The Times I've Seen Zack Sabre Jr. Wrestle Live!

Zack Sabre Jr has been one of my favorite wrestler for over a decade, when I first saw him in Progress and PWG.  As I do when I find a wrestler that I like I look for more matches watching him hone his craft in NOAH, WXW, and indies.  You can even read my blog post from December 2015 about some of his matches: Random Wrestling: Zack Sabre Jr.

I love Zack's style of wrestling and the most unique submission moves I've ever seen.  It's been a pleasure to watch his career grow over the years and although he has captured numerous championships, and I have to admit I did get emotional watching him win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

In this blog we will look at the matches I have seen him compete in live and in living color!!  

January 30, 2016

Limitless Wrestling American Legion Hall         Orono, ME

Zack Sabre Jr. pinned Chris Hero in 24 minutes 10 seconds

I still can't believe this one happened! In the weeks leading to the show Zack Sabre Jr. was announced first. I couldn't believe it, quite frankly that he was coming to an indie show Maine. We've had names in Maine on indies in the past, but before Limitless it wasn't a regular thing. If having Sabre on the show wasn't exciting enough, a couple weeks prior Chris Hero was announced. Randy stated it really was last minute how it all came together.

Then we got the graphic that they were facing off against each other and I just couldn't believe it! We are getting on of the hottest matches in the world, in the middle of small town Maine at an American Legion hall on, what turned out to be, a stormy January night.

At that time they were in the middle of what would turn into an tremendous run of matches in an 18 month period. From June 2015 to January 2017 they faced off in 9 matches singles matches (okay 1 was an elimination triple threat) in Evolve, PWG, WXW, & AAW and every single time they tore it up going hard for 20 plus minutes every time.

At that time I was used to "headliners" coming into Maine and just "getting their shit in" and I had accepted that because that was independent wrestling in Maine. On this night ZSJ & Chris Hero set a standard in Limitless Wrestling that has kept going to today. They gave it their all and put on a caliber of a match that was equal to or even greater than they had done or would do anywhere in the world. After the show I got a photo with both of them, it still ranks as one of the greatest matches that I have ever seen live! You can read my post about this show here: Limitless Wrestling: Under Fire

He signed this card for me at the show, I ordered this card from the UK at the beginning of the month after I learned that he was booked to appear. Released in 2014 by Resurrection Magazine, I feel positive that this is Sabre's rookie card.  Sabre was impressed that I had the card and I told him I ordered it from the UK when he asked where I got it.  He signed it for free because he said I already paid for the card.

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April 4, 2019

WrestleCon Supershow Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY

Zack Sabre Jr. submitted Shane Strickland

In 2019 my buddies Jay, Mikey, & I traveled to New York City for WrestleMania weekend. We didn't attend any of the WWE events instead hit all of the independent wrestling that we could. This show was match 1 of 3 that I saw Zack compete this weekend. If you would have told me that April evening that we were seeing two future World Champions squaring off I would not have believed you.

To me the match was just okay, I felt their styles just didn't mesh well. To be frank I thought Zack outclassed Swerve that night. You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 1

I got these cards signed on Thursday April 4th before the Wrestlecon Supershow.  The first card is from the 2016 PWG Battle of Los Angeles set and the second from the 2017 PWG Battle of Los Angeles set.  I have a rule about not getting the backs of the cards signed but we were talking about his trip to Limitless Wrestling and he signed them quickly.  I wasn't going to ask him to sign them again, although I just might if I meet him again. 

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April 5, 2019

Revolution Pro Wrestling Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY

British Tag Team Champions: Suzuki-Gun: Minoru Suzuki & British Heavyweight

Champion: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay when Sabre pinned Ospreay

What a match!! We had front row for this amazing UK based REVPro show. Look at the 4 competitors in this match! ZSJ, Suzuki, Ospreay, & Tanahashi!! WILD! This match went almost 22 minutes and they laid everything in, stiff strikes, great submission wrestling, practically flawless story telling. Truly amazing match worth the price of the ticket for this match alone on the show. It was the best match of the weekend for me, and considering the number of high quality matches that we took in, that is saying something!

You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 2

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April 6, 2019

New Japan Pro Wrestling / ROH Madison Square Garden         Manhattan, NY

G1 Supercard

British Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr with Taka Michinoku defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission

The last show of the weekend for us was also our biggest event of the weekend. For the first time in nearly 60 years a wrestling show happened at Madison Square Garden that was not promoted by a McMahon / WWE saw New Japan and ROH team together for the G1 Supercard. The show was Sold Out and stacked with amazing wrestlers. The ROH portion of the show, for the most part, fell VERY flat for me. The New Japan portion was tremendous.

The 7th match of the Main card saw the RevPRO British Championship successfully defended by Sabre submitting Tanahashi. Thinking back New Japan has a working agreement with RevPRO for years and it's very cool that RevPRO was presented as this historic wrestling card at MSG.

I was in the balcony and couldn't get any great photos, but here is one of the Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger in the ring that I took.

You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 3

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April 16, 2023

NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling 2300 Arena                 Philadelphia, PA

Collision in Philadelphia

Team Filthy: Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs, & Jorel Nelson defeated TMDK: NJPW Television

Champion: Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste, & Bad Boy Tito

Much like MSG, the former ECW Arena, now called the 2300 Arena, is a venue that I had to see wrestling at live. I was the prime demographic for ECW and would have LOVED to go to one of their shows, but it was not to be.

I had mentioned to my buddy Mikey that when my wife and Wesley take their annual April Vacation trip to Ocean City, Maryland if there was a big show in the northeast we should go. As luck would have it, NJPW announced Collision in Philadelphia during that weekend!

We were supposed to have front row at this show, however they moved our seats back and put the announcers and commentators directly in front of us on the fan side of the guard rail. It was cool to have NJPW ring announcer Takuro Shibata right there to get this video, but we paid a lot of money for front row and traveling to the ECW Arena for the first time, it was frustrating to not have the front row seats we paid for. When we selected our seats they did not have the announcers list as being here.

Zack competed in a six man tag team match falling short to Team Filthy. It was very cool to see him at the NJPW Television Champion and of course to see him tie his opponents up with his signature style.

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November 8, 2024

NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling    Memorial Auditorium                            Lowell, MA

Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii defeated TMDK: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre & Boy Dude Tito when Umino pinned Tito

When this show was announced I wanted more than anything for Sabre to defeated Naito for the World Title and come to Lowell to defend the Championship. Well, most of that came true, he won the title and came to Lowell as Champion, and a few days before the show was announced to be in a tag team match. Slightly disappointing, but I got to see Sabre has champion so it's all good.

I was very excited when they announced a Meet and Greet with Sabre, I had met him before at Limitless and at WrestleCon 2019 but I had to get a photo with him as the Champion.

The meet and greet was awesome, Sabre took his time with to talk to everyone, no one was rushed it was very nice experience. We chatted about him winning the title, his time in Maine with Limitless, which perked right up for talking how much he loved the experience and he remembered very specific details. Then we chatted about the ridiculous cost of tickets.

The show was extremely good, our first time sitting in the balcony here and I would again in a heartbeat! The view was phenomenal the matches were excellent and the crowd was very vocal!

Sabre's match was excellent, it was awesome to see him walk out and be announced as champion. They furthered a lot of stories tonight including the build between Sabre & Umino for WrestleKingdom.

I can't imagine this will be the last time I see Sabre wrestle live, but I guess you never, never, know.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!