Sabu has died. RIP.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

This is terrible news.

Difficult to describe the impact Sabu had on me in my teens when wrestling was absolutely consuming my thoughts.

Like so many of us, my first exposure to Sabu would have been in pictures in Power Slam magazine. There is surely no other wrestler to have this sort of impact just through magazines. The scars, the fire, the barbed wire, recklessly flying through the air. It was impossible to see Sabu in magazines and not think you were seeing the coolest guy ever. He is one of the wrestlers along with Hayabusa, Liger and the Four Pillars who existed in my imagination for several years before I ever got the chance to see them. Guys like that dont really exist now with how easy it is to watch everything.

I didn't actually see Sabu until my local Global Video started stocking ECW tapes in 1999. Not long after that, ECW shows started coming out very regularly on DVD and we would buy most of the catalogue in HMV. I have such a vivid memory of getting Born to be Wired in particular as it was already the stuff of legend in my mind before I had even seen it.

I once cut a picture of Sabu out of Power Slam and took it to a high street photography shop. They printed the image on a white t-shirt with the words SUICIDAL, HOMICIDAL, GENOCIDAL MANIAC on the back for me. Ridiculously, I wore this to school on a day where we had assembly. The head master told me to leave and to never wear that shirt again.

I sent away for the ECW Sabu figure and paid for it by Postal Order. It took at least 6 weeks to actually arrive. Truly a different time. 

I first saw Sabu live on the second WWA tour over here. He had a three way dance with Sabu and Simon Diamond. Although the Glasgow show was a PPV for some reason, I don't think I have ever watched it back as it would surely only diminish the memories. Seeing Sabu live at that time is genuinely such a treasured memory for my brother and I, as mad as that sounds. (we were in our mid and late teens respectively!)

 

[jm29195]

I think a lot of my thoughts on Sabu are similar to what has already been shared on here.

He definitely had a real mystique about him and was one of those guys who more than lived up to the hype after seeing photos in Powerslam etc when I eventually got to see him via the Delta ECW releases.

I was lucky enough to see him wrestle twice, in the main event of 1PW No Turning Back in January 2006 vs Abyss and the next night teaming with Ulf Herman.

Bonkers to think that just months later he'd be wrestling John Cena on PPV, what a year that was for him!

Edited May 12, 2025 by jm29195

[Chili]

I'll be honest. I never fully got Sabu. As smart arse a fan as I think I am, when I heard that some of Sabu's botches were apparently deliberate, I thought that was stupid. Genuinely think if true it's a bit too nuanced and cute, if not true, it's still a funny story, because he seemed to cock-up a lot, his ability to do a spot that carried a risk, always seemed to play out on the poor fucker. Gluing his arm shut, taping his jaw during a match. When Sabu had no luck, he had absolutely no luck.

Whilst not fully understanding Sabu. I did love the look though. You'd be sold on those terrifying scars he had. I got the aura that he was special or unique. That shot of him and Terry Funk just stuck in barbed wire and being cut free is an incredible visual. And to his credit, for every cock-up he had, he also these moments where he took some sort of travelling salesman potion and for spots he'd be the most agile man that existed. The time when he absolutely perfectly killed Rey Jr with the springboard DDT or that triple jump leg drop to John Cena, where he balances on the ropes FOREVER and seems to slow time. It's an amazing visual.

For all his matches that I did enjoy though, it's mad that TNA is where he had my favourite match of his. Posted earlier but Barbed Wire Massacre against Abyss is a super top bit of business. Sabu puts in a loony but great underdog performance in that. 

He also looked like he stank a bit. Sorry Terry. RIP wiv da angels.

Edited May 12, 2025 by Chili

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

Like alot have said, my first knowledge of Sabu came from Magazines and early/mid 90s import mags where some was in black and white etc.

Blew my mind considering i was brought up on AllStar and WWF predominantly.

Got a chance to see him at a TNA taping in Orlando in 2004 and was in awe even though a throwaway match.

Remember a shoot interview whereby he's making out like he doesn't know he's being filmed hence being able to break character.

I'm genuinely amazed he was still functional at 60 given his catalogue of injuries dating back 40 years and he must have been on industrial pain relief.

Truly an innovator and one off and I'm glad he got his WWF run (albeit later in his career. Was surprised to find out he did wrestler for the then WWF in 1993 against Owen Hart in dark matches)

RIP 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BomberPat]

33 minutes ago, Chili said:

I'll be honest. I never fully got Sabu. As smart arse a fan as I think I am, when I heard that some of Sabu's botches were apparently deliberate, I thought that was stupid. Genuinely think if true it's a bit too nuanced and cute, if not true, it's still a funny story

I think it's a combination of some of them being deliberate, and also an ability to incorporate slips and fuck-ups into his matches, rather than letting them throw off his game, so you could never tell when something was planned or not. I think there's a real art to that, and his logic behind it was that things going wrong are the only time that people think wrestling is real any more, so that was a way of drawing people in. Outside of people who bring credibility from MMA or other outside disciplines, he's one of the last of an era whose mindset was, "I might not be able to convince you that wrestling is real, but I can convince you that I am".

I loved Sabu. It was Mick Foley's first book that led me to understanding how much wrestling there was outside of WWF and WCW, and to really explore that, and Sabu and Terry Funk were the two biggest parts of that. When we see people diving and going through tables every week on TV, it's difficult to set your mind back to just how wild hearing about what Sabu was doing was the first time you became aware of him, but what's amazing is that I think most of his stuff still holds up, it hasn't been eclipsed by other wrestlers doing more elaborate spots, flashier dives, or bigger bumps, because it wasn't really about that, it was about how believable the Sabu character was while he was doing those things - Will Ospreay might hit a more technically perfect dive, but you never believe that he's launching his body desperately at this opponent with no care for his own wellbeing, whereas with Sabu you did, and nobody has ever been better at that. He moved unlike any other wrestler I've ever seen. It's kind of like the botches thing again, he sometimes had a reputation for being a spot monkey or having poor ring psychology, but he understood psychology perfectly, it's just that the psychology of a Sabu match is different to the psychology of a Ric Flair or a Hulk Hogan match. 

[tiger_rick]

A real shock to hear this yesterday. I know he didn't look great while working recently but there are few sports where a 60 year old does look good! He certainly didn't look close to this. Gutted for everyone who was close and loved him.

I don't want to go full Lance Storm, sorry!, but as a wrestler Sabu was never quite for me. I'm probably in a big group of people who heard about him and  saw the photos and read the reviews in PowerSlam before I ever saw him work and while his stuff was generally from spectacular to absolutely fucking insane, it was also pretty rough, relied on obvious co-operation before that was everywhere and often looked quite business exposing.

I think my favourite block of his work is the tag team with Van Dam, particularly through 1998. They were great together and some of Sabu's weaknesses were lessened in those matches, which were still massive spot fests but of higher quality.

He was certainly a complete one-off, an utterly memorable gimmick and there'll never be another. RIP Sabu.

[SaitoRyo]

TNA have uploaded a compilation of Sabu matches. I remember really enjoying his work there in 05/06. He had a few really good singles matches with Abyss, that excellent Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory and a decent cage match with Samoa Joe (which he wrestled while injured iirc). 

Worth a look. 

 

[westlondonmist]

I saw Sabu against Drew Galloway and Jack Jester maybe 10 years ago. His signature spots were so memorable and quite cool that the crowd cared more about them than Galloway. I think that says a lot about him, his signature moves were "his" and even if someone else did them it was him you associated with them and even years later people wanted to see him do them. 

[2Xtreme_lives]

3 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

TNA have uploaded a compilation of Sabu matches. I remember really enjoying his work there in 05/06. He had a few really good singles matches with Abyss, that excellent Monster's Ball match at Bound for Glory and a decent cage match with Samoa Joe (which he wrestled while injured iirc). 

Worth a look. 

 

This is a great compilation, my first regular exposure to Sabu was in TNA and i've got a lot of memories of this period so will watch this through tonight. However that Lucha Bros tag match is not a good show ?

Edited May 12, 2025 by 2Xtreme_lives

[NeverYield]

I will watch this tonight.

Sabu's TNA run was legendary.

[DCW]

I first heard of Sabu in Foley's first book in 2000 or 2001. I'd no internet access back then, so first I actually saw of him was an ECW tape my friends brother had showing his teaming with RVD and Fonzie. My mind was blown seeing all the cool jumps and chair use Sabu incorporated into his act. I loved the brief WWE ECW run he had, dragging an enjoyable match out of knackered Big Show and getting a Mania payday in the tag match with RVD and the lads vs New Breed. He had a throwaway backstage interaction with doo-rag Vince on one of the god awful WWE ECW TV's that I still remember, as Vince actually showed a bit of arse and made out he was afraid of Sabu which he didn't really have to do. I saw him wrestle RVD on an indie show in Dublin in 2009 and the two of them put in a very decent shift for what was a very rinky dink show.

Sad news to hear of his passing, always enjoyed his work.

[AndyUK]

RIP Sabu. An absolute innovator if there ever was one.

Only met him at a convention a couple of months ago. Life is too bloody short.

[TV Time Remaining]

I first heard about Sabu in Powerslam. To hear of a wrestler putting guys through tables and then putting himself through a table after the match seemed so out there and exciting and so far removed from anything else I'd seen, coupled with the pictures of his heavily scarred body I just had to check him out. I think the first tape I got was The Best Of Sabu from one of the traders at the time, probably Glenn Radford, and it blew my mind. 

I went to the show at Walthamstow, sold purely on Powerslam coverage of Sabu and those 4th Generation "Best Of" tapes. I don't recall a thing about it other than the Sabu match, which we left our seats for and stood at some point with our hands on the apron of the ring, a wild time watching an absolute loon. Great times.

I think the next night was a convention of some kind, and I'll never forget the moment Sabu walked into the room, the whole place fell silent and turned to look at him, no one quite sure what to do, Sabu looked around the room, turned around and walked out!

RIP to a true original, of which there are few and far between 

[Browser Brady]

I believe Sabu is featured in “the Sheik”episode of Dark Side of the Ring which airs this week.

[Browser Brady]

So this started doing the rounds on Twitter last night .

Joey Janela on Sabu’s last match :

”What do you mean Sabu can't walk? They said, ‘Yeah, Sabu, something with his knee — they're locked up. He can't walk. And his feet are bleeding. He's not coming. Sabu's not coming.’ I said, ‘Sabu's f***ed.’ So we talked to [indie wrestler] Matt Tremont, and Tremont is about to be the replacement for the match. And I feel like this is going to be the most embarrassing moment of my wrestling career. There's 2,000 people here. This is one of the biggest Spring Breaks ever. The biggest crowd ‘Mania weekend, indie-wise. And I'm going to have to go out there and announce that Sabu, once again, no-showed. And no-showed his own retirement match.”

Lauderdale was less concerned. “In the back of my mind, I knew Sabu was coming," he said. "I never once worried. If we didn’t hear from Sabu then I would be worried, but the fact that he was communicating, I knew he was coming.”

“We are an hour into the show and I said, ‘Just get Sabu here,’" Janela continued. "So they gave him something called kratom. You can buy it at a smoke shop or something; it’s like a legal opiate or something. They said, ‘He's hopping on the bed, he's hopping off the bed, and we're going to get him to the show.’ So he shows up two hours into the show. Sabu was on a different f***ing planet. Everyone in the backstage was like, ‘What the f***? Is this match going to happen?’ And my God, did it happen.”

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/wrestling/article/sabu-was-sabu-until-the-very-end-ecw-wwe-joey-janela-155636332.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly90aGVib2FyZC5mNHdvbmxpbmUuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANqRJQ_Yd6Qhj5jHaA9viRZa6vQk6We41nvF5J2o5YZ0uP2JI9WHBHkK0ZT_ElEWOJ4ywm439Qqwit14G9ShKw3MKeXgxC_A2J3bJximbWwQhYhqyvSe1afWXH86zpTHB6-IRjGWIo_2ljRufMdkn-6pabpOzGFMhu2fYG8Aaxan