The nephew of The Original Sheik, Sabu, followed into the family business, but he certainly made his own name and in the process, added another aspect to the hardcore genre. The spectacular aerial offense that eventually became common place in wrestling, was brought to the table by Sabu. Speaking of tables, he was the true innovator of the furniture in the industry, which also became common place. Similar to his uncle, Sabu had a sense of believability when he preformed and he was key to putting ECW on the map, especially during the promotion's early years. Without Sabu, it's quite possible ECW wouldn't have made it off the ground and without ECW, the argument could be made that hardcore in the United States wouldn't have boomed in popularity. He really took the risk factor to a different level in the early 90s as well, including a fire death match in the FMW promotion, where the ring caught fire during the tag team contest. All four competitors fled the ring, as flames surrounded them and they escaped the inferno. The incident garnered major press in Japan, but Sabu had an even greater impact when he debuted in ECW in 1993. In some respects, it's a shame that Sabu isn't a millionaire today, but at the same time, the decisions he made during his career didn't do him any favors. In fact, for the majority of his career Sabu didn't get the credit he truly deserved. He quite literally destroyed his body and along with the scars that litter his body, he carved a legacy into the American scene. Thankfully, The ECW resurgence, as much of a flop as it was as a whole, finally acknowledged Sabu as the innovator that he was. Further more, Sabu was an original, and in the wrestling industry that are really only a handful of true originals. Again, for as many people that knock the WWE version of ECW, it gave millions of fans a chance to watch some of Sabu's finest (and most unbelievable) work after the release of some of the best of ECW DVDs. Specifically, the barbed wire match with Terry Funk was released to the general public and an entire generation of fans could finally see the bout where Sabu sliced his arm on the wire. That match alone set the standard for barbed wire matches in America and very few compare to Sabu/Funk from 1997 at the ECW arena. Regardless of his problems in recent years, Sabu drew the road map for hardcore in the 90s.
