An Arabian savage from the deserts of the Middle East, Sabu became wrestling’s version of Evel Knievel when he crashed into ECW in 1993. With scars littering his upper torso, Sabu performed revolutionary and spectacular maneuvers on a regular basis, often injuring himself as much as his opponents.
Sabu never spoke, but he didn’t have to. The long-haired maniac forced the Philadelphia faithful to wait a full year before agreeing to face off with Tazz in a highly anticipated encounter at ECW’s first pay-per-view, Barely Legal. Later that year, the madman won the ECW World Championship from Terry Funk in a gruesome contest where the ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire. Sabu shredded his bicep and taped it up mid-match, prompting Paul Heyman to admit he should have reconsidered allowing the match to take place.
Sabu was brutal. Sabu was awe-inspiring. But most of all, Sabu was revolutionary. — Z.L.