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Chicken bone match, exploding ring match, barb wire match (including having to duct tape his arm back together and finish the match), the list goes on. This dude was legendary in my circle of friends, but definitely is a bit of an unsung hero in wrestling as a whole.

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

Not to mention that match with his uncle the Shiek as his partner where the ring caught on fire.

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zenerNoodle@reddit

He did appear very briefly on Monday Night in early 1997, during the quickly ignored ECW Invasion. As a fan at the time, I was hyped for it and sad it didn't go anywhere.

Pretty sure he also appeared on one of the early Monday Nitros for WCW.

But, yeah, nothing worked as well as seeing him in his natural environment.

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

I was so excited when he showed up there. He did WCW for a short while in 1995 and wrestled Jerry Lynn, Disco Inferno and Alex Wright. I recorded all of those matches. It was the first time I got to see Sabu wrestle without having to pay for a video I was so excited that he had apparently made it to the big time. But he was never one to be confined to their rules. He didn’t last long in both organizations.

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taita2004@reddit

He did...and in fact, he is all over the most recent episode of Dark Side of the Ring about his uncle The Sheik. If you haven't seen it, it's really good. The whole series in fact.

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zenerNoodle@reddit

I'll have to give it a look. Love good stories about the old territory days.

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taita2004@reddit

Its a show on the Vice channel, but iff you have Hulu, I'm pretty sure the first 5 seasons are on there. And they'll post some random episodes to YouTube on occasion

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HBK42581@reddit

I was lucky enough to see ECW live a few times in its heyday and they were the most insane live wrestling shows I have ever been to. RIP Sabu!!

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

Lucky! I wish I had been lucky enough to be in the audience but I was a broke poor teenager in the south. No way I could ever make it to the ECw arena. I couldn’t even watch it until they got the TNN deal.

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alliwantedwasajetski@reddit

Next to RVD, probably the most innovative and influential pro wrestler of the last thirty years. If you're watching a match today, chances are you're going to see something he popularized/innovated.

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

Seriously the way his mind worked to come up with his move set was amazing. The balance it took to execute his moves was insane. More influential than Hogan or Cena.

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Roscoe_P_Trolltrain@reddit

Speaking of RVD I went to an ECW show and was sat along the big entrance aisle but in an awkward spot kind of behind a little fence and he went out of his way to come back and slap my hand after his match. Legend!

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Madolah@reddit

I not Only knew him growing up, I befriended the fucker from Indy Wrestling Scene.
Not anywhere on my Bingo card was smoking Joints watching Drugs INC on A&E With Sabu ?? Yet here we are.

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

So lucky to have smoked a joint with Sabu. Jealous

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Amibeaux@reddit

Loved watching him w/ Action Bronson on Traveling the Stars.

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Additional-Local8721@reddit

What did you think of Young Rock?

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Madolah@reddit

Never watched it honestly. I Enjoyed Glow , I tolerated some of Heels cause i know a few of them, but the 'tv drama sitcom' part of the shows arent for me. im not watching totaldivas either.
I will watch most every niche of wrestling offered though. WM weekend is basically a drug overdose of wrestling i feel drained from after...

But that might jsut being the staying up 16hrs a day 4 days in a row to watch wrestling when not doing work contracts 😅

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brandiLeeCO@reddit

My favorite wrestler of all time. I think I first became aware of Sabu thru that old PWI wrestling magazine. I saw photos of a match he had with Rob Van Dam. I lived in a region that didn’t get ECW TV (Houston) so I came across RF Video which sold the tapes of the weekly ECw show and man had never seen such a ground breaking wrestler. Some of the stuff he was doing was light years ahead of its time. Someone compared it to what it was like when NIN was coming around in the late 80s, a sign of things to come. Anyone remember his first stint with the big time WCw? I do in 1995 when he wrestled a few matches in WCW. Finally I could see him on a regular basis or so I thought. I recorded all of his matches and watched them over and over. His moves were innovative, and I just went crazy with him going thru tables. He made my teen years so much fun watching him wrestle. By the time he came to the WWF I had quit watching as much. He wasn’t treated with the respect he deserved there anyways. A true legend of the game as important as Hogan. Turns out we shared the same first name all along and I never knew! RIP Sabu

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Few-Win8613@reddit

The homicidal, the suicidal, the genocidal… SAAAAABUUU!!!!

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wharpua@reddit

I once touched Koko B. Ware’s arm during his entrance at the old Boston Garden

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Marmar79@reddit

I thought my childhood was pretty excellent. Not knowing who this is has me second guessing everything

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Psycosteve10mm@reddit

Both Sabu and New Jack were awesome to watch on ECW.

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folawg@reddit

They were all awesome to watch. Add in tommy dreamer, sandman, Dudley brothers, RVD, Bam Bam Bigelow

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OutlawHemi99@reddit

Sabu! RIP to a legend

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DirtyDoog@reddit

SABU SABU SABU!

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kimchiman85@reddit

Iron shiek

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CharlieTrees916@reddit

Oh shit RIP Sabu. Just found out.

What a legend. Sabu, RVD, and New Jack were my favorites from ECW.

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HowOtterlyTerrible@reddit

Sabuuuuuuuuuuu!

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Tony_Tanna78@reddit

I remember first seeing Sabu on the weekly ECW show that came on late night in a lot of places back around 1995-96 and I was like Holy Shit! Watching him in action. We really lost another great. R.I.P. Sabu. 🙏

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CrunchyAssDiaper@reddit

I went to three ECW shows but never got to see Sabu live. He dug deeper for his sport than almost anybody else. Lots of respect. I hope he lived a happy life.

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TipsyRussell@reddit

Somewhere floating around is a picture of me as a kid sitting on his lap at a wedding. I really should go looking for that.

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LegallyReactionary@reddit

To this day, Sabu and Taz are always the first CAWs I make in any wrestling game I play.

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Helo7606@reddit

Well, teens for me. Didn't find him til I started watching ECW in the mid to late 90s.

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SlavaSobov@reddit

Awesome! Glad you got to come up to Philly. Being a Philly kid myself I was also into ECW.

Last year I got to show Sandman a Polaroid of him and me from like 25 years ago. Then we took a new photo.

25 years ago we were both wearing T-shirts, and 25 years later we were both wearing polo shirts. 😂

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Mabvll@reddit

Can't mention Sabu without showcasing one of the GOAT wrestling themes.

https://youtu.be/92IqOINTnfI?si=nCrT13lAHcBXk-Ry

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snwbrdngtr@reddit

Instantly makes me think of the Simpsons episode where Macho Man buys Burns’ house. “You won’t be the only wrestler in the neighborhood, the Shrieking Shiek lives down the road!”

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xtlhogciao@reddit

Wasn’t it Bret Hart?

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snwbrdngtr@reddit

Shit. Maybe?

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GutsAndBlackStufff@reddit (OP)

It was Bret

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snwbrdngtr@reddit

lol I’m clearly a bigger Simpsons fan than wrestling fan

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GutsAndBlackStufff@reddit (OP)

Savage did King of the Hill.

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craigsler@reddit

Also Space Ghost Coast to Coast...numerous times lol

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Papacreole@reddit

Wait that’s not the Iron Sheik?

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Bada__Ping@reddit

RIP Sabu

Saw him on the Legion of Skanks podcast a few days before he died. He said that last match didn’t count because he was knocked unconscious and wanted to do one more. Absolute badass

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BobGnarly_@reddit

I know that dude. That’s Steve. He owes me 12 bucks

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superthrust123@reddit

I went to a show with my dad, who had never seen ECW. He wasn't even a wrestling fan, he was just going to have something to do.

I will never forget the look on his face when Sabu started doing his thing. It completely blew his mind, and made for some fun times showing him old matches.

Thank you for the memories.

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GutsAndBlackStufff@reddit (OP)

gif

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GutsAndBlackStufff@reddit (OP)

Other Sheik