Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley who is a former three times WWE World Champion recently talked about wrestling legend Sabu and shared praise for him. He explained how the ECW legend could not last long in the world of pro wrestling.
Sabu is often regarded as “The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death–Defying Maniac” wrestler and he earned most of his fame from his ECW days. He started his professional wrestling career back in 1985 and he was the nephew of the original Sheik.
Mick Foley Explains Why Sabu Lost Fame, “He Never Found That Other Gear To Shift Into”
He worked in a number of promotions like WWE, WCW, USWA, and NJPW but he did not get to work in any of these promotions for long. He could not get enough success in any of these promotions either. But in 1995, when he made his return to ECW and this was the beginning of his ultimate success.
He won multiple championships in the ECW including the ECW World Heavyweight Championship two times and all other possible titles. In 2000, he returned to the independent circuit. He had a short run in WWE as well from 2006 to 2007 during the resurrection of ECW. In 2021, he announced his retirement from the world of professional wrestling.
Mick Foley who is a former three times WWE World Champion recently spoke on his Foley Is Pod program where he talked about wrestling legend Sabu and shared praise for him. He explained how the ECW legend could not last long in the world of pro wrestling. He said;
“Sabu is another guy I’d like to see get his accolades. It’s just a shame that when the only crime — the only thing Sabu ever did was get older. A lot of the people who were on the bandwagon see him, you know, he hasn’t gone on to be part of people’s childhoods the way that we had the opportunity to, so the wave of popularity goes from here, then there’s a big downturn and then one day when Halloween, you realize that people are dressing up like you for Halloween. You’re no longer irrelevant. You’re now part of people’s childhoods.
“Also, he didn’t have a chance to endear himself to people. I understand why he didn’t speak. He was the nephew of The Sheik, and The Sheik, I don’t think, spoke and if he did, it was rarely. It was never more than a few words. He was sticking to that character.
“[Sabu] never found that other gear to shift into, which usually involves comedy. Ric [Flair] was connecting with audiences more efficiently ten years past his physical prime. DX, clearly, humor was on display as Shawn Michaels and Triple H got older. [Sabu] didn’t have that other gear.
“Unfortunately, as time goes by, you’re seeing the same guy do things a little bit slower. And fans can be man, they can be pretty merciless. Yeah. They can be very forgiving, and they can be great, but they can be pretty merciless when somebody’s stumbling.”
H/T and transcribed by Fightful