38 Wrestlers Who Died In 2025

Sabu, a hardcore revolutionary, passed away on 11 May, weeks after putting a full stop on his in-ring wrestling career in a match that is now shrouded in controversy. He was 61 years of age.

Learning the ropes under the tutelage of his uncle, Ed 'The Sheik' Farhat, Sabu toured various small-time independents and had a series of fleeting appearances for the WWF during its New Generation Era, but it wasn't until he landed in ECW in 1993 that Sabu became Sabu.

On and off throughout the ensuing seven years, Sabu became a pioneer for the brand. Regularly wrestling in confined areas surrounded by barbed wire, fire, and other degrees of pain, Sabu became a Triple Crown Champion within Paul Heyman's 'Land of the Extreme', though his virality came not from his innumerable championship ascendancies, but from putting his body through the most inhumane acts of violence; in perhaps the most extreme example, at Born to be Wired in 1997, Sabu pierced a ten-inch gash into his bicep after colliding with the rope-replacement barbed wire. The match, vs. Terry Funk, was branded too extreme even for ECW, a testament to Sabu's willingness to endanger himself for the love of the game.

WWE, WCW, NJPW, TNA, and FMW were among Sabu's homes away from home before he hung up his boots over WrestleMania 41 weekend. An immortalising WWE Hall of Fame induction in the wake of his passing, though not impossible, is extremely unlikely, though his legacy has been enshrined in a handful of other hallowed halls, including the esteemed Hardcore Hall of Fame.