar under the right circumstances. And it was those circumstances that compelled Ari to ask Vince McMahon to rehire his brother.
Speaking on an episode of AEW Unrestricted, Ari Daivari explained what was going through his mind as he approached the most powerful man in wrestling (at the time) to hire someone that hadn’t worked for him in over a decade:
“When I got to WWE before he was a producer, I went to Vince and I pitched rehiring my brother. I showed him all our tag stuff, he really liked it. He liked our look. We’re two Persian brothers. Even though he’s five years older, we’re roughly the same height. When I shaved my head bald, we looked very similar. He liked the look and everything.
The hurdle was just hiring a new talent, was just getting someone new, getting someone hired, you know? Vince just always seemed to want to work with the guys who are already there. So asking to bring someone back in was kind of a tough sell, and didn’t happen.”
The last time the two Daivaris were in a WWE ring together was at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia. At that event, Ari was booked to get heat by playing off the real-life conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and his comments caused him to receive death threats from people offended by the angle.
Shawn Daivari currently works for WWE as a producer.
h/t WrestlingInc. for the transcription