Antonino Rocca
Farhat started out wrestling in the Chicago area as The Sheik of Araby after having served in the U.S. Army. He often teamed with Gypsy Joe, where they both captured the NWA Midwestern Tag Team Title in 1954. Later on he went to Texas. During his early career, his biggest match was one he didn't even wrestle in. He was set to face NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz in Chicago for his title but Thesz had a reputation for embarrassing "gimmick" wrestlers so The Sheik bailed from the ring and hid under a bus. The publicity from the event helped push the Sheik character to a more prominent level. He went to New York for Vincent J. McMahon where he teamed with Dick The Bruiser and Bull Curry in feuds against Mark Lewin and Don Curtis as well as the team of Antonino Rocca and Miguel Pérez in Madison Square Garden. He returned when McMahon formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation to feud with Bruno Sammartino in the WWWF's major markets in the late 1960s.