Zack Sabre Jr.
Luke James Uggles Eatwell, known by his ring name Zack Sabre Jr. and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English-born professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is the second leader of the group The Mighty Don't Kneel. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time.
Sabre is a former NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Champion and a product of the NWA UK Hammerlock training school. He started training at the age of 14 and later trained in the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo under Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji as a member of their roster from 2011 until November 2015. He joined Suzuki-gun in 2016, after defeating Katsuyori Shibata in his NJPW debut match for the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship. Outside NJPW, Sabre performs for British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling, as part of NJPW's partnership with the promotion. He has also notably wrestled for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Progress Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Network and their brands EVOLVE and Full Impact Pro.
Though primarily known for his solo performances, Sabre is also a prolific tag team wrestler. In his early career, he made a name for himself as part of the "Leaders of the New School" with Marty Scurll, holding the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship twice. He would later win the same title alongside Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki. In Pro Wrestling Noah, he was a two-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Yoshinari Ogawa and, in Westside Xtreme Wrestling, a wXw World Tag Team Champion with Walter. Sabre had also formed a tag team with other Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi, who were three time IWGP Tag Team Champions; following the Suzuki-gun disbandment, the team disbanded along with it.
Sabre's offensive style includes a wide array of intricately complex technical wrestling holds and pinning combinations, strikes, athleticism and acrobatics. The readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Sabre the Best Technical Wrestler of the year for seven consecutive years, and he was voted Best Technical Wrestler of the Decade.
Early life
Luke James Uggles Eatwell was born on the Isle of Sheppey on 24 July 1987. He was raised in Sheerness.Professional wrestling career
NWA UK Hammerlock (2004–2008)
Sabre made his wrestling debut on 20 April 2004. On 22 October 2005, Sabre won the NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Championship and held the title until 1 June 2008 when it was vacated.International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (2006–2012)
At International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, Sabre most notably won the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship twice along with Marty Scurll in 2009 and 2010.Pro Wrestling Noah (2008–2015)
At Pro Wrestling Noah, Sabre most notably won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice with Yoshinari Ogawa in 2013 and 2014.Westside Xtreme Wrestling (2006–2018)
At Westside Xtreme Wrestling, Sabre won both the wXw World Lightweight Championship and the wXw World Heavyweight Championship in 2010 unifying the titles to become the inaugural wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion. He lost the championship in the same year to Big van Walter. Sabre also won the 2015 World Tag Team Tournament for the vacant wXw World Tag Team Championship together with Walter.Insane Championship Wrestling (2011, 2016)
Sabre made two appearances for Glasgow's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. At their premiere annual event ICW: Fear & Loathing 4 on 23 October 2011, Sabre entered an elimination triple threat match with Liam Thomson and his former trainee Andy Wild, which was won by Wild.Progress Wrestling (2012–2018)
In 2015, Sabre took part in the first ever Progress Wrestling Super Strong Style 16 tournament, competing in four matches over the weekend – defeating Zack Gibson, Tommaso Ciampa and Scurll before losing to Will Ospreay in the final. Sabre had a rematch with Ciampa in November at the first ever Manchester Progress show, which Ciampa won. In March 2016, Sabre and Ciampa teamed up to face The Origin for the Progress Tag Team Championships but failed to capture the titles. Following the loss, Ciampa beat down Sabre. The two faced each other at Progress' biggest show to date, held at the Brixton Academy in London, in a Two Out of Three falls match which Sabre won.At Chapter 40, Sabre unsuccessfully challenged Pete Dunne for the Progress World Championship. He then entered the Super Strong Style 16 defeating David Starr in the first round and Jack Sexsmith in the second round, before losing to Travis Banks in the semi-final. Sabre entered the Super Strong Style 16 2018, defeating Chuck Mambo in the first round, Starr in the second round, Keith Lee in the semi-final and Kassius Ohno in the final, thus winning the tournament for the first time in his career. At Chapter 77, Sabre was defeated by Walter, his former wXw tag team partner, for the Progress World Championship.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2014–2018)
Sabre made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla at the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles on night 1 teaming with Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega and defeating Adam Cole and The Young Bucks.In April 2015, he returned to the promotion, answering the challenge from PWG World Champion Roderick Strong in a title match at Don't Sweat the Technique in a losing effort. He then entered the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles which he eventually won.
On Night 2 of All Star Weekend 12, Sabre defeated Strong to win the PWG title for the first time. He entered his third Battle of Los Angeles tournament in September 2016, losing to Will Ospreay in the quarterfinals. On 7 July 2017, Sabre lost the PWG World Championship to Chuck Taylor. In September, Sabre entered the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where he was eliminated by Rey Fenix in the quarter-finals.
WWE (2016)
On 31 March 2016, Sabre was announced as a participant in WWE's upcoming Global Cruiserweight Series tournament, which was later renamed the "Cruiserweight Classic". His name was taken down shortly after as he would have a qualifying match at Progress Wrestling's Chapter 29 event in London to earn his spot, where he defeated Flash Morgan Webster. On 23 June, Sabre defeated Tyson Dux in his first round match. On 14 July, Sabre defeated Drew Gulak in his second round match. On 26 August, Sabre defeated Noam Dar to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where he was defeated on 14 September by Gran Metalik. Afterwards, it was reported that Sabre's loss was due to him not agreeing to a contract with WWE unlike the two tournament finalists. He later revealed he turned down the WWE contract to sign for New Japan Pro Wrestling instead.New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2017–present)
Suzuki-gun (2017–2022)
On 21 February 2017, it was announced that Sabre would be making his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling at the promotion's 45th anniversary show on 6 March, where he would challenge Katsuyori Shibata for the RPW British Heavyweight Championship. Sabre won the match with help from Minoru Suzuki and Davey Boy Smith Jr., joining the Suzuki-gun stable in the process. The following day, Sabre pinned NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto in an eight-man tag team match. This led to Sabre unsuccessfully challenging Goto for the title on 9 April at Sakura Genesis. Sabre was left out of the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors as NJPW had decided to categorise him as a heavyweight wrestler going forward. Instead, he was announced for NJPW's premier singles tournament, the 2017 G1 Climax. Prior to the G1 Climax, Sabre took part in a tournament to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at G1 Special in USA, where he made it to the semifinals, before losing to Tomohiro Ishii. On 17 July, Sabre scored a major win in his first G1 Climax match by submitting the reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Sabre went on to finish the tournament with a record of five wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals. On 16 September at Destruction in Hiroshima, Sabre failed in his attempt to capture the Intercontinental Championship from Tanahashi.On 28 February 2018, Sabre was announced as one of the competitors in the 2018 New Japan Cup. Sabre defeated Tetsuya Naito in the first round, Kota Ibushi in the second round and Sanada in the semi-finals, on his way to the final. On 21 March, Sabre defeated Tanahashi in the final, becoming the second gaijin to win the tournament after Giant Bernard in 2006. After the match, he challenged IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada for a title shot at Sakura Genesis on 1 April. At the event, Okada defeated Sabre to retain the title. Sabre competed in the 2018 G1 Climax where he finished with 12 points, failing to advance due to his losses against Ibushi and Kenny Omega.
At Wrestle Kingdom 13, he defeated Ishii to regain the British Heavyweight Championship. In March 2019, Sabre entered to the 2019 New Japan Cup, defeating Evil in the first round, Ibushi in the second round but losing to Tanahashi in the quarter-final. At G1 Supercard, Sabre defeated Tanahashi to retain the British Heavyweight Championship. Sabre was announced as a participant of the 2019 G1 Climax. He walked away with 8 points after winning four matches, beating Bad Luck Fale, Will Ospreay, fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Lance Archer, and Kenta, whilst suffering losses to Okada, Sanada, Tanahashi, Ibushi, and Evil. At Royal Quest, Sabre lost the British Heavyweight Championship to Tanahashi. At Destruction in Beppu, Sabre pinned Tanahashi to regain the British Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time.
After retaining against Sanada at Wrestle Kingdom 14, and Ospreay at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Sabre lost the title to Ospreay on 14 February at an RPW event. Afterwards, he began teaming up with fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi in pursuit of the IWGP Tag Team Championship, held by Ibushi and Tanahashi. In the 2020 New Japan Cup, Sabre was eliminated in the first round by Ibushi. His partner Taichi, however, eliminated both Tanahashi and Ibushi from the tournament before being eliminated himself by Sanada. On 12 July, at Dominion, Sabre and Taichi defeated Tanahashi and Ibushi to win their tag titles, marking Sabre's first title win in NJPW. They retained the championship in a match against the former champions at Summer Struggle in Jingu. After one more successful defense, they lost the titles to G.O.D. at Wrestle Kingdom 15. However, on 1 June he and Taichi regained the IWGP Tag Team Championship. They would lose them to World Tag League winners Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi at Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1. On Night 2, Suzuki-gun lost to Los Ingobernables de Japon, in an 8-man tag team match. On Night 3, Sabre and fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru lost to Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji and Yoshinari Ogawa.
In March, Sabre participated in the New Japan Cup, he defeated Ryohei Oiwa in the first round and fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Douki in the second round. He defeated Great-O-Khan in round 3 and Ospreay in the quarter-finals. Sabre then defeated Shingo Takagi in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, where he defeated Naito in the tournament finals, to win his second New Japan Cup. Due to winning the tournament, Sabre earned an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match. At Hyper Battle, Sabre lost to Okada.
At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Sabre teamed with Kanemaru and El Desperado to challenge for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship in a losing effort to House of Torture. Also at the event, Sabre was announced to be competing in the G1 Climax 32 tournament in June, as a part of the C Block. In the tournament, Sabre finished with 8 points, with only a loss to Naito on the final day, costing him a spot in the semi-finals.
In October, Sabre competed in a tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW World Television Champion. He defeated Alex Zayne in the first round and David Finlay in the second round. The following month, Sabre defeated Evil to advance to the tournament finals, facing Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
In December, at the World Tag League and Best of the Super Juniors finals, Suzuki announced the disbandment of Suzuki-gun by the end of the year. The final match between the faction took place on 23 December, where the team of Taichi, Sabre, Kanemaru and Douki defeated Suzuki, Archer, Desperado and Taka Michinoku. After the match, each of the Suzuki-gun members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked leader Suzuki. The night ended with all members posing with the Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member Takashi Iizuka, causing all nine men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag, which was raised by Michinoku.