Sabu

[8.0] "Sabu was one of the most fearless and innovative wrestlers of his era, a performer whose work was defined not by polish, but by chaos, danger, and an uncompromising commitment to pushing the limits of what the human body could endure. His style was never meant to be clean or conventional; it was raw, volatile, and often uncomfortable, and that was precisely the point. Whether in ECW or Japan, Sabu forged a legacy built on blood, broken tables, and moments that felt genuinely out of control. His matches could be messy and unpredictable, but that unpredictability was the appeal. Sabu lived up to his moniker every time he stepped into the ring: "The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying Maniac." He blended hardcore wrestling with high-flying offense in a way few had ever attempted, using chairs, tables, and barbed wire not as gimmicks, but as essential tools of his art. He was willing to sacrifice his own body, sometimes to a shocking degree, to give the audience something they had never seen before. Sabu is often misunderstood because he rejected many of the traditional aspects of professional wrestling. He didn't care for promos, flashy entrances, tightly scripted matches, or even money. What drove him was wrestling itself; wrestling as a creative art form rather than a job. He wanted to wrestle his way, on his terms, and he was unapologetic about that. Even his mistakes, real or perceived, became part of the mythology; at times he would deliberately push beyond safety and structure just to see what was possible. An innovator and a cult icon, Sabu left his mark on multiple promotions and inspired countless wrestlers who followed. His name is forever synonymous with hardcore wrestling and the ECW style that redefined an entire era. Whatever criticisms may exist, his influence is undeniable, and his passion for wrestling was absolute. Sabu will be remembered not just for what he endured, but for what he gave to the industry, and for proving that wrestling could be as dangerous, creative, and boundary-pushing as the performer was willing to make it. May he rest peacefully."

[10.0] "Sabu is someone who literally put his all in what he did in the ring. He had put his body on the line and has scars all over his body from what he's done. He once had tore his bicep during his match against Terry Funk at ECW's Born to be Wired 1997. He is a legend of the wrestling business and kept true to himself and what he believed was right in the business. RIP to Sabu."

[10.0] "A deathmatch god and one of my fucking goats! I don't get why he has such a low rating I think he's amazing but then again not a lot of people like that kinda stuff. Rip sabu you are missed by everyone"

[10.0] "A legend who never got his just do. An absolute innovator and trendsetter. The guy changed the business in so many ways with his style of wrestling. Some may argue it wasn't a good thing, but it happened nonetheless. When you have that kind of an impact on a business that had been around for almost 100 years by the time he entered it.... it means a lot. But outside of his impact, the guy was a blast for me to watch growing up. I LOVED his matches and I loved his look plus aura. Just an awesome performer who gave EVERYTHING he had any time he stepped through those ropes. He will be forever missed."

[9.0] "One of the bravest and most innovative wrestlers ever. He wasn't just your typical harcore wrestler, he was a literal genius, always ready to invent some new crazy spots. Very few people in history of pro wrestling ever risked their life in that ring like this man. He was actually a pretty solid in-ring performer as well, and probably one of the most athetical gifted hardcore wrestlers ever. His promos were fine, and his character back in the '90s was scary as hell. I really don't care about botches, when you try spots that dangerous and complicated every single week, it's normal to fail some of them."

[10.0] "Some of the furthest dedication to pro wrestling I have ever seen. I'm grateful to have lived in ECW's area during their heyday and it's hard to convey just how innovative and captivating his matches were. I can't say enough good about him."

[8.0] "I like any wrestler who is willing to do dumb shit for my entertainment and Sabu did lots of dumb shit while being one of the most exciting wrestlers on earth."

[7.0] "Sabu was a star of ECW. He helped build that company off of his wild out of control style. His matches are very much a mixed bag as he can have a match with a ton of botches or a classic. RIP Sabu"

[8.0] "Sabu was one of the most fearless and innovative wrestlers of his era. His style wasn't about crisp technique--it was about chaos, danger, and pushing the limits of what a human body could endure. From ECW to Japan, he built a legacy on blood, broken tables, and unforgettable moments. Sure, his matches could be messy and unpredictable, but that was the appeal. He lived up to his nickname every night--"The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying Maniac." A true cult icon of hardcore wrestling."

[10.0] "A man who truly loved wrestling as a creative artform, rather than just as a job. Sabu mixed hardcore wrestling with high flying, loved using chairs, tables and barbed wire. He botched moves on purpose and was willing to go further than most to entertain the fans. Sabu is a very misunderstood wrestling, but he truly loved wrestling for the wrestling itself. He didn't like promos, he didn't care for flashy entrances, he didn't like scripted matches with agents and he didn't even care about money, he just wanted to wrestle his style. He was an innovator, a legend who contributed to multiple promotions. His name is definitely synonymous with hardcore wrestling, and ECW's style of wrestling. Sabu will go down in history for his contributions as he inspired many and may he rest peacefully."

[6.0] "If you're talking in the realm of ECW and hardcore wrestling, theres few more sinonimos with the genre than Sabu. Wasn't the best-in ring technician but was athletic as all hell and was innovative at that more hardcore, deathmatch style of wrestling. I'm not gonna lie and say I was a super fan of his work because I wasn't, I was too young to watch the ECW stuff in the 90s and I got my first glimpse of him in TNA in the early 2000s and then we he came to WWE for that failed ECW relaunch. That being said, dude literally sacrificed his body and mind for the glory of our entertainment. I can only imagine the pain he must of have been in and had to endure on a daily basis from all the bumps and bruises throughout the years. RIP Sabu"

[9.0] "No one voluntarily launched themselves onto as much concrete, guard railing and fans, or through as many tables & chairs as this mad, mad bastard did. Yes he missed the first part of the triple jump nigh on every match but Sabu took more risks in a month than other far more decorated Superstars took in entire careers. Probably the best chair wielder ever, he had solid technical fundamentals too - see any of his matches with Taz. He and RVD were just great together, whether tagging or bickering. Often both. Great entertainer, gimmick and theme music, there's only one Sabu."

[10.0] "One of the most innovative and influential wrestlers of all time. Did and said a lot of crazy things outside of the ring, not an ideal person, but did a lot of good things, and you have to know life took a toll on his mind and body. He shaped wrestling forever, and elevated others in ways you probably can't measure. Timing was never quite right for him, and he got the runs his influence and work deserved in WCW (thank Paul Heyman for that), WWE, TNA, MLW, or even ECW (I think people forget his ECW World Championship run was only 8 days long with no successful defenses). Nonetheless, on a national/international level, he worked for pretty much every major company, held the ECW and NWA world titles, and challenged John Cena, The Big Show and Rey Mysterio for WWE's three World Championships. Other significant accomplishments included three runs with ECW's World Tag Team Championships, the FTW Championship (since revived in AEW), ECW's King of the Hill rumble, and titles in NJPW and FMW. In what was left of "the territories, " he had title success in Stampede, WWC, and the Eastern iteration of ECW where he held their Heavyweight and Television Championships between 93-94. He was beyond in demand on the independent scene also and held some notable titles in XPW, JCW, USA Pro, in addition to appearances for companies like EVOLVE, GCW and ICW (where he faced Drew McIntyre for the World Championship in 2015)."

[8.0] "Sabu innovated the hardcore scene that is seen today worldwide, Mexico, Japan, Puerto Rico, Brazil, UK in the 2010s. Everything points to a small company called Eastern Championship Wrestling commonly known as Extreme Championship Wrestling, Sabu wrestled in almost every single period of the company including WWE. His legacy is summed up above the states, Japan into 6 words, Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying and Glorifying"

"[9.0] One of the all time hardcore legends! So many insane matches it's impossible to list them all, besides the Barbed Wire matches and rivalry and tag run with RVD. RIP, Sabu!"

[8.0] "Sabu was always special. He had it all: athletic, bloodthirsty, and most of all: he had presence. He was basically good at everything. If you want to see something bloody, he's got it. If you want to see something with more skill, he's got it. Perhaps the most complete and explosive hardcore wrestler who ever lived. RIP Sabu. He had a dignified retirement against Joey Janela a month before his passing. He retired with honor."

[7.0] "Not the best technical wrestler and as a high flyer he made A LOT of botches. However, he was fully dedicated to his work and put his all into every match. He also had a lot of charisma which is amazing because during his full time career he never spoke."

[8.0] "The most important wrestler of the 1990s. This dude has so many sons in this industry. So many smarks gravitated towards him when WWF & WCW put on some of the most uninspiring products in the mid-1990s. The chair duel with Rey Mysterio sold me on him, leaving me wanting to watch more of him. Went out with a bang, giving Joey Janela his only interesting match of his career less than a month ago. Rest in peace to one of the true pioneers of the more gritty and visceral styles of pro wrestling."

[8.0] "Great for what his role was - taking it to the extreme. He was fun to watch in WWECW and even in TNA, supposedly both were after his prime."

[7.0] "Rest in Peace Sabu What a legend! My rating is unbiased, even though I love this wrestler; he revolutionized hardcore wrestling, and his run in ECW was simply fantastic; not to mention the rest of his career in FMW, or even TNA and WWE for the main stream. But technically, he was limited and a king of botch, but so entertaining... without saying a word! A great man has left us, and I hope he is honored properly."

[7.0] "Not a terribly good wrestler but one of those guys where it doesn't really matter all that much. I'd say he's got all the strengths and weaknesses of a Hayabusa, actually. Great look, great music, great gimmick... not as good as you remember at the in-ring stuff."

[7.0] "A revolutionary talent who did some incredible things. But fucking hell he botched a lot and was as smooth as sandpaper."

[10.0] "The most chaotic wrestler of his era. Sabu was intentionally botching moves just to make the match feel wilder or more hectic. Sabu could work with virtually anybody from any style and still make the match have that wild Sabu energy. He has a 30 year career and never shifted down. One of the greatest of all time in my opinion."

[8.0] "Sabu might be the greatest botch-machine in the history of professional wrestling. From a pure entertainment perspective he's hard to beat. You just can't take your eyes off him."

[8.0] "Sabu when he was young and in his prime was incredible and it's still impressive he can go with all the damage he has taken over all the years of hardcore spots"

[7.0] "Fantastic wrestler, somebody who is truly underrated by people and doesn't get talked about as much as he should. Wasn't the most elegant in-ring, botched a fair bit, but that's because he was doing some pretty crazy stuff that nobody else was attempting. You can look past the botches because he was trying to do something cool and he had the wrestling ability to make things work if a mistake was made. Had a great match against Rey Mysterio at ONS and a pretty damn decent match against Cena on RAW back in the day, aside from that WWE didn't utilize him at all, which is a damn shame because he's a great worker. His classic ECW and Japan stuff is worth watching, wouldn't recommend going out of your way to watch his WWE stuff aside from the Rey/Cena match. Deserves a lot more respect than he currently gets, great worker."

[10.0] "Sabu might be my goat when it comes to ECW wrestling, something that's been special to me since I started watching wrestling. Sabu has been a part of so many of the best and most exciting matches of all time and is one of the meanest and most brutal wrestlers to ever live, and he exhibits pure artistry in the ring."

[8.0] "You never quite know what you'll get from a Sabu match - and that's a good thing. Some have called him a botch machine but to me that only increases his appeal - he's out of control, wild so it should stand to reason that he'd be a high risk, high rewards kind of wrestler. Absolutely enthralling to watch, effortlessly cool. He might not be the most technically skilled wrestler, may not be a maestro on the mic, but when you have everything else Sabu has, you dont need any of that"

[6.0] "I think the first time I saw Sabu was his cup of coffee in late 95 WCW. Dude was doing table spots back then and the concept was lost on the kiddy audience. Going to ECW was the best move because his style was a few years ahead of what the WWF and WCW wanted, then later they tried biting off ECW. Only downside was the insane risks he would take severely damaged his body and he was burning out by the early 2000's. By 2007, he was treated like a sad broken old man by many of the same people who lauded him in the late 90's."

[10.0] "Ok so my basic criteria for a rating is "how watchable are they? ", but some of you know this. I preface this for some cases because. He's not my favorite. But if I fast forward you get an instant ZERO. And what if I rewind, rewatch, rewind, rewatch, rewind etc etc? I don't do this because he's "good", but I do this because "what the hell? ! ? ". Now, rightly or wrongly, based exclusively on that - he has to receive a 10. I could watch a Sabu match once, and then turn the next hour into me rewatching it bit by bit. Extensive autopsy of a vehicle collision."

[8.0] "A highly underrated pioneer. While Sabu may be known for his botches, when he does land a move correctly no one can make it look as good as he does. Perhaps more deserving of praise however is Sabu? s sheer dedication to the sport of wrestling. Torn open biceps, broken jaws, broken necks? None of them ever stopped him from preforming."

[8.0] "Sabu is one of the most influential wrestlers of the modern era and gets very little credit for it. He never cut promos but still managed to draw heat and sell tickets. Simply put, Sabu put ECW on the map as something truly different from WWF, WCW, or any other indie promotion. As he accrued injuries, his work became sloppier, certainly, but his commitment to his craft was unquestioned. He also used psychology in his matches, which many overlook and is quickly becoming a lost art amongst risk-taker type wrestlers currently. His feud with Taz was spectacular and one of the biggest selling points for ECW in the late 90's. Simply put, Sabu influenced an entire generation of wrestlers, had great matches, gave his body and soul for the business, and did it well."

[6.0] "Sabu is at his best when you go on YouTube and watch his highlights because if you watch some of his matches from outside of ECW, you'll find that he was a one-trick pony in a lot of ways. For instance, his stuff in All Japan was actually kind of bad. Nevertheless, he is an ECW legend for good reason and a genuine badass."

[7.0] "Sabu is a legend. However he waited entirely to long to come to the wwe. He could have got a good and long run in there especially after mic foley had retired just before the first ecw guys came in. He could have gotten so many guys over on his name and willingness to take a beating, and he wouldn? t have been asked to do anywhere near the level of crazy he was doing in ecw."

[6.0] "At the time he was a way above average hardcore wrestler: at a time when most workers in that sector were either too old to go anymore or just had no idea what a "Figure Four" was, Sabu was pretty exciting to watch. The fact he spent most of his early career in the Onita-Era FMW basically shaped everything he later did and even at a time when workers like Zandig and Jun Kasai were introducing either more and more disturbing skits or actual wrestling into hardcore and death match settings, Sabu basically remained the same c. 1995 FMW wrestler, or at least he did until his body held up. Sabu also has a somehow exaggerated reputation for being very mistake-prone, which I think stems from the fact he had absolutely no problem trying to do crazy stuff not even Will Ospreay and Ricochet would attempt: the man is either completely fearless or completely out of his mind."

[6.0] "A nice spot monkey and had some good matches under his belt with the right guy pacing around his antics, but I never seen Sabu as anything beyond that. His actual wrestling is barely beyond average and his understanding of ring psychology is basically null. He's fun in small doses and his gimmick worked well in the hardcore setting he worked in, but there's nothing else of real value to work with there. Less said about his later work, the better."

[5.0] "Never was a major Sabu fan due to his recklessness in the ring and his lack of good match quality. Theres a difference between working stiff and strong style versus being pure dangerous. And Sabu was the definition of dangerous. However, he is a pioneer of hardcore wrestling and I due respect him putting his life on the line to satisfy us fans, so I thank him for that!"

[8.0] "One of the best things ECW had going for it. Loved him as a silent killer. His in ring actions and scar covered body spoke words so his mouth didn't have to. He did botch & I think he's undeservedly remembered for a lot of that today. But his style worked so the botches kind of made sense... he was just so unorthodox & uncaring that finesse went out the window. He slips off a rope, he'll try again because he's a maniac."

[6.0] "Sabu is better than what his Botchamania reputation but worse than his cagematch net rating would have you believe. Classic case of one of those guys who weren't that great at wrestling and instead chose to do ridiculous and dangerous things to their bodies to get over. Certainly worked for him."

[8.0] "Great in his ECW days. he was a daredevil with high flying moves. Hardcore legend in many barbwire matches. Feud with Tazz was amazing. After ECW he was not the same. I remember watching him in WWE and he started to get sloppy. Probably cause of age. Today he still wrestles with a bad hip and limps. He needs to retire"

[6.0] "Sabu was undoubtedly one of the hardest workers around, and he popularized a lot of things related to what people call 'hardcore wrestling'. But as a worker, Sabu is greatly overrated. He could do some great spots, but he was very sloppy in setting them up, and his actual wrestling was substandard."

[10.0] "Up there with Dynamite Kid, Shawn Michaels, and Rey Mysterio, Jr. as one of the most influential wrestlers ever."

[8.0] "Sabu is a genuine badass, very skilled wrestler and a pioneer of hardcore wrestling in the US. One example of his more well known acts of badassery was in a match with Terry Funk, where he tore his bicep open by 11 inches, and just taking it up. Sabu is also one of the people who got me into wrestling, and I very much appreciated it."

[10.0] "Revolutionary style and one of my all time top 5. The stuff he was doing in ECW was lightyears ahead of its time and he could have an amazing match with just about anyone out there in his prime."

[10.0] "sabu is the definition of hardcore wrestling. the countless number of barbed wire and weapons matches are truly amazing"

[8.0] "To hear some people tell it, Sabu botched every single move he ever did. In reality, you watch a Sabu match and chances are he connected enough for it to be entertaining. Sure, he botched more than his fair share (not because he was clumsy but because he was absolutely fearless about doing crazy things), but his propensity for botches is one of those wrestling legends that's based in truth but grows every time someone tells the story. He had some great feuds and matches over the years, with opponents & partners ranging from Taz to Rob Van Dam to Samoa Joe."

[7.0] "Leaning on the better side of the ECW fence is Sabu, a unique character with a unique wrestling style. Hes a bit of a glorified stuntman but he makes everything he does, whether or not he botches, worth watching. His feuds with RVD and Terry Funk are great, with his barbed wire match against Funk being a notable standout in both Sabus and Funks career. I don't usually care for those kindsa matches but they made the best of a garbage can kinda match (I should probably give it a proper review sometime). Sabu might be one of the bigger missed opportunities as far as post-ECW is concerned."

[10.0] "entertaining car wreck... was someone fans would drive hours to go see when he was still healthy and could go... botched moves all the time but it was because he was trying insane things. clearly loved the business to the point he would risk his life for it couldnt play the politics game to ever get locked into a promotion but everyone used him anyhow because he was money."

[8.0] "Sabu is one of better workers that worked in the hardcore style. He did a lot of exciting crazy things in Extreme Championship Wrestling. I felt like he did okay in WWE. He probably could have gotten a better run there if he didn't create so many issues for himself."

[8.0] "Sabu is a truly one-of-a-kind wrestler, known for his extreme style, insane risks and steel-chair artistry. His style was primarily spot-based and he is somewhat notorious for sometimes botching his aerial offense, but it's a style that contrasts well with many of his opponents and can work in his favor to create compelling and often jaw-dropping matches. Still appears regularly on the indy circuit and, though he's perhaps lost a few steps in recent years, he's still able to pull off many of his signature spots to please the crowd."