Another 10 Superstars Who Had Better Careers Outside WWE

4. Sabu

There are few wrestlers who defined ECW as much as Sabu. Terry Brunk adopted a gimmick of a high-flying hardcore wrestling €˜extremist€™, who never spoke (something he inherited from his uncle, the original Sheik), and he became synonymous with breaking tables. In fact, during his early tenure in ECW, if he didn€™t break his opponents through a table in his match, he would throw his own body into one, thereby creating a unique gimmick that was perfect for the hardcore wrestling style of ECW. In ECW, Sabu became both the World Champion (twice) and the poster boy for extreme wrestling. His most infamous match was at Born to be Wired, where he faced Terry Funk in the No-Rope Barbed-Wire match. In this ultra-violent match, Sabu suffered a 10-inch gash on his bicep and famously taped it up and continued the match. It was so violent that Paul Heyman vowed to never schedule such a match again. Despite some success in other companies such as TNA and World wrestling All-Stars, Sabu was signed to the WWE to its newly-created ECW. What should€™ve been a perfect outing for Sabu turned into a really sub-par run. Sabu was arrested alongside Rob Van Dam for drug possession, which seriously derailed his push. Furthermore, Vince had different plans for ECW, and made his own stars the top guys instead of focusing it on those €˜extremists€™ who helped make ECW famous in the first place. Ultimately, despite a win at WrestleMania 23 in an 8-man tag match, Sabu was released from the WWE. He soon found himself wrestling on the independent scene again, including another stint in TNA. He was clearly not used properly in WWECW; they had the perfect man to appeal to Attitude Era fans who wanted to see more of what they grew up with, instead of what WWE was creating with John Cena and Randy Orton. Sabu used properly could€™ve made a world of difference in ECW; but in the end, his career outside if the WWE was much better.