Everyone who knows wrestling knows that Sabu is the most homicidal, suicidal, genocidal
wrestler of this generation.  The style he employs follows a line of “extreme” wrestlers which
included the uncle who trained him, the Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher.  If it is going through
tables or flipping from the top rope with a spectacular moonsault, Sabu has both frightened
and delighted audiences.

  After suffering an injury, he used super glue to help remedy the situation and nearly broke
his neck in a match against Chris Benoit.  He has captured titles in numerous organizations,
including capturing the NWA World Heavyweight, ECW Heavyweight Title, XPW World
Heavyweight and the IWGP World Junior Heavyweight Title.  

  Originally from Michigan, but often billed as being from Bombay, India, Sabu made his
professional debut in the mid-1980s.  The Sheik mentored Sabu and the two made several
tours of Japan together.  In 1991, Sabu continued to tour through many U.S. Independents,
including Tri-State Wrestling in the northeast.  On October 1, 1993, he made his NWA
Eastern Championship Wrestling debut in Philadelphia.  It seemed that Sabu had found his
new home and fans there were more than willing to shell out money to see what he was going
to do next.

  Sabu pinned Shane Douglas on October 2, 1993 on the second card of NWA’s Bloodfest at
the ECW Arena  He captured the ECW Heavyweight Crown in the process.  On the first card,
a day earlier, Sabu beat Tazmaniac.

  Sabu received a three-day tryout with the World Wrestling Federation later in October.  
The series of matches began on Monday, October 18, 1993 during a Monday Night Raw
Taping in Poughkeepsie, New York.  Sabu wrestled and beat Scott Taylor.  The next day in
Glens Falls, he lost a tough match to Owen Hart.  The third television taping occurred on
October 20th in Burlington, Vermont.  Sabu beat Scott Taylor.  On October 30th in Bensalem,
Sabu beat Chris Candido in a special cage match.  The bout was apart of the “Bensalem
Bash.”

  On November 13th, Sabu teamed with Road Warrior Hawk against Terry Funk and King
Kong Bundy at ECW’s annual November to Remember.  Sabu pinned Funk to not only give
him and his partner the victory, but gave him the ECW TV Title.  He held both the
Heavyweight and TV Titles simultaneously.  An estimated 1,000 fans witnessed the 12-minute
encounter.  Sabu lost the ECW Title on December 26th in Philadelphia.  The defeat came in
a no disqualification bout against Funk during the Holiday Hell ’93 show.  He beat a future
ECW Champion in Mike Awesome on March 5, 1994 in Philadelphia, successfully defending
his television championship.

  The next night in Philadelphia, Sabu lost the TV Title to Tazmaniac at the ECW Arena.  He
pinned Funk in a singles match on April 16th in Philadelphia at the 12:28 mark.  He received
some “outside” support when Bobby Eaton elected to team with him at the ECW Arena on
May 14th before an estimated 1,000 fans.  Their opponents were Funk and his “outside” help
in Arn Anderson.  Of course, both Eaton and Anderson were from WCW and members of
Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance.  Sabu forced Funk to submit in 19:35.  

  On July 23, 1994, Sabu beat Al Snow in a memorable ladder match in Lincoln Park,
Michigan and captured the initial NWA World Indepdendent Heavyweight Title.  In the weeks
and months following, he engaged in a series of hard fought matches against the likes of
Chris Benoit, 2 Cold Scorpio, Hayabusa, Cactus Jack, Taz and Snow.  Benoit beat him on
October 1st in Philly.

  A month later, Sabu challenged Benoit to a rematch on November 5th.  During the early
moments of their highly-tauted bout, Sabu nearly broke his neck while performing a
maneuver.  He was carried from the ring and many thought his days in the ring were over.  
Footage was shown over and over on ECW Television.  The incident was not enough to put
Sabu away for good.  He returned to the ring full-time, but maybe not at full strength.  
Nevertheless, no one could question his priorities.  Sabu teamed with Taz on November 18th,
later that same month, and beat Dean and Joe Malenko before 1,100 fans at the ECW
Arena.  

  On January 4, 1995 in Tokyo, he teamed with Masa Chono to beat Junji Hirata and Tatsumi
Fujinami.  62,500 witnessed Sabu in action.  He returned to Philadelphia for a January 7th
show at the ECW Arena.  Sabu teamed with Taz and 911 to beat Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko
and the two members of Public Enemy.  A four-on-three handicap match, but Sabu’s team
overcame the odds.  He teamed with Taz on February 4th in Philadelphia to win the World
Tag Title from Public Enemy in a “Double Tables” match.  They dropped the belts later in the
month to Malenko and Benoit in Philadelphia.  Sabu began to take more dates for New Japan
and his time with ECW was seemingly over.

  A very important show was scheduled for the Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka on May 3, 1995.  
An estimated 52,000 fans were in attendance.  Sabu received a chance to capture the
prestigious IWGP World Junior Title from Koji Kanamoto.  In a scientific match, Sabu beat
Kanamoto and captured the belt.  His reign lasted until June 14th in Tokyo when Kanamoto
regained it at Budokan Hall.  Promoters in Atlanta began courting Sabu and planned to sign
the talented wildman to a contract.

  Shortly after Nitro debut on TNT in September, Sabu was appearing for World
Championship Wrestling, a national U.S. Organization.  In fact, he was on the second
installment of the show from Miami on September 11th.  He wrestled and beat Alex Wright.  
After the match, he put his German opponent through a table and officials reversed the
decision.  The fact was that Sabu was unpredictable and those who knew who he was
realized that he offered something WCW had not seen in years, basically since Cactus Jack
left in ’94.  On October 29, 1995, Sabu made his pay-per-view debut in Detroit.  The
legendary Sheik was at his side.  He wrestled and beat Mr. J.L., Jerry Lynn, by pinfall.  For
some reason, his stay in WCW was not long and when many sought bigger things for him,
Sabu was gone.

  Back in Philadelphia, he won over another talented risk-taker, Rob Van Dam by
disqualification on January 27, 1996.  He pinned Big Titan from Japan on March 9th in
Philadelphia on a huge ECW card at the arena.  Van Dam beat him on May 11th in
Philadelphia in more than 18-minutes.  Sabu beat Van Dam to return the favor on August 3rd
in a special stretcher match-up in Philadelphia.  A large ECW crowd was on hand to witness
the spectacle.  Rather to continue feuding with Rob Van Dam, Sabu made him his partner.  
On September 14th, the two men wrestled a longtime successful team in Doug Furnas and
Dan Kroffat.  After 30-minutes, the match was called off.  A draw.  Sabu and Van Dam
competed against Furnas and Kroffat a second time in Philadelphia on October 26th.  This
time they won and Sabu got the winning fall.

  At the Barely Legal PPV on April 13, 1997 in Philadelphia’s ECW Arena, Sabu had the task
of facing his former partner and heated rival, Taz.  Taz was accompanied by his manager, Bill
Alfonso for the bout.  The “Taz-mission” hold was applied and Sabu was knocked
unconscious.  Afterwards the two embraced before Rob Van Dam came out and attacked
Taz.  Sabu then joined him and the two beat the victor down.  Alfonso made it known that he
was joining Sabu and Van Dam.  Sabu and Van Dam teamed against Taz and Chris Candido
in Philadelphia on May 10th.  Candido was able to pin Van Dam for the win.  He defeated
Tommy Dreamer on June 27, 1997 in Downingtown, PA.  Sabu drove Tod Gordon, ECW
Commissioner, through a table during the June 28th card at Philadelphia’s ECW Arena.  
Gordon was carried from the ring in a stretcher with neck and back injuries.

  He teamed with Van Dam and was accompanied by Alfonso to defeat Tommy Dreamer and
The Sandman in the main event of that show.  After more than twenty-minutes of a barbed
wire match on August 9, 1997 in Philadelphia, Sabu defeated Terry Funk by pinfall, capturing
the ECW World Heavyweight Belt.  An estimated 1,400 fans were live on hand to witness the
spectacle.  Hardcore Heaven ’97 was scheduled for August 17th in Fort Lauderdale, and
going into the event, Sabu was the defending champ.  His opponents for the War Memorial
Auditorium main event were Funk and Shane Douglas.  Sabu went in with the belt, but had it
stripped by Douglas.  He competed in a three-way dance against Tommy Dreamer and
Douglas in Philadelphia on October 18th.  Neither of the three had a claim to the World Title
at the time.  Sabu won the bout, though, placing his name up top of the number one
contender’s list.  Bam Bam Bigelow was wearing the gold.

  On November 30th at the November to Remember pay-per-view from Monaca,
Pennsylvania, Sabu defeated Sandman in a special “table and ladders” match.  The brutal
contest went more than 20-minutes.  He beat 2 Cold Scorpio by pinfall at an ECW Arena
Show on March 21st.  On March 27th, Sabu and Tommy Dreamer both lost a three-way
dance to ECW World Champion, Shane Douglas in Rostraver.  The next night, Sabu and Rob
Van Dam lost to Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow in Monaca.  Sabu tied up with Al Snow on
April 18th in Philly and was defeated by the grappler from Michigan.

  In Marietta during Wrestlepalooza, Sabu wrestled a brutal 30-minute draw with his partner,
Rob Van Dam.  Their manager, Bill Alfonso was ringside and assisted both.  Despite the
contest, the two remained partners.  On June 6th in Philadelphia, Sabu and Van Dam beat
Douglas and Chris Candido.  Now, they just had to switch Douglas out with Lance Storm and
they would have two new belts to carry around.  On June 27th, they received the match.  
Storm and Candido defended their claim to the ECW Tag Title against Sabu and Van Dam.  
Nearly 1300 fans saw new champions crowned.  Sabu and Van Dam had captured the belts.

  The new champions won a return match on July 18th.  At the ECW Arena on August 8th,
they battled the Dudley Boys, D-Von and Buh Buh Ray.  The match ended in a no-contest.  It
seemed that that Dudleys were the most serious contenders to the belts.  Many believed it
was just a matter of time before the title changed hands.  Sabu and Van Dam were no
slouches, though and they were not done carrying the tag belts around.  Earlier in the August
8th show, Sabu participated in a three-way dance along with Bam Bam Bigelow and Taz.  The
trio ended in a draw at the 30-minute mark.  On August 29th in Philadelphia, Sabu and Van
Dam beat the Dudleys to retain their title.  He wrestled a no-contest against the Triple Threat,
Bigelow, Shane Douglas and Chris Candido on September 19, 1998.  On his side were Van
Dam and Masato Tanaka.  He lost a singles match to Bigelow on October 10th in Philadelphia
and then teamed with Van Dam to lose the ECW World Tag Title to the Dudleys in Cleveland
on October 24th.

  Sabu returned to the Orient and teamed with Van Dam to regain the tag belts from the
Dudleys on December 13th in Tokyo.  A three-way dance between Tommy Dreamer and
Shane Douglas and the Dudley Boys was held on March 13, 1999 at the ECW Arena.  Sabu
and Van Dam were victorious.  His partner dropped a singles match to D-Von Dudley in
Buffalo on April 17th, and lost the World Tag Title for both men.  Sabu wrestled Van Dam on
October 23rd in Philadelphia for the TV Title.  It was a rematch from Wrestlepalooza, but the
result was exactly the same.  The two wrestled a second classic 30-minute, time-limit draw.

  On April 29th, Sabu appeared in Bakersfield, California for a Rob Black Xtreme Pro
Wrestling Card.  When Chris Candido failed to appear, he was stripped of the World Title.  
Promoters scheduled a tournament to decide a new champ.  Sabu beat The Messiah in the
final to capture the vacant XPW Title.  A long reign was ahead, but he wasn’t done yet.

  Sabu sneak attacked the newly crowned NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the Colorado
Kid on September 19, 2000 in Tampa.  Because of his actions, Sabu earned a World Title
shot on October 17th.  At the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory, Sabu and Mike Rapada battled to
a double-disqualification at Oktoberslam ’00.  He put the champion through a table.

  A second match was signed for November 14th in Tampa during the “Night of Decisions”
card at the Armory.  Sabu beat Rapada with a pin to capture the NWA World Heavyweight
Title before an estimated 500 fans.  Howard Brody signed another match for December 12th.  
Sabu retained.  In Nashville on December 22nd, Rapada beat him to regain the World Title.  
Sabu returned to California.

  Despite the injuries he has sustained in his career, Sabu continues to stun fans where ever
he appears.

TITLE HISTORY:
  -Co-holder of the FMW World Tag Team Title (1992) w/ Horace Boulder
  -NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Television Title (1993-’94) defeated Terry Funk
  -NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Champion (1993) defeated Shane
          Douglas
  -NWA World Independent Heavyweight Title (1994) defeated Al Snow, vacant title
          victory
  -A three-time co-holder of the ECW World Tag Team Title
          w/ Tasmaniac (1995) defeated Public Enemy
          w/ Rob Van Dam (1998) defeated Chris Candido and Lance Storm
          w/ Rob Van Dam (1998) defeated The Dudley Boys
  -NWC World Heavyweight Title (1995)
  -IWGP World Junior Heavyweight Title (1995) defeated Koji Kanamoto
  -UWA World Junior Heavyweight Title (1995) defeated Gran Hamada        
  -ECW World Heavyweight Title (1997) defeated Terry Funk
  -ECW FTW World Heavyweight Title (1998-’99) defeated Justin Credible and Taz
  -BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Title (2000-’01) defeated Scott D’Amore
  -XPW World Heavyweight Title (2000-’01) defeated The Messiah, tournament final
  -NWA World Heavyweight Title (2000) defeated Mike Rapada
  -IWF World Heavyweight Title (2001-’02) defeated Corporal Robinson, vacant title
          victory



Research by Tim Hornbaker
Sabu Wrestling History
Custom Search
PPV Ring Record        TV Ring Record        Career Record
Legends of Pro Wrestling