Upon scouring his roster, Vince McMahon realised that he was significantly short on talent to fill his annual 30-man Royal Rumble contest, so decided to cast his net wider than usual in an effort to bring in stars from outside of the WWF. One of those he tried to sign on a one-time-only deal was ECWs table-breaking, hardcore wrestling proponent Sabu. Sabu talked with the WWF and reached an agreement to appear in the match, with McMahon even making concessions to protect Sabus aura by consenting to him performing his trademark table-breaking spot as a means to eliminate himself. The WWF began promoting Sabus appearance on its hotline and television, but ECW owner Paul Heyman soon stepped in to throw a spanner in the works. Uncomfortable that the WWF was treating ECW as a feeder company he tried to talk Sabu out of doing the show, then craftily went public and discussed the situation with his ECW Arena audience. Now if Sabu appeared at the Rumble, the ECW fans were guaranteed to turn on him. The WWF tried to smooth things over by offering Heyman a number of undercard talents to appear on ECW shows in return, but Heyman rejected the proposal because he did not want ECW to be seen as endorsing the WWF when his product was positioned as being the antithesis of the major league promotions. Sabu finally relented and pulled out, leaving WWF officials red-faced and determined not to do business with Heyman ever again.
The author of the highly acclaimed 'Titan' book series, James Dixon has been involved in the wrestling business for 25 years as a fan, wrestler, promoter, agent, and writer. James spent several years wrestling on the British independent circuit, but now prefers to write about the bumps and bruises rather than take any of them. His past in-ring experience does however give a uniquely more "insider" perspective on things, though he readily admits to still being a "mark" at heart.
James is the Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk and is responsible for the best-selling titles Titan Sinking, Titan Shattered, and Titan Screwed, as well as the Complete WWF Video Guide series, and the Raw Files series.
