The wrestling world sadly lost Sabu on May 11th at the age of 61.
Sabu competed in his retirement match on April 18, facing Joey Janela at Spring Break 9 in a no ropes barbed wire bout. In an interview with Phil Schneider of Yahoo's Uncrowned, Janela and GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale revealed complications leading up to the match, including concerns that Sabu wouldn't show up or be able to perform. It was revealed that Sabu's team provided him with kratom, a legal substance, to help get him through the match.
The match proceeded and included a spot where Sabu took a hard bump to the outside, hitting his head on the concrete floor.
Janela, Lauderdale, and GCW came under fire from fans online for allowing Sabu to perform, given his stated condition.
Speaking on his 1 Of A Kind podcast, Rob Van Dam defended Janela and GCW.
"I've read comments saying, 'GCW should be arrested on manslaughter.' Wait, regardless of the cause of death three weeks later? Thank God these people aren't in control and making relevant decisions," said RVD.
RVD noted that Dutch Mantel said that kratom was worse than heroin.
"Dutch, you know nothing about kratom. It helps so many people. As my regular listeners know, I'm an advocate for kratom. It says in there Sabu got some kratom so he could make it through the match. The way Joey puts it, he said, 'He was on another fucking planet.' I don't like that he put that, I really doubt that's true, but I've had people say that about me. In fact, I'm going to administer some kratom. Woooo! [Show Wooo! Energy Drink] Did you know Ric Flair has his own kratom? You didn't know that. That shows you how dangerous this is. Joey is getting a bunch of heat. GCW is getting (a bunch of heat). People saying, 'I can't believe I supported them. They killed Sabu.' First off, they didn't give him the kratom. It was his own people. For sure, Sabu had some kratom. He eats it every day. I usually eat it every day. It's good for blocking pain, sleeping, and anxiety. It's a plant that comes from the coffee plant family. They dry the leaves, grind them into a powder, and you can put the powder into a capsule, a drink, gummies, or eat the powder. It tastes horrible," said RVD.
RVD noted that people can get addicted to kratom, but they can also get addicted to chocolate. He then took a higher than recommended amount of kratom on stream and asked as the stream progressed for anyone to note if he was acting out of normal.
RVD stated, "I'm an advocate for it, I always have been. It had nothing to do with Sabu dying three weeks later. Ya'll are basic thinkers and you need to put extra thought into it."
Going back to defending Janela, RVD said, "People are saying, 'Shame on GCW for allowing a 60-year-old to get in the ring and have a match like that.' I can tell you, he's my closest dude friend, I can tell you he was 61 (years old) and he wanted that. He wanted that for a long time. In fact, Joe Clark had been working with Sabu on filming a documentary. He was training. He was wanting to have this big retirement match, so much that when it got down to it, he knew he had more in him. One thing he said after his match with Janela, 'I got one more match in me. If you're still interested in doing a barbed wire match, I'm interested.' I talked to him before about being the guy that is his last opponent, but he said that was cheating."
RVD said he would've done a barbed wire retirement match with Sabu if he knew it would be Sabu's last match.
Fans can find Lauderdale's comments on the matter by clicking here.
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