10 Wrestlers Who Were Recklessly Dangerous

5. Sabu

CM Punk Ryback
WWE

Though rarely at the wrong end of somebody else's injury, Sabu had little care for his own wellbeing to the point where it became the most marketable part of his persona after the rest of his act aged as badly as he did.

An iconic figure in the pockets of the North East and Japanese circuits he'd found fame in, Sabu's 'Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal' style was brave and revolutionary at the time, but the theft of most of his best bits by the late-1990s had left him something of a relic in his own time.

Through fire, flames and broken tables, Sabu persisted in earnest, leading to grisly moments such as the misplaced landing from a Chris Benoit throw that broke his neck and the glueing of his own arm back together after a chasmic wound appeared during his 1997 no-roped barbed wire ECW Heavyweight Title match with Terry Funk.

He unexpectedly lasted a year after arriving in the rebooted WWECW nearly a decade later, but he looked 40 years older rather than 10. At this point a continued danger to himself even if his botchy offence usually looked featherlight, Sabu's steeply declining match quality prompted his release shortly after his one and only (multi-man) WrestleMania match.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett