Joey Janela on How Sabu’s Retirement Match Almost Didn’t Happen & Defends Match Going On After Sabu’s Scary Fall Out of the Ring

As noted before, Indie Wrestling Hall of Famer and ECW legend Sabu passed away on Sunday at the age of 60.

Yahoo Sports’ The Uncrowned held a recent interview with Joey Janela and Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale. One of the topics discussed included Janela’s thoughts about how Sabu’s retirement match at this past April’s GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9 event almost didn’t happen.

“I was fairly confident that he was fine. I was kept in contact with him and he has a team of people around him, guys this time. They were all saying he was ready to go, that he was going to the gym, that he was on a training program. I believed them until the day of the show. Then two hours before, I get a call: ‘Sabu can’t walk.’

What do you mean Sabu can’t walk? They said, ‘Yeah, Sabu, something with his knee — they’re locked up. He can’t walk. And his feet are bleeding. He’s not coming. Sabu’s not coming.’ I said, ‘Sabu’s f***ed.’ So we talked to [indie wrestler] Matt Tremont, and Tremont is about to be the replacement for the match. And I feel like this is going to be the most embarrassing moment of my wrestling career. There’s 2,000 people here. This is one of the biggest Spring Breaks ever. The biggest crowd ‘Mania weekend, indie-wise. And I’m going to have to go out there and announce that Sabu, once again, no-showed. And no-showed his own retirement match.”

Lauderdale responded stating that he felt confident that Sabu would show up due to them being in constant communication with him.

“We are an hour into the show and I said, ‘Just get Sabu here. So they gave him something called kratom. You can buy it at a smoke shop or something; it’s like a legal opiate or something. They said, ‘He’s hopping on the bed, he’s hopping off the bed, and we’re going to get him to the show.’ So he shows up two hours into the show. Sabu was on a different f***ing planet. Everyone in the backstage was like, ‘What the f***? Is this match going to happen?’ And my God, did it happen.”

Janela also gave his thoughts about Sabu’s very rough fall out of the barbed wire ropes onto the floor during their match and how GCW officials and the match referee at ringside told him that Sabu can not continue but still let him wrestle the rest of the match.

“He was definitely out cold. He was done. They were telling me there was no way. The refs were communicating to me that there’s no way he’s continuing this match. Like holy s***, that is the one time you want the barbed wire to stop you. He just blew right through it. And then [old ECW rival] The Sandman came out and that was all Sabu needed, then the resurrection happened. Jesus resurrected two days later, the anniversary … couldn’t f***ing believe it, dude. He was ready to go again. I guess that concussion knocked him back into 1996 or something, I don’t know.

Just because how ridiculous it was, if you were one of the wrestlers or one of the staff in the locker that night, you knew the panic in my f***ing eyes. And to see that get pulled off and the crowd to be on their feet, I mean, it’s like f***ing dancing through raindrops and not getting wet.”

Following the release of the interview, GCW, Janela, and Lauderdale received a lot of online backlash over their handling of Sabu’s health situation and letting him continue the match. Janela responded to some of the backlash against him and GCW on Twitter.

We didn’t give him kratom his team did, it’s also not illegal and 85% of professional wrestlers do it especially the ones on tv. So fuck you

— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 12, 2025

Sabu was a grown man, he did what he had to do to get out there. I took care of him to the best of my ability, I didn’t think what happened half way through would happen, it was all to get him one great payday and one last shine in the spotlight.

That night wasn’t about me, it…

— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 12, 2025

Sabu’s friends and family are over the moon for what we did for him, once again fuck you and kiss my ass

— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 12, 2025

I moved the board from the post so he didn’t hit his head on the post, I didn’t know he was gonna gun it like he did. But he’s fucking sabu lol

— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 12, 2025