In the wake of Sabu’s passing, there was a time when he opened up about working with John Cena. Sabu signed with WWE during its ECW revival phase in the mid-2000s. At the Vengeance pay-per-view in 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged Cena in an Extreme Rules Lumberjack match for the WWE Championship.
Sabu Revealed Locker Room Jealousy Over John Cena’s Success in WWE
Sabu predominantly worked with ECW talents while in WWE, barring a few outings. This included his match with Cena and a world heavyweight title contest with Rey Mysterio at ECW One Night Stand 2006. It was the late wrestler’s peak time in World Wrestling Entertainment.
Before wrestling Cena at Vengeance, Sabu heard bad things about the Franchise Player from the locker room. Upon finally getting to work with Cena, however, Sabu realized that those conversations stemmed from a place of jealousy.
“I liked working with John. I got a lot of bad information given to me about him, but it was all lies and jealousy,” he said.
“John could work, a nice guy, he wasn’t selfish, and called my spots when I forgot them. Whenever I got lost, he called it for me. We planned out half of the match in the dressing room and called the rest of it in the ring. He was always on the right page. A lot of guys are jealous of him because of his big push, but he deserves it.”
Sabu’s match with Cena was during the 48-year-old’s second reign as WWE champion. Fast forward to April 2025, when Cena won his record 17th world title at WrestleMania 41.
Cena’s WWE Farewell Tour Reportedly Set To Feature Some Major Callbacks
At WWE Backlash in St. Louis this past weekend, Cena humbled Randy Orton. While the win was tainted, the bottom line is that Cena prevailed in a chaotic main event, retaining the Undisputed WWE title.
In an interesting turn of events after the show, Cena attacked veteran R-Truth after Truth got under the skin of the Last Real Champion. There are heavy rumors that this angle was done to set up a future title contest between the two. It would be a throwback to their encounter for the WWE title at the one-off Capitol Punishment pay-per-view in 2011.
A recent report has disclosed WWE’s intentions with Cena’s farewell tour. The Last Real Champion will defend his belt against some old rivals, including Sheamus, The Miz, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk.