Mick Foley: I Hope Sabu Gets His Accolades One Day; His Only Crime Was Getting Older

Mick Foley wants to see Sabu get his accolades. 

At one time, Sabu was seen as the most innovative professional wrestler in the industry. Sabu was able to have a small run in WWE, including a match at WrestleMania 23, but for the most part, he is seen as an ECW original.

During the most recent episode of his podcast, Foley is Pod, Mick Foley opened up about wanting to see Sabu get his flowers, believing his only crime was simply aging out of his move set.

“Sabu is another guy I’d like to see get his accolades. It’s just a shame that when the only crime — the only thing Sabu ever did was get older. A lot of the people who were on the bandwagon see him, you know, he hasn’t gone on to be part of people’s childhoods the way that we had the opportunity to, so the wave of popularity goes from here, then there’s a big downturn and then one day when Halloween, you realize that people are dressing up like you for Halloween. You’re no longer irrelevant. You’re now part of people’s childhoods,” said Mick Foley. “Also, he didn’t have a chance to endear himself to people. I understand why he didn’t speak. He was the nephew of The Sheik, and The Sheik, I don’t think, spoke and if he did, it was rarely. It was never more than a few words. He was sticking to that character. 

“[Sabu] never found that other gear to shift into, which usually involves comedy,” Foley continued. “Ric [Flair] was connecting with audiences more efficiently ten years past his physical prime. DX, clearly, humor was on display as Shawn Michaels and Triple H got older. [Sabu] didn’t have that other gear. Unfortunately, as time goes by, you’re seeing the same guy do things a little bit slower. And fans can be man, they can be pretty merciless. Yeah. They can be very forgiving, and they can be great, but they can be pretty merciless when somebody’s stumbling.” 

In the past, Rob Van Dam has talked about wanting to see Sabu inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Read his comments here. 

Mick Foley is currently a part of the WWE programming on the A&E Network. He is a host of WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures. Check out the viewership information for that program here.

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