Sabu

Sabu made three appearances for the World Wrestling Federation. He defeated Scott Taylor in a dark match for *Monday Night Raw* on October 18, 1993. He lost to Owen Hart the next night for a dark match on *Wrestling Challenge* and the 20, defeated Scott Taylor again in a dark match on *WWF Superstars of Wrestling*.

In 1993, Sabu joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). According to the storyline, Sabu, who at that time often arrived to the ring by his handler 911, was an uncontrollable madman strapped to a gurney with a face mask while trying to break free. Sabu could only be released from his bonds to wrestle his matches. Sabu also quickly became synonymous with table-breaking at this time; if a table was not broken during the match, Sabu would break a table with his own body after the bell had sounded, sometimes leading to 911 having to restrain Sabu during backstage interviews if a table was present.

The most significant matches during the early part of Sabu's career in ECW came about by defeating Terry Funk to win the ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the ECW World Television Championship in a title versus title dream partner tag team match. Also, he was a part in the three-way-dance for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at *The Night the Line Was Crossed*, against Terry Funk and Shane Douglas, which went to a one-hour time limit draw; and his tag team feud with The Public Enemy in which Sabu and his partner The Tazmaniac captured the ECW World Tag Team Championship in a double tables match. Another notable event occurred in April 1995 when, after being scheduled for a three-way-dance for the ECW World Tag Team Titles, Sabu no–showed the event, which led to Paul Heyman publicly and legitimately fire Sabu at the event.

Sabu made his World Championship Wrestling (WCW) debut on the September 11, 1995 episode of *WCW Monday Nitro* against Alex Wright. Sabu won the match, but the decision was reversed when, after the match, he put Wright through a table. Sabu continued to wrestle some of the cruiserweights in WCW in the early days of the division, including a match against Mr. J.L. at Halloween Havoc. Sabu came out victorious against Mr. J.L. and, following the match, Sabu's uncle The Sheik shot J.L. in the face with his trademark fireball. His last match in WCW was against Disco Inferno, which Sabu won.

Sabu returned to ECW on November 18, 1995 at November to Remember, and eventually engaged in matches and feuds with the likes of Rob Van Dam, with whom he later teamed up with and won the ECW World Tag Team Championship twice. In the meantime, former tag team partner Tazmaniac (who had shortened his name to "Taz") began to publicly challenge Sabu at every given opportunity, but got no response. After a year of call-outs and insults from Taz, Heyman revealed that he had asked Sabu, as a friend, to ignore Taz's challenge. This standoff culminated in a grudge match at ECW's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, which Taz won. Following the match, Taz's manager Bill Alfonso turned on him and sided with Sabu and Rob Van Dam, who then formed a tag team. Sabu and Taz continued to feud on and off for the remainder of Taz's ECW career.

Sabu was later included in the WWF invasion angle, in which ECW wrestlers invaded WWF's *Monday Night Raw* program and held ECW-style matches and angles on the show. One memorable moment occurred at this show when Sabu appeared during a match and prepared for an aerial move off the "R" in the "RAW" lettered entryway onto Team Taz members, but accidentally fell off the "R". This invasion angle also led to a heel turn for Sabu in ECW, along with Van Dam and Alfonso, who began promoting the virtues of the WWF product over ECW's. Sabu feuded with ECW loyalists Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman during this period.

One of Sabu's most infamous matches was the no-rope barbed-wire match with Terry Funk at *Born to be Wired*, a match which was promoted as being "too extreme even for ECW". In one of the most memorable moments in ECW history, Sabu attempted the "Air Sabu" corner splash on Funk, but Terry moved and Sabu ended up colliding violently into the wire which tore open his biceps. He then asked his manager Bill Alfonso for some tape and after Alfonso went to get some Sabu began to tape the approximately 10 inch gash up. The match ended with both men so badly tangled up together in the barbed wire that it took several ring technicians armed with wire cutters to free them from the predicament.

In 2005, Sabu made an appearance at the WWE-produced ECW reunion show, One Night Stand, where he defeated Rhyno.

At the One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2006, Sabu faced Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship. At the end of the match, Mysterio found himself standing on a ringside table with Sabu flying at him. Sabu caught the champ in a front facelock and nailed him with a DDT which caused both men to crash through the table. At this point, the WWE medical staff rushed to the injured men and declared neither man could continue and ordered the match stopped, resulting in a no contest in which Mysterio kept his title.

On the June 13 premiere of *ECW on Sci Fi*, Sabu won a 10-man extreme battle royal with the stipulation that the winner face John Cena at Vengeance. Sabu further fueled the feud during the next week's *Raw*, when he interfered in a Cena match and performed a *Triple Jump Leg Drop* on him, diving onto Cena and putting him through the announcers' table. Cena defeated Sabu in their "Extreme Lumberjack match" at Vengeance. He defeated Stevie Richards in an Extreme Rules match at *Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIII*.

Towards the end of July, Sabu began to talk on camera for himself – instead of using a go between – and demanded a shot at The Big Show's ECW World Championship, which Paul Heyman refused to grant him in order to "protect" his champion. Instead he forced him into a match against the returning Kurt Angle to determine a number one contender. When that match was interrupted by the returning Rob Van Dam, another match was signed: Angle versus Van Dam versus Sabu for the number one contendership (Angle then became too injured to compete and was pulled from the match). Sabu beat Rob Van Dam in their ladder match to win a shot at Big Show at SummerSlam, a match which he ended up losing.

At Survivor Series, Sabu teamed up with John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Rob Van Dam and Kane to face the team of The Big Show, Test, Montel Vontavious Porter, Finlay and Umaga. Sabu eliminated Test following a Tornado DDT, but he was later eliminated by Big Show via pinfall after receiving a chokeslam. In the end, Team Cena gained victory. At December to Dismember, Sabu was originally set to appear in the main event, an Extreme Elimination Chamber match against The Big Show, Test, Rob Van Dam, CM Punk and Bobby Lashley, but was "taken out" and replaced by Hardcore Holly. On the following episode of *ECW*, CM Punk and Rob Van Dam got on the mic before their match with Test and Hardcore Holly and dedicated the match to Sabu. When Punk and Van Dam won the match, Paul Heyman and his security team came out and began to beat down on the two. Sabu later made his return with a heavily wrapped arm to make the save. Sabu made his Royal Rumble match debut in the 2007 Royal Rumble on January 28, where he was eliminated by Kane after receiving a chokeslam over the top rope and through a table.

Sabu then joined the ECW Originals along with Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman. The ECW Originals began a feud with the New Breed (Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von and Matt Striker). The two teams faced off in a match at WrestleMania 23, in which the ECW Originals won. On the April 3 edition of *ECW*, the ECW Originals faced the New Breed again in a rematch, which the New Breed won after Burke performed the *Elijah Express* on Sabu through a table.

Sabu's final WWE match was on the May 1 episode of *ECW*, where he competed in a fatal four-way match against Dreamer, Van Dam and Sandman to determine the number one contender for the ECW Championship, which Van Dam won. On May 16, 2007, Sabu was released from his WWE contract.