Sabu has revealed that he once deliberately sabotaged his own backstage promo in an effort to make sure he’d never have to do one again.
Throughout his legendary, barbed wire-laden career, Sabu was known for many things, but talking and cutting impassioned promos wasn’t generally one of them.
However, that didn’t stop Vince McMahon wanting to change that when ECW relaunched under the WWE banner in 2006.
After leaving TNA, the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal maniac signed with WWE in April 2006. The star had been a huge part of ECW in it’s previous incarnation during the 1990’s, so the move made sense for all concerned.
However, the hardcore legend has revealed that his time working with Vince McMahon on the reboot, was less than straightforward. Speaking to Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Sabu recalled being told that he was going to be cutting babyface promos to develop his character.
“He starts off nicely and then gets vicious,” Sabu said. “He politely said, ‘I want you to be a likeable babyface.’ I go, ‘Yeah, right.’ ‘No, I want you to talk. I want you to talk now. We’re gonna go in the dressing room and talk.’ I’d hide for a while, thinking he’d forget about it, but he wouldn’t forget about it.”
Continuing on, Sabu admitted that he performed one of these promos as badly as he could in the hope that McMahon wouldn’t make him do anymore.
“I had two sessions with just Vince and a cameraman trying to cut this promo,” Sabu added. “I was cutting it badly on purpose, thinking he would say, ‘Okay, no promo,’ but he didn’t. He kept making me do it.”
Sabu remained with WWE until May 2007 when he was released. The star continued to perform on the independent scene with more stints in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling thrown in, before retiring in November 2021.
H/t to Sportskeeda for the transcription.