While Douglas was one of ECW's top stars, Sabu was the wrestler most closely associated with the company. He was a crazy, high flying, risk taking stuntman of a wrestler who popularized breaking tables, and ECW was effectively his home promotion. On top of that, Heyman (as Paul E. Dangerously) was his manager, the mastermind who controlled the wildman that was Sabu. ECW was never Sabu's only job, though. He worked other independent shows, especially in his native Michigan, and was a regular in Japan for FMW. In late 1994, he jumped from FMW (effectively the number four promotion in the country) to New Japan Pro Wrestling, the top wrestling promotion in the world. He got a big raise in the process and was looking forward to working with huge stars like his new partner Masahiro Chono. In early 1995, ECW was building a huge three-way tag title match between The Public Enemy, The Triple Threat (represented by Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko), and Paul E. Dangerously's team of Sabu and The Tazmaniac (the future Taz). It was Heyman's most brilliant long-term booking to date and the match was a big deal. Then New Japan needed Sabu for a one-off show that weekend. With the time difference, he couldn't make the show, and chose New Japan, albeit too late for Heyman to edit the TV show. While he deserved plenty of the blame, it was always obvious that he'd have to take the New Japan booking. Keep in mind that New Japan was Sabu's primary job and paid a hell of a lot more than ECW did. He had to choose them. What Heyman did next was to go in the ring before the show and, speaking out of character, tell the fans what happened. The result of Heyman "speaking honestly" (and he was, but it was the concept that got through to the fans)? A "F**K SABU!" chant. Again, this was their favorite wrestler, and while Sabu could have handled it better and a lot of it was his fault, Heyman laid it out in a way where the fans now HATED him for choosing his "real job." When Sabu returned seven months later, he was a babyface again because he came back as a surprise. It's almost as if it was more simple than it would be to turn him with "regular," more casual wrestling fans.
