Chris Sabin

Sabin in November 2021

###

Pinckney, Michigan, United States

**Joshua "Josh" Harter** (born February 4, 1982) better known by his ring name **Chris Sabin**, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

After being trained by Scott D'Amore, Sabin debuted in 2000 for Border City Wrestling, and quickly began competing for numerous other independent promotions. In 2003, Sabin joined TNA, and quickly won the TNA X Division Championship, which he later unified with the WWA International Cruiserweight Championship. In 2004, he also wrestled for Ring of Honor. Throughout the next few years, Sabin competed mainly in TNA's X Division, until forming The Motor City Machine Guns with Alex Shelley in mid-2007.

Sabin has won 12 total championships while with TNA. He is a one-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion, a record nine-time X Division Champion, a one-time World Tag Team Champion with Alex Shelley, and (during a talent exchange with New Japan Pro Wrestling) a one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and the current one-time Strong Tag Team Champions also with Shelley. He has also won numerous titles on the independent circuit.

## Professional wrestling career

Harter began training as a wrestler in Michigan at the NWA Great Lakes Pro Wrestling School. After the school began experiencing difficulties, he travelled to Windsor, Ontario and completed his training under Scott D'Amore and "Amazing" N8 Mattson at the Can-Am Wrestling School. He debuted in 2000 after four months training as "Chris Sabin", and began working for D'Amore's Border City Wrestling promotion and for independent promotions in Michigan.

### Pro Wrestling Zero and New Japan (2006–2010, 2018–present)

On August 25, 2006 at Korauken Hall's ZERO-1 MAX show, Sabin and Alex Shelley became ZERO-1 MAX International Lightweight Tag Team Champions, when they defeated former champions, Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita. They held the titles for nearly two years, before dropping them to Minoru Fujita, and his new tag team partner, Takuya Sugawara, on April 6, 2008.

On January 4, 2009, Sabin and Shelley defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) at New Japan Pro Wrestling's *Wrestle Kingdom III* to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Sabin and Shelley lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) on July 5, 2009, at New Japan Pro Wrestling's *Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul*. On November 8, 2010, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth match between the two teams.

On May 7, 2018 Sabin was announced to take part of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He finished the tournament with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals. Sabin returned to NJPW from October 16 until November 1, taking part of the Super Jr. Tag League with KUSHIDA. They finished the tournament with a record of three wins and four losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament.

In October 2022, Sabin and Alex Shelley made their return to NJPW, winning the Strong Tag Team Championship from Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) on October 28 at Rumble on 44th Street, in a three-way match also involving Kevin Knight and The DKC.

## Personal life

Harter was inspired by Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart. Harter used the money he earned from working at Subway to pay to attend a wrestling school, but also took classes at a community college.

Harter plays bass in a band called The High Crusade, which also includes former TNA wrestlers Petey Williams and Alex Shelley, and their friends Adam Tatro and Chris Plumb. The band released their debut album, *It's Not What You Think*, on September 7, 2010.

In 2008, Sabin, along with Alex Shelley, appeared in an episode of MTV MADE, teaching a school boy the basics of professional wrestling.

An avid gamer, Sabin's ring name is derived from the character Sabin Rene Figaro from the video game *Final Fantasy VI* (originally released in America as *Final Fantasy III*).

Harter is a big fan of the band 311 and has used songs by the band as his entrance themes on numerous occasions. At Destination X 2007, held on March 11, a day known to the fans of the band as "311 Day", Harter referenced the occasion on his wrist band. He has also mentioned the band on TNA's web program TNA Today.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *All Hail Sabin* (Cross-legged fisherman driver)
	+ *Future Shock* (Cross-legged fisherman buster)
	+ Double hammerlock piledriver
	+ *Cradle Shock* (Cross-legged Samoan driver)
	+ *Over Easy* (Overhead gutwrench backbreaker rack flipped sideways into an implant DDT) – 2006, used rarely thereafter
* **Signature moves**
	+ Diving bulldog
	+ *Bum Rush* (Swinging side slam backbreaker)
	+ Diving crossbody
	+ Hurricanrana
	+ *Leap of Faith* (No–handed springboard suicide dive)
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Bicycle
		- Drop, sometimes while springboarding
		- Enzuigiri
		- *Hesitation Dropkick* (Running delayed low-angle drop to a tree of woe hung opponent)
		- Spinning sole
		- Running big boot
	+ Multiple powerbomb variations
		- Crucifix, sometimes into the turnbuckles
		- Release
		- Running sitout, sometimes into the turnbuckles
		- Spinning
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Dragon
		- German
		- Overhead belly-to-belly
		- Straight jacket
		- Tiger
	+ *Sabilizer* (Side slam backbreaker)
	+ Somersault plancha
	+ Suicide dive
	+ Springboard tornado DDT
	+ Straight jacket crossface
	+ Tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown
* **With Alex Shelley**
	+ **Double team finishing moves**
		- *ASCS Rush* (Spinning sole kick (Sabin) followed by a superkick (Shelley) followed by a simultaneous enzuigiri (Sabin) / superkick (Shelley) combination)
		- *Dirty Bomb* (Double elevated lift dropped into a sided Death Valley driver)
		- *Made in Detroit* (Sitout powerbomb (Sabin) / *Sliced Bread #2* (Shelley) combination)
		- *Skull and Bones* (Falling neckbreaker (Sabin) / Diving crossbody (Shelley) combination)
	+ **Double team signature moves**
		- Aided dropkick
		- Aided snap swinging neckbreaker
		- Aided standing *Sliced Bread #2*
		- *Air Raid* (Sabin holds an opponent in a fireman's carry while Shelley performs a diving double foot stomp onto the prone opponent followed by Sabin performing either a fireman's carry takeover onto Shelley's knees or the *Cradle Shock*)
		- Backbreaker hold (Sabin) / Diving knee drop (Shelley) combination
		- *Bullet Point* (Baseball slide (Shelley) followed by a *Hesitation Dropkick* (Sabin) to on an opponent held in the tree of woe position)
		- Doomsday dropkick
		- Double and stereo enzuigiris to one or two opponents respectively
		- Double superkick to a seated or a kneeling opponent
		- Inverted atomic drop by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the knees by Sabin followed by an inverted STF by Shelley followed by a running dropkick to the face of the opponent by Sabin
		- Irish whip by Sabin into a belly-to-belly suplex by Shelley, suplexing the opponent into his partner held in a tree of woe position
		- Kneeling side slam by Sabin followed by a frog splash by Shelley
		- *Motor City Machine Guns Sandwich* (Running arched big boot (Sabin) / Enzuigiri (Shelley) combination to a cornered opponent)
		- Reverse STO (Shelley) / Jumping enzuigiri (Sabin) combination
		- Simultaneous diving leg drop (Sabin) / diving splash (Shelley) combination
		- Spinning legsweep (Sabin) / Spinning wheel kick (Shelley) combination
		- Springboard dropkick by Sabin into a reverse STO by Shelley
		- Standing inverted Indian deathlock surfboard by Shelley followed into a springboard diving leg drop to the back of an opponent's head by Sabin
		- *Thunder Express* (Inverted sitout side powerslam (Shelley) / Running cutter (Sabin) combination)
* **Nicknames**
	+ "The Future"
* **Entrance themes**
	+ **"Hail Sabin"** by Dale Oliver

## Championships and accomplishment

* **All Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ AJPW Junior League (2007)
* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Alex Shelley
	+ Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Alex Shelley
* **Pro Wrestling Illustrated**
	+ PWI Tag Team of the Year (2010) – with Alex Shelley
	+ PWI ranked him #**28** of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2007
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Alex Shelley
* **Wrestling Observer Newsletter**
	+ Rookie of the Year (2003)
	+ Worst Worked Match of the Year (2006) TNA Reverse Battle Royal on TNA Impact!

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Milner, John M.. Chris Sabin . SLAM! Sports. Retrieved on 2009-01-26.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Chris Sabin Profile . Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Baines, Tim 2007-03-04. Champ Sabin proving to be X-tra special . SLAM! Sports. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
4. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-01-04. 1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan . WrestleView. Retrieved on 2010-03-31.
5. ↑ Martin, Adam 2009-04-02. Spoilers: Impact tapings for 4/9-16 . WrestleView.com. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
6. ↑ Golden, Hunter 2009-04-09. Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #19 . WrestleView.com. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Keller, Wade 2009-04-19. Keller's TNA Lethal Lockdown PPV report 4/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live PPV event . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
8. ↑ Golden, Hunter 2009-07-08. Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #32 . WrestleView.com. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
9. ↑ Kojima vs. Nakamura set! And other big December matches… . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-11-08). Retrieved on 2010-11-08.
10. ↑ (Results) New Japan, 12/11/10 & Liger wins another title in USA . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-12-11). Retrieved on 2010-12-11.
11. ↑ (Results) New Japan, 12/12/10 . *Strong Style Spirit* (2010-12-12). Retrieved on 2010-12-12.
12. ↑ Johnson, Stephen Dean 2009-11-04. Petey Williams adapts to a new life . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2010-05-24.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Mackinder, Matt 2010-09-04. Shelley, Sabin, Petey jam on debut CD . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2010-09-07.
14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `SLAM! - motoring`
15. ↑ MTV MADE, episode 70 . MTV. Retrieved on 2008-07-27.
16. ↑ Robinson, Jon 2007-01-12. Chris Sabin interview . IGN. Retrieved on 2013-09-01.
17. ↑ From The Shelf- PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2014 Night Two February 24, 2015 posted by Dylan Diot .
18. ↑ Roster . *Pro Wrestling Guerrilla*. Retrieved on 2015-05-07.
19. ↑ CALDWELL'S TNA IMPACT RESULTS 5/2 (Hour 1): Ongoing "virtual-time" coverage of Impact - Sabin returns to TV . *PWTorch*.
20. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `TNA`
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Sabin's finishing moves .
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 6/19 TNA Slammiversary PPV: Caldwell's "Alternative Perspective" Review .
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 11/5 TNA Turning Point PPV review: Garty's detailed "alt perspective" report .
24. ↑ CALDWELL'S TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS PPV REPORT 2/8: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Sting & Angle vs. Team 3D .
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Vetter, Chris 2005-06-22. DVD Review: PWG “All Star Weekend, Night 2,” April 2, 2005, with Styles-Super Dragon, Hero-Daniels . *PWTorch*. Retrieved on 2009-12-21.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 KELLER'S TNA DESTINATION PPV REPORT 3/12: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of live event .
27. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2008-12-26. Impact Results – 12/25/08 – Orlando, FL . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-12-21.
28. ↑ Caldwell, James 2009-04-17. Impact Results – 4/16/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-12-21.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 4/24 TNA Lockdown PPV: Caldwell's "Alternative Perspective" Review .
30. ↑ TNA FINAL RESOLUTION FLASHBACK - Inaugural event (01-16-05): Stroke vs. Pounce, Old School Cameos, "Survivor" Celebrity, Immortal & Fortune go way back .
31. ↑ Caldwell, James 2009-03-27. Impact Results – 3/26/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-12-21.
32. ↑ "December 5, 2007". *TNA Today*. 2007-12-05.
33. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2009-04-09. Impact Results – 4/9/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
34. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2010-07-01. Impact Results – 7/1/10 . WrestleView. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
35. ↑ Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010-08-12). "TNA Reaction ep. 1". *TNA Reaction*. Season 1. Episode 1. approx. 13 minutes in. Spike.
36. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2010-09-05. TNA No Surrender live match-by-match coverage . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2010-09-05.
37. ↑ Parks, Greg 2009-10-18. Parks' TNA Bound for Glory PPV report 10/18: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of the pre-game and first hour of the show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-19.
38. ↑ Caldwell's TNA Impact report 4/10: Ongoing coverage of Spike TV show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
39. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `WholeFnShow`
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 ROH – Good Times Great Memories DVD Review . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
41. ↑ TNA Impact Results – 10/30/08 – Orlando, FL . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Impact Results – 5/21/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
43. ↑ 8/2 ROH in New York City: Nigel defends ROH Title in four-way match, Pearce vs. Albright for new NWA Title, Marufuji vs. Shiozaki . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
44. ↑ Break It Down: PWG Ninety-Nine . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
45. ↑ Caldwell's TNA Impact report 1/10: Ongoing coverage of Spike TV show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
46. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2009-05-15. Impact Results – 5/14/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Boutwell, Josh 2009-05-03. Impact Results – 5/3/10 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-07-02.
48. ↑ Van Der Griend, Blaine 2010-03-05. Impact: Hulk-a-mania running wild! . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2011-01-11.
49. ↑ Csonka, Larry 2010-03-21. 411’s TNA Destination X Report 3.21.10 . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2010-03-31.
50. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2010-07-08. Impact Results – 7/8/10 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2010-07-09.
51. ↑ My Take On 12.27.07: The Top TNA Matches of 2007 . *411Mania*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
52. ↑ Keller's TNA Impact report 7/16: Results, star ratings, thoughts, observations, nitpicks, quotebook . Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
53. ↑ Impact Results – 2/12/09 . *WrestleView*. Retrieved on 2009-10-10.
54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 Cagematch profile . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2009-12-21.
55. ↑ Achievement Awards: Tag Team of the Year . *Pro Wrestling Illustrated* (2011-01-14). Retrieved on 2011-01-15.
56. ↑ Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 – 2007 . Wrestling Information Archive. Retrieved on 2009-03-21.