Recently retired legend explains why he rejected Vince McMahon's offer to join WWE

Sabu recently revealed that he rejected an offer to work for Vince McMahon’s WWE earlier in his career.

In 1993, the ECW legend competed in two WWE try-out matches against Scott Taylor (a.k.a. Scotty 2 Hotty) and another against Owen Hart. Vince McMahon liked the high-flyer’s work and offered him a WWE contract.

Speaking to WSI’s James Romero, Sabu explained that he only participated in the try-out matches because WWE paid him $300 per match. At the time, he already had other work lined up and he had no interest in joining WWE.

“They made an offer for me and I said I couldn’t do it because I already had a job in Japan and I was working for ECW. Vince said, ‘How can you give up a job we have here for a company that might not even be here tomorrow?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, I’ve just got to,’” he said.

Sabu is best known for his two spells with Paul Heyman’s ECW between 1993 and 2000. He later worked for WWE in 2006 and 2007, during which time he frustrated Stephanie McMahon by refusing to read a word-for-word script.

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Vince McMahon wanted Sabu to become The Sultan

Sabu’s commitments in ECW and Japan were not the only reasons why he did not want to sign a permanent deal with Vince McMahon’s WWE.

The two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion was told he would become The Sultan if he joined WWE. The gimmick was later given to Rikishi in 1996.

“They wanted me to be The Sultan. They wanted me to wear a mask with my tongue cut out or something and use The Iron Sheik as my manager. I said, ‘There’s no way I can do that.’ But that’s what they wanted me to do,” Sabu revealed.

In the same interview, Sabu also revealed he has retired from in-ring competition due to a back injury. The 56-year-old added that he would consider reversing his retirement decision to face Brock Lesnar.

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