MR. TITO: The Death of Sabu and the Impact That He and ECW Had on the Pro Wrestling Business
So the legendary and hardcore icon Sabu passed away recently… First and foremost, I want to express my condolences and how sorry I am to any of Sabu’s family and close friends. While most of us lost an entertainer, others have lost someone who is directly near and dear to their hearts. May Sabu rest in peace…
But what I won’t do with this column is pile onto Joey Janela, who was Sabu’s opponent in his retirement match or the Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) promotion and its management. After all, Sabu did live a few weeks later and appeared on a few podcasts to talk about his experience with that last match. You know, the last match where Sabu told Janela and GCW that he “couldn’t walk” prior to the event and then told Joey that he took a drug called “Kratom” before their match to help get through it.
What is Kratom, you ask? It is a drug that is NOT FDA approved and there are no drugs with its ingredients legally on the market in the United States. In fact, the FDA further warns of its use with the following statement: ”FDA has warned consumers not to use kratom because of the risk of serious adverse events, including liver toxicity, seizures, and substance use disorder (SUD). In rare cases, deaths have been associated with kratom use, as confirmed by a medical examiner or toxicology reports. However, in these cases, kratom was usually used in combination with other drugs, and the contribution of kratom in the deaths is unclear.”
But that’s OK, it’s the “same old Sabu” that we talked to before the match and not a guy with any past substance issues, right? I guess that accounts for “grown ass man making grown ass decisions”, right? Even though he is 60 years old, he’s green lit to wrestle a violent match. No problem at all…
Well, sometimes you have to save people from themselves.
In my opinion, that’s what nobody did throughout Sabu’s career OR he didn’t want that help.
I always WISH that Sabu could have had a career like Mick Foley. Instead of letting him wrestle non-stop death matches like he did as Cactus Jack, WWE focused more on CHARACTER with his Mankind and Dude Love wrestlers. Even when Foley had his King of the Ring 1998 and Royal Rumble 1999 moments, WWE management held Foley accountable afterward to never do those types of matches again and then sidelined him through mid 2000 with an early retirement. With Foley, though, he made more money with a sock puppet on his hand named “Socko” than he ever did taking daredevil dives.
By emphasizing character, character, character, the WWE allowed the public to get to know Mick Foley better as a human being and respect him for simple things like cutting promos and having fun switching between Mankind, Dude Love, and Cactus Jack rather than just the violent stuff.
With Sabu, he HAD the character… The “most homicidal, genocidal, suicidal” gimmick that resembled his trainer, the Sheik, with the unique looking tights, great physique, and the psychology that he appeared legitimately crazy. HOWEVER, instead of promoters pushing character, they wanted the Sabu who went through tables or crawled through barbed wire.
Can anyone tell me what was the big hype for the first ever ECW Pay Per View, ECW Barely Legal 1997? Oh, it was over a WRESTLING match between Sabu and Taz. Go watch that PPV… They WRESTLED. It was unlike months later with the disgusting barbed wire match between Terry Funk and Sabu in which the barbed wire cut so deep into Sabu’s arm that he required crazy glue and lots of tape to keep it shut so that he could proceed with the match. What the hell?
By encouraging Sabu to focus on violent stunts from chairs, tables, or other high risk moves, that causes Sabu to be in pain every night. And when in pain, what do you turn to? Different substances and alcoholic products to self-medicate because NONE of the wrestling promoters cared. Nope, Sabu was the disposable hero for the night he could pull off those stunts and if he couldn’t do it one night, the independent promotions was now fully of Sabu imitators to take those bumps instead.
To this day, I’m still upset with how the WWE handled Sabu and Rob Van Dam getting pulled over by police during 2006 just after RVD won the WWE Title at ECW One Night Stand 2006, the show that also featured Sabu in a high profile match against Rey Mysterio that people also still talk about to this day. Rather than asking themselves “gee, why do they using cannabis and pills”, they never asked “why do they NEED them”. Touring with the WWE during 2006 was rough and non-stop, but it still took years for the WWE to reduce the schedule and take better care of its wrestlers. Funny thing is that years later, cannabis is now legal in Ohio where RVD/Sabu were arrested and those pills probably had prescriptions which many pharmaceuticals are now paying for with lawsuits for easily prescribing them.
I always laughed at the “Sabu is hard to work” with reputation… You know, it’s like someone who is always sore from being requested to wrestle violent matches and self-medicating afterward would be easy to work with.
Fact is that Sabu made it to 60 or 61 years old, whatever his true age really is. That’s actually OLD for a pro wrestler, at least compared to what we saw passing away during the 1990s and 2000s. Louie Spicolli died at 27, Eddie Guerrero died at 38, Rick Rude at 40, Curt Hennig was 44, Test at 33, Brian Pillman at 35, Umaga at 36, Davey Boy at 39… Would you like to discuss the Von Erich family and how there is only one left? For a guy who took all of those bumps and took various things to self-medicate, I’d say he lasted for a while.
But again, it’s a shame that many promoters didn’t protect Sabu from himself… Do less of the violent stuff, more of the character stuff. You don’t have to jump through a table in EVERY match, nor do you need to ever touch barbed wire.
I think it’s time to call upon Athletic Commissions to hold Pro Wrestling accountable. Sorry, but wrestling isn’t just “entertainment” like performing a play on broadway. I don’t see them getting violently injured from taking stunts or bleeding during their performances. Pro wrestling should be heavily regulated just like boxing and held accountable when something goes wrong or if the wrestlers aren’t protected from themselves. But no, thanks to Vince McMahon bribing commission after commission, wrestlers are considered “sports entertainers” and can thus use whatever they want and not be held accountable unless there is a legitimate drug testing and accountability program in place. It took Chris Benoit slaughtering his family to put teeth in WWE’s and by then, Sabu had left the WWE.
You don’t need Sabu to wrestle death matches for your promotion… The guy looks like a million bucks, can actually wrestle normal matches, and can do things effortlessly like Rey Mysterio without injury, if asked. But no, he has to jump through a table that is placed on the concrete floor. But instead, promoters think that fans want hardcore matches. Really? Have you seen your attendance lately? Your indy shows aren’t drawing no matter how violent you get.
Why? Because the truth about Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is that they became popular because of CHARACTERS. Sabu was pushed hard as being trained by the Sheik and a competitive foe to Taz. Taz is a short guy, but in ECW, he was the “human suplex machine” and his “low center of gravity” allowed him to better grapple with his opponents. Taz goes to WWE and they don’t push him like that at all, and thus he was marginalized as a joke. Shane Douglass struggled to get footing elsewhere, but in ECW, he was the outspoken heel character that drew tons of heat from the microphone.
Nobody cared about the Sandman’s matches, ever. That entrance, alone, is what everybody wanted to see. It was Enter Sandman by Metallica and everybody loved drinking beer with the Sandman in the crowd and to see him smash cans off of his forehead. Yes, New Jack was known for his balcony dives and throwing the trash can into the ring full of weapons, but when Natural Born Killas from Dre & Ice Cube hit, it was the VIBE that you enjoyed from the chaos you were about to see. Dudleys were great characters, as every member had their own distinct personality and thing unraveled when Buh Buh teamed up with the “black sheep” of the family, D’Von. The Eliminators were pure excellence as a tag team and had that beautiful finisher, TOTAL ELIMINATION – YEAH!!!
How about Raven? You wanna talk about characters, that’s the one. He drove Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, and Stevie Richards mad and he just has that cool vibe to him. The Offspring song hit and this cool guy with awesome hair, leather jacket, and jean shorts came out and could cut amazing promos like a cult leader. Drove Tommy Dreamer crazy but then he got the girl they were fighting over, Beulah, and then finally got his win. I used to love Stevie Richards in the Blue World Order because “Big Stevie Cool” was the confident version of himself versus what was previously bullied by Raven. That’s why I was sad when Stevie joined WCW with Raven because Stevie pressed the RESET button on his character.
Al Snow is a big failure in WWE, but then he goes to ECW and creates this psychopathic character who speaks to a mannequin’s head. Gets over instantly. Then he returns to WWE and they were clueless on how to use him.
What made Sabu very effective was teaming with Rob Van Dam, the BEST character in ECW in my opinion. The “Whole F’N Show” who used the Monday Night Wars to his advantage by later calling himself “Mr. Monday Night”. Him acting like a desired free agent drew amazing heat and Bill Alfonzo and Sabu joining him created a great stable of heels. Van Dam worked differently than anybody, but also had this cool attitude about himself that really hasn’t been done before. RVD would later join WWE during 2001 and got instantly over with that same vibe and it took WWE 5 reluctant years to finally make him WWE champion.
ECW had violent matches, yes, but they were an accessory to their characters. When Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka didn’t have characters to rely on to hype their matches, they relied too much on their matches themselves to get over. Hence why they did way too much during their matches with violent table and chair spots.
Character matters… Do you think that 1980s WWE got over because of their in-ring product? No, LARGER THAN LIFE characters like Roddy Piper, Macho Man, Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, and many others drew the masses to see those CHARACTERS do battle. When WWE tried to push a pure wrestler as their champ during 1992-1996 with Bret Hart, it just didn’t work… WWE improved with Hart during 1997 because he had a better CHARACTER than he ever did with the ”heel in the US, babyface in Canada” character along with his new Hart Foundation stable. Steve Austin was the CHARACTER that the WWE needed and the neck injury from SummerSlam 1997 may have been a blessing in disguise because it forced Austin to do more CHARACTER work than in-ring stuff. Rock was a great character, Undertaker got better when his character changed, and Mick Foley’s career took off when he was more character driven after King of the Ring 1996. Degeneration X was nothing but character stuff.
It’s the guys speaking on the microphone and personalities that connect with the audiences that draws people to see the shows… You need something that drives demand to attend shows and the matches, themselves, aren’t exactly the thing that draws. The HYPE draws and packs the arena.
WWE didn’t have good characters during the 2010s… They had a dominant Brock Lesnar and an overpushed Roman Reigns. End result? 2 million RAW viewers lost, thousands lost in attendance, and a big decline in merchandise.
What happened during the 2020s? Roman Reigns changed to a heel and is surrounded by a great Bloodline stable and Paul Heyman. Suddenly, there are characters disrupting everything and it changed WWE’s momentum. The Bloodline was pretty much finished at Wrestlemania 41, but WWE has continued to grow because they’ve stockpiled and repackaged many wrestlers to be great characters. WWE’s roster is stacked with great talents and they had an amazing Backlash 2025 event without many top stars because of that loaded roster of characters.
I’m about to mention AEW, so I know that’s when the Comment section crying shall begin… But that promotion gets more praise for its in-ring matches than it does for its characters. Dave Meltzer cannot give away more stars than he does for AEW matches. Yet, factually speaking, they are drawing less than 700,000 viewers to 70 million available TBS homes each week while it’s a real struggle to draw 4,000 fans for AEW Dynamite live television broadcasts at the arenas. Why? Because Tony Khan and the EVPs are NOT good at developing characters.
Will Ospreay from AEW recently said “on our worst day, we smoke all of you guys”… What’s he referring to? Oh, he’s all about the in-ring stuff during the matches. That’s all he is… Will Ospreay doesn’t have a drawing magnetism about his CHARACTER, and neither does most of the AEW roster or the characters have been over-exposed. Good example of an over-exposed character is MJF cutting a shoot promo on Tony Khan, and then showing everyone his AEW tattoo on his leg… Okada, especially, has NOTHING INTERESTING in terms of his character and thus he’s a monster DUD when his in-ring stuff cannot carry him.
If AEW wants to grow, they need to figure out how to develop their characters better and put them in better positions to succeed before the match happens.
WWE figured it out with the Bloodline and then a more experienced Triple H arrived to better flesh out characters of the entire roster. Now, WWE has a deep bench of guys who can headline Pay Per Views and HHH is effectively able to rest talents because he has so many wrestlers over.
What happens BEFORE the match matters…
The match itself doesn’t matters as much, especially when you desensitize the fans by repeatedly showing them high risk moves or table spots.
Sabu wasn’t drawing on the Indy scene because everyone has already seen his schtick before. Places chair under his legs, jumps off ropes and onto a table. We’ve seen him do that many times, so why pay money to see it again?
BUT, sadly, that is what promoters only wanted and Sabu gave them exactly what they wanted. And now he’s gone.
My last point is this… If you really love a pro wrestling legend, then pay money to see them or attend their autograph signings. Not just help your heroes financially, but tell them how much they meant to you as a fan.
Here’s a great example… Buff Bagwell. Right before he did another rehab stint, I saw him at a big autograph signing and nobody was wanting his autograph or photo. Then, me and my bro walked him to him and paid for the full experience… Signed photos, photos with Buff, and then we seriously talked to the guy about his experiences for like 15 minutes. Keep in mind, too, that he was on crutches that day and actually needed to lean into me a big to remain standing for the photo (we said he could remained seated, but he insisted on standing). Buff was excited and suddenly full of energy because he knew there were fans who were there to see him and because he made an impact on their lives.
And who knows? Sabu doing the autograph signings may have kept him going through the age 60 and 61. He knew how much he was appreciated by his many fans and that may have kept him alive longer than you think.
I think that Lex Luger has a new “lease on life” because he’s finally tapped into his fanbase and appreciates him. These wrestler conventions give him something to look forward to, especially in his condition where he can’t walk without assistance.
Thus, if you like a wrestling promotion, be it WWE or AEW, support them. If you like a particular wrestler from either promotion, financially support them… Buy their merchandise and help pad their numbers so that WWE or AEW not only retains them, but pushes them too. Go see your favorites perform because you never know when they eventually can’t or if they pass away. If they have an autograph signing, go pay to see them and tell them how much you’ve appreciated their services of entertaining you for many years.
I think that many wrestlers who lived that HARD road life are actually getting extensions on their lives because they have that POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT given to them by fans.
How about those instances where a wrestler is injured and GoFundMe programs literally pay for their surgeries? That makes a MASSIVE IMPACT on the wrestler because they know someone out there CARES for them.
See your favorites when you can…
And if possible…
If you really want to make a difference…
Start being vocal about CEASING violent hardcore matches where wrestlers are legitimate cut open or have the possibility of real injuries, notably concussions. Have the courage to hold your favorites accountable, while also holding promotions accountable who rely too much on the severe version of hardcore wrestling. Things that could CUT or CONCUSS wrestlers should NOT be appropriate for pro wrestling.
And Joey Janela… I hope that you had a good look at the 60/61 year old Sabu recently in the ring. That is YOU in a shorter period of time, as you’ve worked more violent matches within your almost 20 year career than Sabu did during his first 20 years in the business. You’re 35 years old now and just speaking from experience, things start to really ache for days as you get closer to 40 and then throughout your 40s. What you’re doing now is going to catch up to you and you could be in worse shape at 60/61 than Sabu, if you make it there (and I hope that you do).
LESS IS MORE with pro wrestling… Overdoing anything desensitizes fans, while also giving a wrestler that reputation that he’s “only good for hardcore matches”. But how much is enough? You’re diving through a box full of barbed wires… How are you going to top that?
And Joey, please count the number of bodies in an arena watching you violently hurt yourself in matches. It is really worth it to excite the hundreds in attendance to see you do such violent things?
The best wrestlers had long careers without having to violently harm themselves. Look at how durable Ric Flair was for FOUR DECADES because he was safe inside the ring and focused more on getting his character over through PROMOS and PERSONALITY. And that boy partied HARD, too, and still put on FOUR DECADES of performances. Why? Because when the cameras were on, he was killing it on the microphone and drew heat with his personality while working intelligently inside the ring.
Sabu, sadly, was dependent too much on his in-ring performances and promoters demanded that he use chairs, tables, and high risks maneuvers within those matches. Instead of realizing he has an amazing look and could wrestle without all of that stuff, they constantly had him work death matches. Including you, Joey.
So no, Joey Janella or GCW did NOT kill Sabu… But, they could have said “not tonight brother” after hearing he was struggling to walk at the age of 60/61 and then hearing that he took a peculiar drug before the match. Be SMARTER next time you’re working with an older veteran, mmmmkay?
Because you know what, Joey? When you get older, a younger wrestler may do to YOU exactly what you did to Sabu. They’ll attempt to enable you to be your old violent self and there will be a promotion that facilitates it to happen.
And keep in mind, the more violent matches you have now, the more medical bills that will come your way, too… Plus, more pain is coming your way. Suddenly, your money is being sucked into what is healing you or what is numbing your pain.
Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.
Rest in peace, Sabu. I just wish that more people could have protected you from yourself for decades rather than just recently. I also wish that wrestling fans would cease this insatiable lust for violent hardcore matches where wrestlers get cut up and concussed so easily.
In closing…
– Go support your favorite promotions and wrestlers.
– Hold wrestling promotions accountable who let wrestlers get harmed.
– Ask your favorite wrestler WHY they are wrestling such violent matches.
– Quit being enablers to bad behavior.
– Quit insisting that everyone is working the “ECW style” when those other independent promotions have zero idea how to invent characters like ECW did.
I’m sure the mere mention of AEW will cause the tears to fly, but they know that I’m right. Pro wrestling is a battle between CHARACTERS over championships or bragging rights within a storyline. The matches are just the cherry on the top of an entire process to hype a large event.