Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has missed another opportunity to arm wrestle The Iron Sheik, this time over lunch at a downtown Toronto sub shop.

The 73-year-old wrestling star planned to meet with Ford while in the city to promote his latest project at the Hot Docs film festival. But a representative said Saturday Ford never heard about the plans.

Ford and the wrestler were going to meet for lunch at Belly Buster Submarines on King Street West, The Iron Sheik said in a message posted to Twitter.

 

 

The Iranian-born champion of the ring is in Toronto for the world premiere of "The Sheik," which debuted at the city's annual documentary festival on Saturday.

Page Magen, one of The Sheik's agents and a co-owner of Belly Buster subs, told The Canadian Press that Ford had texted him a few days prior, wanting to meet up with the wrestler over the weekend.

However, Dan Jacobs, the mayor's chief of staff, said Ford had no intention of meeting the wrestler.

This is the second time that The Sheik -- whose real name is Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri -- has unsuccessfully tried to meet the mayor.

In November, he showed up at city hall amid the height of Ford's crack-cocaine scandal. He attempted to challenge Ford to an arm wrestle, but Ford never left his office and Vaziri eventually left the premises.

The documentary, directed by Igal Hecht, outlines Vaziri's rise to infamy as a top villain for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Like Ford, Vaziri has admitted to trying crack during a period of his life following his daughter's murder in 2003.

In an interview at Hot Docs, he told The Canadian Press, "I want to let him know that… it's no good to smoke crack and come on national TV. He's supposed to be a role model for Toronto."

With files from The Canadian Press