Sabu, legend of pro wrestling’s ‘hardcore’ style, dies at 60

Sabu rose to fame while wrestling for Extreme Championship Wrestling in the 1990s, where he was “a pioneer of hardcore wrestling, leaping from chairs and driving his opponents through tables and even barbed wire,” taking after his uncle, Hall of Famer Ed “The Sheik” Farhat, WWE wrote.

As a part of ECW, Sabu wrestled contemporaries like Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley and Taz. In a company known for pushing the envelope in terms of the risks wrestlers were willing to take, Sabu still managed to stand out.

Whether he was leaping off the ring ropes to his opponents on the outside or delivering double leg-drops through tables and ladders, his style of wrestling — not always pretty but certainly impressive and eye-catching — made him a fan favorite.

He signed with WWE as part of the company’s revival of the ECW brand in 2006. The next year, at WrestleMania 23, he and fellow ECW originals Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman defeated the New Breed in front of 80,000 fans in Detroit. He departed the company that same year.

Both before and after WWE, Sabu wrestled for top promotions across the globe, including New Japan Pro Wrestling, AAA and CMLL, as well as dozens of other independent promotions.

He continued wrestling long after many of his contemporaries had already retired. His final match — and first since 2021, according to Cage Match — was April 18, when he defeated Joey Janela, getting driven through a table and landing on barbed wire in the process.

Janela called Sabu “my idol, a trailblazer, a gamechanger and an icon,” in a memorial post on X that featured photos and videos of he and Sabu. 

Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer called Sabu the “king of the death matches” on Wrestling Observer Radio on Sunday, and credited him with popularizing hardcore wrestling in the U.S.

“He was the godfather of it in every way,” Meltzer said.

Big names from across the wrestling world took to social media to remember Sabu as a legend in the field and as a friend.

In a video posted to X, Taz said Sabu’s death “breaks my heart,” and added that he had watched an old interview of Sabu’s as recently as Saturday night.

“I would not have had the career that I have had and I’ve been blessed to have if it wasn’t for Sabu,” Taz said, noting the pair debuted against each other for ECW in 1993.

The X account for docu-series “Dark Side of the Ring” said Sabu’s death “comes as a shock,” as he is featured in the episode airing Tuesday that pays tribute to his uncle.

“Sabu was a trailblazing groundbreaker who played a major role in the expansion of what a pro wrestling match could be,” wrestler Matt Hardy said on X. “The fact that tables are commonly utilized in pro wrestling is because of Terry Brunk & how he made an inanimate object like a table a must see component in his match.”

Hardy also called Sabu “heavily influential on today’s current style, even though his contributions are still under appreciated by most.”

In an X post, AEW wrestler Mark Briscoe said, “Nobody made me want to be a wrestler more than Sabu. R.I.P. to a true hardcore legend.”