He helped revolutionized professional wrestling in the early to mid-1990 and despite his influence, Sabu never quite reached the level of success he probably should have reached.
I’ll be honest when I say that I hadn’t been exposed to Sabu during his ECW days, at least not during his peak. For the most part, I watched quite a bit of his independent stuff from companies such as MLW and 3PW and worked my way backward.
Sabu had great ability and a unique look, there is no question about it. His aerial offense and what he could come up with when it came to a chair and table, was without question crowd pleasing.
What also made his unique was that he never spoke a word. His intensity was shown through his facial expression and his actions. He had me at the edge of my seat without having to speak. Of course, WWE would have the guy speak because a guy can’t be a draw unless he speaks. Sabu’s draw was leaping off
the top rope through a table and using a spike, sometimes.
Of course with his style, he would have off nights. There have been countless matches of his that I have watched that are borderline embarrassing. However, there is no denying that from 1994 to probably 1999 Sabu was at his peak and continually provided fans with violence they had wanted to see.
Sabu had a brief run with WCW in 1995 and was going to join the company again in 2000 when Kevin Sullivan had the book, but that was nixed. Sabu would have given WCW a much needed spark at a time when they lost the Radicals, but he would have been tamed a great deal compared to what he was allowed to do in ECW.
I don’t have much interest in Sabu nowadays, but I did get to see him live at a Squared Circle Wrestling event in July 2010 when he took on Spike Dudley. Luckily for me, Sabu was seemingly on his A-game and I was really happy to have seen such an important guy to ECW success live and have it be an enjoyable experience.
To me, Sabu isn’t a main event guy. He is more of an attraction, something to help spice up a card with violence and aerial moves. He was dependent on ECW and their style to be a fully accomplished performer.
Unless the match had a no disqualification or some kind of violent stipulation, Sabu is a difficult performer to watch. He comes across as being lost in the ring when it comes to simple one on one matches.
Sabu was a focal point and a huge reason for ECW’s success, but outside of ECW, Sabu is just another worker.
What are your opinions on Sabu? Leave them below.
Thanks for reading.