Wrestling veteran Tommy Dreamer says Vince McMahon’s decision to make Sabu talk on camera was what ended the hardcore icon’s momentum in WWE.
Speaking on Talk Is Jericho, Dreamer talked about Sabu’s short lived run on WWE’s ECW and how a creative disagreement between McMahon and Paul Heyman derailed what could have been a big push.
“Vince loved him until Vince made him talk,” Dreamer said. “It was like the worst day ever.”
At the time, Sabu was brought to WWE’s ECW in 2006 with a lot of hype. Heyman was supposed to manage him on camera to keep his silent persona intact. But according to Dreamer, McMahon insisted Sabu talk for himself.
“Paul’s like, ‘We’re gonna push Sabu to the moon.’ This is the last time I saw Paul actually fight for something with Vince,” Dreamer said. “He’s like, ‘Don’t make him talk, I’ll manage him.’ And Vince was just like, ‘He’s gotta learn how to talk to make it in this business.”
Later, Dreamer recalled McMahon sitting through Sabu’s promo takes and looking disappointed.
“I remember Vince watching with those half-glasses. He goes, ‘Ugh, who made him talk?’ And I was just like, ‘You did. You killed his mystique.’”
Eventually, Sabu’s WWE run included big matches with John Cena and Rey Mysterio but incidents during those matches (a no contest and a black eye to Cena) reportedly hurt his standing with McMahon. After struggling to fit in with WWE’s scripted style, Sabu was released in 2007.
That also might bring more perspective on why Sabu turned down a WWE Hall of Fame induction. Last year he said “I’m not eligible for the WWE Hall of Fame, not that I want to be anyway.”
Sadly, Sabu passed away on May,11, 2025 at 60 just weeks after his final match at WrestleMania weekend.
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