WWE Hall of Famer JBL appeared on the podcast “Something to Wrestle With,” where he discussed various topics, including how Sabu and RVD influenced the wrestling industry.
JBL said, “He and Rob Van Dam changed the business. There were a couple of things that changed the business. I remember when 2 Cold Scorpio and Chris Benoit had that match in WCW around ’93, ’94, ’95, something like that. We hadn’t seen anything like that. And people were like, ‘You gotta be kidding me.’ Then all of a sudden, you have at times five or six or ten, whatever it is, multiple [matches/instances] with Sabu and Van Dam. Those guys were freaking incredible. I considered Sabu a good friend. We got along well — I never worked with Sabu, I wish I would have. In fact, me and Gerry Brisco just did a thing with Brian Solomon — Blood and Fire about his uncle [who[ was one of the biggest draws in the history of the business. His uncle was unbelievable, broke him in the right way. Sabu was a good dude, really good dude, but a daredevil. That’s the only way you can say it. That stuff he did with Onita in FMW in Japan in the early ’90s? That was ungodly, what he did. The stuff he did in ECW — and by the way, when you talk about guys that flip and flop? Sabu and RVD always had a rationale behind what they did. So if you watch them, they do something, they dive over the ropes. The next week, they do something where they run and they jump on the ropes and dive over. Then they put a chair there and they run and step on the chair and jump there. Then they put two chairs there. There was always, whether you caught on consciously or not, they always had a rationale for what they did and a progression of what they did. It always made sense in some way. Which is a difference between guys who just go out there and want to do crazy stunts, and guys who go out there and do crazy stunts that mean something. And Sabu did stuff that meant something.”
On Sabu as a performer:
“What a character, and what a great performer. He was just a great performer. He was safe in what he did. He did some crazy, crazy stuff but it all somehow made sense in the match. He was a good draw, just like his uncle. He was a great draw. His uncle didn’t want him to do anything high flying. Wouldn’t let him do any of it. [He’d] train him like an old school wrestler, wouldn’t let him do any of the hardcore stuff. And I guess the first trip to Japan together, his uncle said, ‘All that stuff I told you? Forget about it. Do everything that you’ve been doing when I’m not watching,’ because his uncle knew what he was doing.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
