Kip Sabian has had an up-and-down career in AEW so far, but could finally be turning a corner after a big return from the career-ending injury that kept him out of the ring for over a year. While he has fallen down the ranks in AEW in that time, he could finally be in position to make a name for himself and become a star on the big stage. However, he has a number of big stars to contend with if he is to reach to main event of All Elite Wrestling anytime soon.
When you think of stars of the original AEW, you think of the likes of Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega. However, the first singles match in AEW history did not involve any of those men.
It did however feature an AEW original by the name of Kip Sabian. AEW’s Kip Sabian faced Sammy Guevara on the first AEW show (Double or Nothing 2019) and was the second match on the show. The show was opened the Casino Battle Royal which was won by Adam Page, but the first singles match featured Kip Sabian and should not be forgotten in AEW history.
Kip Sabian AEW
While Sammy Guevara has become a big star in AEW since then, joining Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle and winning the TNT Championship, fans won’t remember that actually Kip Sabian won that match. At the start of AEW, and at times after that, he has been heavily pushed and viewed as a future star in the company.
What happened after this match for Kip Sabian was a stop star push, a brief and unfortunate tag team run, a classic wrestling wedding and a horrific injury that may have derailed his career.
Teaming with Jimmy Havoc
In early 2020, Kip Sabian entered into the tag team division. He joined up with fellow Englishman, British death match legend Jimmy Havoc with both men being managed by his real-life girlfriend Penelope Ford. The team were unconventional but impressed the fans and slowly built up a fanbase with their clashing styles making for some interesting matches.
In April 2020 their name was revealed as the Superbad Death Squad, and the two teams soon began to pick up wins on AEW Dark and climbed up the tag team rankings. Their biggest match was an AEW Tag Team Championship match against then champions Adam Page and Kenny Omega.
The pair eventually fell to the champions, put Kip Sabian put in a great performance that had fans excited to see more of the duo in AEW. However, soon an unfortunate incident would ruin his chance of tag team glory when Jimmy Havoc was released for some accusations of sexual abuse that came out.
The team were broken up and Sabian had very little to do in AEW until he was paired up again. This time he would join forces with a debuting former WWE star with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.
Beach Break Wedding
The Bulgarian Brute Miro debuted in AEW in September 2020 after his release from WWE (where he went by the name of Rusev). Miro was revealed as the best-man of Kip Sabian’s wedding, set to be broadcast live on an episode of AEW Dynamite.
The wedding went ahead in February 2021, but in the mean time the duo began to team up and begin a feud with the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Barretta and Orange Cassidy). Despite an injury to Trent the feud continued after Chuck Taylor accidentally destroyed the arcade machine that Miro gifted Kip Sabian as a wedding present.
At the wedding between AEW’s Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford, Orange Cassidy appeared in a wedding present and attacked Miro and Sabian, at AEW Dynamite Beach Break. This was a turning point for the feud and catapulted it into being one of the most interesting feuds in AEW.
It lasted until the March 31st 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite, when they two teams faced off in the first (and probably last) ever Arcade Anarchy match. The match was a no holds barred match which featured a variety of arcade cabinets and funfair games at ringside.
The match was a fantastic one and featured some incredibly memorable moments. Kris Statlander and Trent both returned from injury during the match, Statlander from inside a grabber machine to attack Penelope Ford, while Barretta was driven to ringside by Trent’s Mom Sue to help his side win the match.
Miro would then turn on Kip Sabian and attack him. This was the last time he wrestled on TV and his face has not been seen on AEW programming since.
But what happened to Kip Sabian?
What happened to Kip Sabian?
Kip Sabian suffered a shoulder injury in the Arcade Anarchy match. The attack by Miro after the fact was to write Superbad off TV so he could go away and heal.
The shoulder injury was originally set to keep him out of action for 6-9 months, but now 15 months later and counting he has yet to wrestle any matches again. He had successful surgery over a year ago but it appears complications have arisen, or else Tony Khan just has nothing creatively for the British grappler.
He was rumoured to be returning at AEW Full Gear 2021 and costing Miro his match at the event. He faced Bryan Danielson at the event in the final of the AEW Championship Eliminator Tournament, and the rumour was that Kip would return to attack Miro to cost him the match and rekindle the feud between the two.
However, the return never occurred and Miro lost the match anyway. Kip Sabian was nowhere to be seen, and there was talk of AEW release Kip Sabian from his AEW contract.
Did AEW release Kip Sabian?
As of the time of writing, Kip Sabian is still part of the AEW roster. He has been out of action since March 2021, 15 months ago as of writing. His injury has been incredibly severe and could be career ending based on how long he’s been out of action.
AEW may be looking at releasing Kip Sabian. His three year deal signed at the start of the company is in no doubt expired by now and unless he signed a new deal that nobody has reported then he should be out of the company.
However Tony Khan is known as being a very generous owner. He may be holding out on releasing Superbad until he heals from his injury and can wrestle again. He won’t be able to earn any money not wrestling on the independents while injured, so Khan may be doing him a favour by keeping him in a job as long as he can.
He has appeared on AEW TV recently, although not in the way you’d expect. He has been appearing in the crowd, wearing a suit and with a box over his head. In pen, the words “underrated, over it” scribbled onto it. It appears to be a new character for the star, who previously teamed up with Miro as a gamer who was getting married, a less-than-compelling character for fans.
Kip Sabian Made His AEW Return
Kip Sabian returned on AEW Dynamite on 24th August 2022. He was stood in the crowd wearing his trademark box on his head for the whole show, as he had done for the past year.
However, in the main event of the show, Kip Sabian made his big return to the show by attacking PAC in the main event of the show. He had been stalking PAC through the UK on AEW Dark and finally attacked him from beyond the barricade during the Death Triangle vs United Empire match in the main event.
He helped Will Ospreay to lead his team to victory and began a feud with PAC, which had been brewing for a number of weeks after starting on AEW Dark. At Forbidden Door, PAC became the first ever AEW All-Atlantic Champion and soon had his first defence set to be against his fellow Brit.
On the All Out 2022 Pre show, called the “Zero Hour”, Kip Sabian faced PAC in his bid to win his first championship in AEW. Sadly, he lost the match and the feud with PAC and has been relegated to wrestle on AEW Dark ever since. He has begun teaming with real-life wife Penelope Ford in mixed tag team action, although many fans have considered her the star of the team instead of Kip.
The future of Kip Sabian in AEW is an uncertain one, with Tony Khan clearly not willing to push him as a star of the company. He may face being released once his contract is up and could make his return to the UK to spearhead the next generation of Brit-Wres and make a name for himself. This could help him get re-signed by AEW in the future or even move to WWE, with Triple H always willing to push the smaller, talented wrestlers like Johnny Gargano into prominent positions.
What do you think Kip Sabian’s AEW future will look like? Let us know in the comments or click below to read about how CM Punk was fired by AEW
