On-Topic RIP

[wandshogun09]

Read a little bit about it and it seems like he left right around the time he was going through the divorce with Debra as well so maybe that played its part. 

[davertfnewman]

I think they were done well before that, we just didn't know about it.

Just had a listen to the tail end of Flair's podcast - they all went to a strip club in Philadelphia and he felt a grasping pain in his thigh where the main blood vessel goes. Went to the hospital and it was a blood clot that was the first in a series of them, plus he got diagnosed with type two diabetes, so he checked out of wrestling at that point.

 

[d-d-d-dAz]

Only seen this one post, so apologies if it proves to be fake news.

60 is no age, though. He was only just taken mad bumps a few weeks ago.

 

Edited May 11, 2025 by d-d-d-dAz

[SuperBacon]

When I started buying Powerslam and hearing about ECW and other things outside the big 2, Sabu looked and sounded like the absolute bollocks. I was mesmerised by him.

Sad to see him go so young. 

[Egg Shen]

I still randomly watch Sabu compilations on Youtube from time to time. Along with a couple of others Sabu was the main reason I became the hardcore obsessed fan I was in the early 00's. Absolute legend. RIP.

[d-d-d-dAz]

It's a strange feeling, but whenever these guys die young(ish) and whilst they're still working I feel so sad they never got the retirement their efforts deserved.

Sabu, as much as anyone, slogged his guts out for decades. I wish he'd had a few years where he didn't have to have his head stoved in by people half his age. Just some time to relax and be told by the world how revered he was.

He clearly had something most other hardcore wrestlers don't; Vince even gave him a PPV program against John Cena at one point.

[Egg Shen]

I dont think that retired lifestyle is ever on the cards for these lifer types. They just don't know anything else.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

60 is no age but when you consider what that mad fucker had put himself through its remarkable he lasted that long. 

One of my favourite Sabu stories was told by Stevie Knight. They were both on one of those shows that the Dirtball Kid had run over here. Everyone was in the changing rooms and Sabu was talking to no-one and everyone was a bit intimidated. Sabu was having a shower and he starts swearing about the water been too hot as he was getting out which made Stevie laugh. Sabu glares at Stevie and says "What are you laughing at boy," the room goes even quieter as Stevie says "You are covered in scars and you are bitching about hot water" 

Sabu looks at Stevie and laughs saying "That's a fair point" as the rest of the room starts breathing again. 

[Kfogg1991]

Yeah this one has hit hard 

 

Me and my mate watched his "last match" with Joey at gcw and it felt like he wanted to die in that ring......he wasn't the most crisp but my god sabu won't be repeated or replaced and I'm so happy I got to see him wrestle for HXC in Manchester.

 

Thank you for everything and I hope he's in a better place 

 

R.I.P sabu 

[FLips]

You knew what you were getting with Sabu and if that’s the kind of thing you were after there weren’t many better. One of a kind, still going at it right up to the end. 
Some of the bumps he took in that Joey Janela match are rank for someone in their prime, never mind 60.

[wandshogun09]

Fuck. What a completely unique wrestler. I still remember when I first learned of him from an older cousin who brought some magazine to our house one Saturday, raving about some crazy guy covered in scars. Can’t remember what mag it was now or what year this would’ve been but it pre-dates me seeing his brief stop in WCW in late 95 so this was probably 93/94? The pics were either from Japan or ECW but I was instantly both mesmerised and scared shitless of him. He just looked wild.

First time I actually saw him in action would’ve been Halloween Havoc 95 against JL. A short, nothing match really but what it lacked in the brutality those magazine pictures had me expecting, it made up for in chaos. Match was probably only a couple of minutes but Sabu came through like a tornado and it ended with the Sheik casually chucking fire about. Job done for 10 year old me. I was fully sold on this madman.

Of course then in the years that followed I saw him falling off the Raw sign in 97, started becoming aware of ECW, got into the tape trading and started seeing more and more of him and the rest is history. Still can’t believe he had that stint in WWE around 2006/07. Him wrestling fucking Cena still feels like some mad fever dream. 

The less said about his last match the better. I didn’t watch the whole thing but saw enough of it and I just felt sad seeing it. As bad as he looked, I never thought he’d be gone so soon after. It’s not as weird of a shock as the Ultimate Warrior dying the day after WrestleMania but it’s up there. People will say “60 is no age” but with the shit Sabu put his body through, fuck ‘dog years’ he'd have been about 127 in ‘wrestler years’. 

 

Edited May 11, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Merzbow]

That's a huge loss to wrestling and the true independents of the scene, before I ever knew what an "Indie" was he was the king of them and seemingly wrestled for every promotion imaginable by the end of the 90's.

He was wrestling for FMW, BJW, AJPW and NJPW at practically the same time with stints in each. Even entered the Tag League with Gary Albright in that time, what a weird but perfect tape trader team.

But yeah, he's up there with Hayabusa (who he had a strange relationship with) as my top highflyers that did things unlike anyone else and had that aura you just can't teach.

[TheScarlettChad]

He was a mad bastard who had a great look, the lore of him glueing shut his wounds made him sound so bad ass and hardcore. And his nickname. 

Rest Easy Sabu.

[wandshogun09]

Obviously this was years and years after the Kayfabe cat was out of the bag but this was one of the major ‘yeah, Kayfabe is officially dead dead forever’ moments for me…

Sabu doing a shoot interview at that time (think this was 2004ish) seemed about as likely as Vince McMahon or The Undertaker doing one. I remember every now and then during the interview he’d point at the camera and go “that’s not on, is it?” or “is that thing recording?” Still trying to protect the gimmick in his own way. But even me being 19/20 by then and obviously knowing it was all a work, hearing his normal voice was still weird. It never got to the stage like with Undertaker after he retired and started talking to the point you never wanted to hear him talk again. Even as lapsed a fan as I am, I was still watching interview clips of Sabu right up until very recently whenever they’d pop up in the YouTube recommendations. Always found him fascinating.

Edited May 11, 2025 by wandshogun09

[Jazzy G]

He was the favourite wrestler of one of my closest friends. I remember us seeing him against Perry Saturn at a WWA show in Manchester. We were all wearing some harem pants that my friend had made, and we each had a sign with a letter from his name. We even managed to get the kids on the row in front of us chanting for him. 

We lost it when the lights went out and he appeared at One Night Stand in 2005 as well (we watched it live on Sky Sports). Terrible shame. 60 is no age.