Zack Sabre Jr. | |
---|---|
Birth name | Luke James Uggles Eatwell |
Born | Isle of Sheppey, England | 24 July 1987
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Zack Sabre Jr. |
Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] |
Billed weight | 211 lb (96 kg)[1] |
Billed from | The Isle of Sheppey in Kent, England |
Trained by | Andre Baker Chris Hero Naomichi Marufuji Yoshinari Ogawa Jon Ryan |
Debut | 20 April 2004 |
Luke James Uggles Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), known by his ring name Zack Sabre Jr. (Japanese: ザック・セイバーJr., Hepburn: Zakku Seibā Junia) and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English-born professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. In NJPW, he is the second and current leader of the group The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) and is a former two-time and inaugural NJPW World Television Champion. He also makes sporadic appearances for partner promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH).
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 (NOAH) Dojo under Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji as a member of their roster from 2011[2] until November 2015.[3] 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 (RevPro), as part of NJPW's partnership with the promotion. He has also notably wrestled for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Progress Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Network (WWNLive) 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 Championships twice. He would later win the same title (now called RPW Undisputed British Tag Team Championship) 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 (the "Dangerous Tekkers"), 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 (2014–2020), and he was voted Best Technical Wrestler of the Decade (2010s).