Sabu On How Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman Are Different, ‘Fake’ WWE Hall of Fame, John Cena

Now 52-years-old, Sabu is paying a heavy price for his death-defying career in wrestling. After over three decades in the ring, his left hip had deteriorated to the point of bone against bone, necessitating a replacement of the pivotal joint.

Yet the only thought crossing his mind is his next match. Sabu is not retired. In fact, if you ask him, he is only recuperating from a temporary stint on the injured list.

“I have to continue wrestling,” Sabu said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I’m not done yet. I don’t know when I’ll be done, but I just know that I’m not.

“I’m doing good. I had hip replacement surgery, but I need shoulder replacement surgery and my lower back needs fixing. Those are actually more painful, but not more painful when I wrestle, so I can live with it. My hip was the most painful when I wrestled, so I got my hip fixed.”

Here are some more highlights from the interview

How Paul Heyman and Vince McMahon are different:

Paul had his vision and I had mine. He didn’t really touch what I did, but his vision and mine were totally different. Mine was violence and his was violence, but his was also sex and violence and gross stuff, stuff out of the realm of wrestling. I was fighting for a championship, not fighting because someone got pregnant.

Me and Vince got along. He was very hands-on, more hands-on than I’d like him to be. I thought he hired me to do my job, not hire me to show me how to do my job. He’s a very hands-on guy at everything, so hands-on that it’s a pain in the ass. He’s brilliant, and so is Paul Heyman. When you’re that brilliant, you’ve got to be f—ed in the head.

John Cena’s talent and status in wrestling:

He probably could be ‘King of the Death Match’ if he wanted, but why would he? Why would he want to wrestle for a hundred dollars when he can wrestle for hundreds of thousands or millions? The highest paid ‘King of the Death Match’ was when I was offered $5,000. John Cena’s lowest match isn’t even five grand, so why would he wrestle in a ‘King of the Death Match’?

The WWE Hall of Fame

It’s such a fake Hall of Fame. I’d only do it because I need the money. I don’t know if I would mother— everyone or if I would take it graciously, but I don’t consider it a real Hall of Fame. It’s not like the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Football Hall of Fame. They let anybody in it, anybody who could draw money. The real wrestling Hall of Fames are in Iowa and Amsterdam, New York. They look for donations because they’re so broke, but they have s— from the 1800s. Vince’s Hall of Fame only has s— from Vince’s company. If you didn’t work for his company, you’re not in the Hall of Fame. That’s nothing to do with how good you are, it only matters who owned them.