Wrestling Hall of Fame?

Wrestling Hall of Fame

I’m taking a week off from bringing in depth coverage of extra-ordinary matches and predicting match outcomes (basically because there really are not any matches of interest) and am bringing, for your reading enjoyment, the first induction into the Beefcake Jack Wrestling Hall of Fame. The qualifications for a wrestler’s entrance are sheer brutality, skill and tenacity. Of course, as in any Hall of Fame inductions, there will be controversy and disagreement. I have no problem discussing the reasoning behind my selections and if anyone wishes to do so, PM Beefcake Jack.

With that in mind, the scope of these inductions will be slanted towards the extreme wrestler. Some may call it garbage wrestling and say it has no place in the wrestling landscape, but I believe there is more to the extreme wrestler then throwing in weapons and smashing people with them. A wrestler has to have a special make-up to be able to perform in these types of matches and make it entertaining. Just like in any other type of match, the wrestlers involved need to be able to tell a story in the ring just like their technical counterparts.

The first inductee in the Beefcake Jack Wrestling Hall of Fame is "The Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying Maniac" Sabu. Sabu was born on December 12^th, 1964 in Staten Island, NY. His wrestling training was done by The Sheik, who was Sabu’s real life uncle. Despite Sabu’s reputation as an extreme wrestler, he was trained to be a technical wrestler.

His wrestling career began in The Sheik’s Big Time Wrestling promotion. Soon afterwards, he left with The Sheik to wrestle in Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling. This is where he was introduced to the extreme wrestling style and it is also where he gained the many of the scars and bruises on his arms and chest. Among the match types he competed in were no rope barbed wire matches and Japanese hardcore matches.

After his stay in Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, he made his was to Extreme Championship Wrestling, which at the time of his arrival was billed as Eastern Championship Wrestling. His gimmick at the beginning of his tenure had him coming out strapped to a gurney wearing a Hannibal Lecter style mask. The story was that Sabu could only be released from his entrapment to wrestle matches. It was also during his time in ECW where he developed an obsession with breaking tables, with or without someone on them. If he did not break one during his match, he would throw himself through one after the match.

During the RAW/ECW Invasion angle, Sabu was able to do what no other wrestler had previously attempted; he dove off of the giant RAW lettered entryway. He also was the first wrestler to permanently add the triple jump moves to his arsenal. A wrestler performs a triple jump maneuver by propelling himself off the ropes, jumps off of a chair set up in the ring onto the ring ropes, and then performs a move off the ropes onto his opponent. Sabu was known for the Triple Jump Moonsault and the Triple Jump Legdrop.

Sabu’s pain threshold is legendary. There are multiple occasions that Sabu has suffered a serious, legitimate injury in a match. Rather then call the match short, Sabu would take unorthodox methods to continue the match to its conclusion. The most famous of these occasions is when Sabu was wrestling against Terry Funk in a no ropes barbed wire match at the ECW PPV Born To Be Wired. In the middle of the match, Sabu attempted a “Air Sabu” (Heel kick to a cornered opponent, with the assistance of a steel chair) when Funk moved out of the way. On his way down, his bicep got caught in the barbed wire, ripping through his arm. Instead of ending the match right then and there, Sabu got athletic tape to tape his wound closed and finished the match. The wound required over 100 stitches to close once Sabu finally made it to the hospital.

It is feats like this that has put Sabu in the Beefcake Jack Wrestling Hall of Fame for showing unearthly resistance to pain, tenacity to complete a match in the face of severe injury and have the skill to pull off moves that people can only dream of completing.

Major Accomplishments

Extreme Championship Wrestling

- ECW FTW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- ECW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- ECW World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with The Tasmaniac (1) and Rob Van Dam (2)
- ECW World Television Championship (1 time)
- 2nd ECW Triple Crown Winner

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 5 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995.
- PWI ranked him # 86 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

Championships
- Has held 25 Heavyweight Championships, 4 Tag Team Titles, and 6 lesser titles with 21 different organizations.

Views: 1,530

COMMENTS

Comment # 1

I agree with this. I look forward to the next induction.

Posted by Anthony "The Geek" Johnson on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 2

yep looks like you put a lot of effort into this wd

Posted by YJ2 Edge on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 3

id like any organisation to give him one last push and put a world title on him as his paid his dues

Posted by frankie on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 4

Sabu is the greatest hardcore wrestler of all time. Great choice!

Posted by Mitch Shredder on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 5

Pity, then, that his out-of-the-ring problems kept him from being able to hold down even the marginal role he was given in the new WWECW. But there's no doubt that a motivated and properly booked Sabu was a true hardcore legend.

Posted by The Glide on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 6

Yeah. He deserves it. However, I think they should bring back the hardcore championship and have Sabu and RVD fight over it. Sabu continues to win the title matches, until he gets "injured", and retires for good into the sunset. RVD would then have a rivalry with Orton where they compete over both titles because RVD screwed Orton due to giving him a "concussion".

Posted by The Hawaiin Bulldozer on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 7

si te ir ritiigi laba spele (super)

Posted by budulis on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 8

Sabu is great, no doubt, but he won't be inducted in the hall of fame any time soon, prolly some few years after he comepletly retires.

Posted by Tony on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 9

Seems you put a lot of passion into your hall of fame.
I can only agree.

Me myself and I got some wrestlers in mind and am exited about your next choice.
I wonder if ever a "normal" WWF/WWE wrestler except the one obvious would make it into your HoF.

Keep going on with it.

Posted by German Deadman^ on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 10

Yeah, I doubt you'll ever see Sabu inducted into a WWE ran Hall of Fame. McMahon isn't one for propping up guys he didn't create. That's ok though, because he's in my HoF :)

Posted by Beefcake Jack on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 11

Personally I think Sabu might be the most underrated wrestler ever. I am going to go out and say this, but i doubt ECW would have been around as long as they did without Sabu. People, including me, wanted to see him. I think this is a great choice. I also think that if it weren't for him CZW, Death matches, and all other hardcore wrestling wouldn't be as violent.

God bless Sabu.

Posted by Kevin Thunder on Sunday, February 17, 2008

Comment # 12

I personally haven't seen much of his ECW days, but from what I saw of him in his last WWE run wasn't good. I know he wasn't allowed to do his hardcore moves but when he did he just botched them.

He also botched half his regular moves. Me and my friends were sick of his matches by the end of it, we all just sat there going "Here comes another sloppy match"

If he was any good to start with, which I wouldn't know, maybe he should of retired earlier or not gone to WWECW

Posted by Hello on Monday, February 18, 2008

Comment # 13

i agree with hello i have not deen a lot of ecw or raw only thing i mostly watch is friday night smach down

Posted by Masterg on Monday, February 18, 2008

Comment # 14

Sabu is definitly an innovator and amazing to watch.his fued with Taz is one of the greatest of all time...right up there with the rhodes/flair and....dare i say...the Brody/butcher wars?? give that man a hall of fame plaque and a life time achievement award.his father should be proud.

Posted by Luck_e on Monday, February 18, 2008

Comment # 15

Nice Work Jack! I look forward to the next induction :)

Posted by Keen Eddie on Monday, February 18, 2008

Comment # 16

Yeah, his end run with WWECW wasn't great, but you can say that about quite a few guys. I'll use Ric Flair as the most glaring example. Flair's run is less then stellar now, but if you ever watched any of his matches in the 80's or early 90's you would understand why people argue that he is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. In Sabu's case, you'll have to pull his matches from old ECW (pre TNN TV) to see why people like Sabu.

Posted by Beefcake Jack on Monday, February 18, 2008

Comment # 17

Sabu must be in the HALL OF FAME.....He done it all...!

Posted by Willmark on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Comment # 18

ROCKY JOHNSON must go to the hall of fame he was great wrestler

Posted by jovan on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Comment # 19

RIC FLAIR is a great wrestler and I'm glad he went to the hall of fame of 2008

Posted by jovce on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Comment # 20

great sabu induction into the beefcake hall of fame it is about time someone shows love for sabu other than me

Posted by mey rysterio on Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Comment # 21

As far as McMahon not placing people in the WWE that he didn't create, I couldn't disagree more. Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkel, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Antonino Rocco, The Sheik, and yes, Ric Flair are examples of this.

Some might feel comfortable saying that Race, Rhodes & Flair were all in the WWE, as was Rocco. But all four of them made their name long before ever stepping seriously into a WWE ring. Outside of Flair, the World Titles they won, weren't in the WWE. Obviously, Bockwinkel, and The Sheik never competed under the WWE banner.

Frankly, the last few years, the doors have opened to guys like them.

Hardcore HOF, yes, Sabu would fit into one, but shouldn't be the first. The Sheik was obviously one of the true groundbreakers for this type of abnormal style of wrestling.

In a regular HOF, unfortunately, while I love watching Sabu, he wouldn't fit. Not while there are other greats from past eras being excluded.

Posted by Jack Lennex on Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Comment # 22

There's obviously exceptions to the rule and Vince knows that he has to legitimize his HoF by putting in guys that didn't make their name in the WWE. Rocco and Sheik competed in the WWWF which was a precursor to WWF/E. Gagne and Bockwinkel competed in AWA, which was eventually absorbed by WWF, with Bockwinkel working as a WWF road agent. The moral of the story is that there isn't a single individual in the WWE HoF that hasn't either had success in WWE or companies that WWE absorbed. You don't see wrestlers like Giant Baba or Antonio Inoki in the WWE HoF because Vinnie Mac doesn't own any Japanese territories.

These articles are a work in progress as this is the first one. There are others in line that are lesser known that have had more of an impact then Sabu and will get their moment of glory. There isn't any order or prestige with being the first article, I just found that Sabu would be a good place to start to show the scope of where I'm going with this article type. In all actuality, this was intended to be a transition article for the weeks that there weren't any decent matches to spotlight, but due to the mostly positive feedback by the readers, I plan on making this my weekly article.

Posted by Beefcake Jack on Thursday, February 21, 2008

Comment # 23

Definitley a deservng inductee!

Posted by Lash on Friday, February 22, 2008

Comment # 24

As to no none WWE wrestlers in the HOF... There is a reason why they call it the WWE Hall of Fame... If it was the Wrestling Hall of Fame then it'd be different.

I just don't like it how people that Vince has fallen out with don't make it in. Look at Bret Hart, they had to kiss and make up before Vince put him in. The same with Randy Savage, he's not in there but Bob Orton is? Only because his son is now one of the top.... Stupid!

Posted by Sammy_D on Friday, February 22, 2008

Comment # 25

I think Randy Savage should get inducted along with the Ultimate Warrior, these are by far worthy of Legend status.

Posted by Brett on Friday, February 22, 2008

Comment # 26

I agree. Savage & Warrior are 2 of my favorite legends. But, since they are both crazy, it might be awile before they join the WWE HoF.

Posted by hitmanricks on Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Comment # 27

YES!!
One of my top 5 Fav all time

PS.
whoever said warrior for any HOF is an idiot lol
once again children who need educated lol

Posted by Shane on Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Comment # 28

Sabu is a great hardcore legend
I wasn't around for when he started wrestling but buying the old DVD's and I think eh was great.
He was a great entertainer

Posted by yeh on Thursday, February 28, 2008

Comment # 29

Vince is only putting guys in the Hall of Fame where he got the rights from, because of buying licenses.

There are a lot of wrestlers being Hardcore, like Undertaker, Mick Foley, Sabu and a lot of guys I haven`t even heard about.

I still can say that I like Beefcake Jacks idea of an "independant" HoF and can't wait for his next inductee.

Posted by German Deadman on Thursday, February 28, 2008

Comment # 30

Warrior was the 1st man to unite the WWE and IC titles,so he deserves to be in any HoF.So,Shane on, you're the one that needs educating.

Posted by hitmanricks on Saturday, March 01, 2008

Comment # 31

cool

Posted by kane on Sunday, March 09, 2008

Comment # 32

new jack is the most hardcore man from ecw

Posted by the game on Monday, March 10, 2008

Comment # 33

cool

Posted by dh smith on Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Comment # 34

Sabu has been through a lot, and his past proves it... That was a very hard life, and how he could go through it without stopping, that is unbelievable.

Posted by Foremole Din on Sunday, March 16, 2008