One was with Sabu throughout his entire career and one admired him from a far until he battled him in his last match.

Rob Van Dam and Joey Janella have both posted tributes to Sabu.

RVD stated:

During yesterday’s Jersey Championship Wrestling event, Janella, who wrestled against Sabu in his last match, also paid tribute to him with a ten bell salute and the speach below:

“Today I woke up in a way I didn’t want to wake up. I had a couple of missed calls. I had a couple of text messages and I found out that one of my heroes—my favorite wrestler of all time—Sabu, passed away. Sabu was an innovator. He was a legend. He was a real one. Sabu changed professional wrestling forever. When I was a teenager, you could not take my vintage ECW Sabu shirt off my body. He meant that much to me. Actually, the first time I went to a Jersey All Pro show was because Sabu was gonna be there but as Sabu does, Sabu no-showed. But that opened up the door for me, the door to Jersey All Pro, the door to Combat Zone Wrestling and there was no one Joey Janela wanted to be more than Terry.

I know he hated anyone that called him Terry. He’d go, “Why the f–k is he calling me Terry?” But Terry Brunk, Sabu, was my hero and in 2016, I had an opportunity to wrestle my hero in ICW in New York. There’s a thing people say: “Never meet your heroes.” And that night… it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. It didn’t go the way Sabu wanted it to. Sabu was in bad shape. Sabu could barely walk and Sabu wasn’t very nice to me. And after that day, I was over Sabu. I didn’t like Sabu very much but it was selfish of me, because the shape he was in, he shouldn’t have been wrestling anyway.

But a few years later, I made friends with this guy Johnny in Las Vegas. He owns the Nerd Bar. And this was after the passing of Sabu’s love of his life, Melissa Coates. I knew Melissa Coates since I was 17 years old. I had a weird fetish wrestling match with her at WSU where she beat up little 17-year-old Joey Janela. She always took a liking to me and would always tell Sabu, “That Joey Janela—I like him. He’s funny.” And she would say, “Sabu, Joey Janela, you mean a lot to him. You mean a lot to Joey Janela.”

And after she passed, Sabu had no will to live. He had no reason to live. He truly loved her. She died in his arms. She died in his arms on the night she died. And Sabu was a shell of his former self. I would hang out with Johnny in Vegas, and I would say, “Tell Bu to come. I want to talk to him. I want to hang out with him.” And one night, Sabu came up to me, gave me a hug. He said, “Let’s go over here.” And he told me how much Melissa liked me and whatnot. And he cried on my shoulder for about 15 minutes.

And then we ripped a massive line of cocaine. And from that moment on, me and Bu—we had a bond. Sabu would hit me up on Instagram every day, sending me funny memes, guys getting hit by buses, old clips of him. And he would tell everyone that his favorite indie wrestlers were Joey Janela and Jimmy Lloyd, and that he loved Game Changer Wrestling.

And when the time came, he wanted to retire. He wanted to retire against me because of how much I meant to him. And he realized that I wasn’t bullshitting—that it was 100% the truth that Joey Janela loves Sabu. And we made that happen less than one month ago in Las Vegas. And 45 minutes—two hours—into the show, I didn’t even know if the match was going to happen. They said Sabu couldn’t walk. His knee was messed up. His feet were bleeding. I had no idea what was going on. But we knew, his team knew, that Sabu needed to get to The Palms that night. And Joey Janela would take care of him. That GCW would give him a proper sendoff.

And on that night—boy, we f—–g did. We did. Some people afterwards said it was one of the greatest spectacles they’ve ever seen. Some people said me and Brett should be in prison. But regardless of the circumstances, today—that would’ve gone down as one of the most memorable independent matches in history, in front of a crowd of 2,000 independent wrestling fans that loved Sabu. And I talked to Johnny today, who’s one of his best friends—he looked after him since Melissa died—and he said the only thing Bu would have changed about that match is if he died in that ring that night.

A month later, he’s passed away. And I don’t know what else more to say. We lost a real one. He really changed the business forever. He changed my life forever. And I told him that night—I said, “I love you.” I said, “I love you.” And really, that comes from my heart. I really did love that man.

He changed my life forever. And I hope afterwards he was happy for what I did for him that night. Regardless, he needed to make it through that match. And I don’t know if he knew, deep down inside, that something would happen to him in the near future. But he knew on that night he needed to be in that ring against me, in Las Vegas, in front of his friends that looked after him, that cared for him, that loved Sabu—just like me, Joey Janela.

My teenage idol is gone.

I don’t know if I believe in the afterlife. But if there is, I just hope right now that he’s with Melissa. That he’s with his uncle, The Sheik. That he’s with all his friends that he’s lost in this business. Sabu didn’t do it for the money. He did it for the love. Just like me. And we love you guys. We love the fans. I love all my colleagues. I love the young guys and girls coming up. I love the veterans going out. And most importantly—we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Sabu. And I thank you guys. I wish we could have started this show under better circumstances, but it’s a shame. But he lived his life the way he wanted to—and that’s what I strive to be. Live your life on your own terms. ’Cause one day you can be gone. But a lot of us won’t leave the mark that Sabu left on this world. Thank you, guys. God bless. I love Sabu.”

Top Photo: RVD and Sabu. Courtesy of George Tahinos, Slam Wrestling.