MOTW 88: Sabu vs Cactus Jack
"M.O.T.W. #88: Sabu vs. Cactus Jack" - ink & digital illustration
So this week I've continued on down the Sabu rabbit-hole and I think I found something pretty bloody great! This fun as all heck 'Desert-Death-Falls-Count-Anywhere-Match' took place back on October 29th, 1994, for the 'National Wrestling Conference' at the Silver Nugget Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV.
Like many, I'm of course a big fan of Sabu & Cactus' amazing ECW matches (special mention to the Hamburg Fieldhouse one with that unbreakable beer bottle!) but I'd never seen this delightfully odd early 90s indie wrestling casino-brawl addition to their famed madman rivalry before. And this sure was something to see!
It's really got everything you could possibly expect; chairs, tables, crazy Sabu dives, overall great intensity, wonderfully corny early 90s commentary, but also, they are wrestling in a casino! And not to waste an opportunity such as this, of course they brawl upstairs, into the actual casino room of the delightfully named 'Silver Nugget' before some likely very confused blackjack & slot machine punters.
This whole thing made me so happy to watch. And really captured the wild, out of control, against the grain, punk rock, gonzo-wrestling spirit that made Cactus & Bombay, Michigan's favourite son so incredibly special at this time.
With todays' eyes it also stands out as feeling so organic & spontaneous & honestly pretty legitimately dangerous compared with much of today's fare. And that really was the magic of Sabu! As Phil Schneider so eloquently said, he was a tightrope walker over fire with no net.
Officially my favourite thing that I watched this week. Recommended viewing if like me, you feel the need to celebrate Sabu a little more.
ENJOY!
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