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Brief biography of Sabu: (will be updated to be more complete shortly)
Sabu is the newphew of the original Shiek, one of the most vicious wrestlers ever. Shiek gave Sabu early
training in wrestling. However, Shiek only taught Sabu some brawling and mat wrestling, Sabu taught
himself to do the incredible ariel stunts you see him do today. Sabu is the originator of one of the most
impressive moves I've ever seen done, the Triple Jump Moonsault. To be totally honest, I think Olympic
level gymnasts (male and female) would have trouble doing some of the stunts Sabu can do with ease.
At any rate, Sabu's wrestling debut was in 1984, against a "mystery opponent" picked by his Uncle. The
opponent turned out to be the Shiek himself. Sabu's style never really caught on in America at first.
1984 was just the start of what has been called the "Hulk Hogan Era of Wrestling" -- Fans didn't want to
watch someone like Sabu, who was doing flips and corkscrews, they wanted people like Hulk Hogan and
Ultimate Warrior, who were powerhouse brawlers. Seeing no market for himself in America, Sabu wisely
went to Japan, where people such as Hulk Hogan were held in low regard because they had no real
wrestling skills. In Japan, Crusierweights like Jushin Liger and Keiji Muto (Great Muta) and Antonio
Inoki were legends. Sabu fit in very well in such a scene, and shortly thereafter won a Tag Team title
with, of all people, Horace Boulder. (Hulk Hogan's nephew) Eventually, in 1993 or so, Sabu returned to
America. Nine years had passed, and the Hulk Hogan era was coming to the end.. fans were getting
bored of the Powerhouse style, and were clamering for real wrestling. Sabu signed a contract with
Philadelphia based Extreme Championship Wrestling and was instantly loved by the fans for his
homicidial moves. There is one match, above all others, that sealed Sabu's reptuation as a "homicidal,
suicidal, genocidal human highlight reel" .. it was a Death Match against the "Canadian Crippler" Chris
Benoit (pronounced "Ben-Wah") .. He threw Sabu into the air, and Sabu attempt to right himself, but
couldn't do it and landed flat on the top of his head, his chest buckled inward as he impacted, and his
neck was legitimately broken... however, HE KEPT ON WRESTLING. Not even a broken neck stopped
Sabu from giving the fans what they wanted. He was also wrestling a week after that, in a match with
his tag team partner Tasmaniac (Taz) against the Malenko Brothers, Dean and Joe. Had Sabu messed
up one of his moves in that match and landed on his head or neck area, he probably would've been
paralyzed for life. Sabu's career continued to sky rocket. He won the ECW Heavyweight, TV & Tag Team
belts -- all the titles that ECW offers. He even beat the legendary Terry Funk for the Heavyweight title.
Shorty after that, however, Sabu missed a match. It was an important tag team match, a 3 Way Dance.
ECW Promoter Paul Heyman (aka Paul E. Dangerously) subsituted in Rick Steiner for Sabu, but it wasn't
the same. Sabu missed the match due to overbooking (he'd often have upwards of 6 matches a WEEK,
in Japan and America) and was fired from ECW. For months after that, you could hear crowds at ECW
chanting "FUCK SABU!" or "SABU SUCKS!" .. but many took to imitating Sabu in his absence.. one went
so far as to call himself Ubas. However, now that Sabu was freed from ECW duties, he devoted all his
energy to wrestling in Japan, where he won what is quite possibly the most prestigous light-heavyweight
(Crusierweight) title in the world.. the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title. He held it only briefly, however, before
losing it to Jushin Liger. Sabu continued to wrestle in Japan, having some particularly memorable
matches with Frontier Martial Art Wrestling (FMW) star Hayabusa. Soon, tho, Sabu wanted to return
to what had truley made him a star -- America. He signed a deal with Ted Turner's World Championship
Wrestling promotion, based out of Atlanta, Georgia. His stint lasted about 3 months, and he even had a
PPV appearance. However, he was ultimately fired for putting someone thru a table. The story goes
that no one even told Sabu he was fired -- he found it out when a friend told him to call the WCW Hotline.
At approixmately this point, Vince McMahon, of World Wrestling Federation (WWF), offered Sabu a
contract, but Sabu declined it, because it'd interfere with his Japanese wrestling tours. Shortly
thereafter, Sabu was introudced as a "Mystery Opponent" at an ECW card. The Fans went crazy while
they screamed and cheered for their returning hero. Sabu's second stint in ECW had begun. HE ended
up in a lengthy feud with Rob Van Dam, because Van Dam was giving no respect to anyone, and,
after the feud was over, Rob Van Dam made the memorable quote as he was talking to wrestler Doug
Furnas: "And Doug.. you need to learn respect.. and there's one guy out there who can teach it to you...
he taught me the meaning of the word... my tag team partner is.. SABU!" And thus an alliance between
"Mr. Monday Night" Rob Van Dam and Sabu was formed. They made an incredible tag team, and
totally destroyed the team of Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat (Phillip LaFon) in their first match. They went
on to feud with the ECW World Tag Team Champions, the Eliminators. At the time, the Eliminators were
considered by many to be the best tag team in North America, and possibly the best in the world. Sabu
and RVD fought them in a series of matches, but never quite managed to beat John Kronus and Perry
Saturn. The matches between the two teams all became instant classics. Later on, Sabu headlined the
first ECW PPV in April '97.. Barley Legal. IT was a grudge match against Taz, who was still bitter over
Sabu's failure to appear at the tag team match so many years ago. Steam had been building between the
two for months. This was the first time they'd wrestled since Sabu's original debut in ECW, when he'd
pinned Taz twice in the same night.. but both men were different now.. more skilled, more experienced.
This match overshadowed every other match that night.. even the match when the 51 year old Terry Funk
beat ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven to win the title for a second time. The match between
Sabu and Taz was an epic. Sabu took to the air and gave it everything he got, including locking on Taz's
own submission move.. the "Tazmission".. but to no avail.. Taz broke free of the submission. Eventually,
Sabu let his guard down for just a second.. but that was enough.. Taz locked the Tazmission onto Sabu.
Sabu used every move he had to try to get free, but it didn't work. The Tazmission was a chokehold,
which would have been an illegal move in Japan or WCW, but not in ECW. The Oxygen was cut off to
Sabu's brain, and he passed out quickly. The referee declared Taz the winner when Sabu's arm fell
3 times. The lose did not set Sabu back, and he continued to wrestle. The night before ECW's second
PPV, Novemember to Remember, Sabu faced ECW World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk in a
barbed wire match. Once again, after many years, Sabu and Terry Funk were again facing each other
for the ECW World title. IT was a barbed wire match. Showing no regard for his own safety, Sabu
wrapped the barbed wire around his naked torso and chest and began using himself as a human barbed
wire covered cannonball. The match was too violent even for ECW's TV Show, and was never broadcast.
Sabu won the match, however, and it ended with ring attendants having to literally pull Funk and Sabu
apart because they were tangled together in a mess of barbed wire and because both men were to
exhausted to move. The night after that, however, Sabu had to defend his title at Novemeber to
Remember in a 3 way match against Terry Funk and Shane Douglas. Douglas, a multiple ECW Title winner,
had a giant advantage over the other two men: He had not exhausted himself wrestling the night before.
He won the match easily over Sabu and Funk, neither of whom looked fully recovered from their battle of
the night before. And that brings us to the present. Sabu apparently has no desire to win back any ECW
titles, and seems happy just giving the fans the kinds of matches they want to see. Sabu, when he retires,
will truley be remembered as one of the legends of the Hardcore and Extreme style of wrestling, along
with the likes of Terry Funk, Cactus Jack, Mr. Pogo and many others.