The late Sabu, in his unique way, changed the pro wrestling business by bringing a new twist to the industry through his use of various weapons, which WWE Hall of Famer RVD has contrasted with modern-day death matches.
RVD recently had a live video discussion with another former ECW star Taz, where the duo spoke about their various memories of Sabu. RVD remembered how Sabu pioneered the use of weapons in matches and how he used it intelligently in contrast with how wrestlers use it in death matches now.
"When it comes to his style, he may have inspired what is now the deathmatch kinda mentality, at least to some extent, for sure," he began. "But the thing about his style is, like, he used things as weapons that you would find around a ring. He used the chair, he used the table 'cause it's right there. He wasn't getting doors and light bulbs, and that's the difference. And I've heard him try to explain that so many times and people don't get it. Even the gurney, 'cause we have those at the shows you know. So it was more like his style when it came to the table, and using weapons was grabbing stuff that's already there. Not, hey, let's put pizza cutters underneath the ring."
RVD further added that Sabu used objects that were not generally a part of an arena only on special occasions, and highlighted how his thinking towards these hardcore matches was different.
"If you ever did something like that, it would be like a really special thing, you know? Like a Metal Mayhem match, whatever the hell that is. Even the trash cans are usually like around the arena. So I just want to say like that was in his heart, and in his perspective, that was the difference."
Nick Gage famously used a pizza cutter on "AEW Dynamite" in 2021, which didn't go down well with the promotion's sponsors, with Domino's threatening to pull out from advertising on AEW.
