Kip Sabian was out of action for an extended period of time in 2021 with a shoulder injury, but managed to remain on television thanks to a creative new gimmick.
Sabian began showing up to events with a box on his head and the words "Underrated. Over It."
Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, Sabian explained how the idea came about.
"It's a really hard one because the original idea that I had has changed so many times depending on the reactions from the fans. The initial starting point was; obviously, I got injured. Full labrum surgery, which took longer than it normally would have been because when they got in there, they found it was torn all the way around. I was looking at 12ish months, maybe 12 to 15 months of rehab. For me, as someone who has wrestled since I was 16. It had been 11-12 years wrestling non-stop. The longest I had away was three weeks. You're wrestling five, six times a week, plus the indie shows. It was a lot of wrestling. Having this break and being told, 'you're not going to wrestle for 12 months' is soul destroying," he said.
Sabian continued, "I'm sitting at home, straight after surgery, maybe the first week after. I'm watching the show and was like, 'I don't want to stay at home for 12 months and do nothing.' AEW is so great with the talent. I could have sat at home for 12 months with no issues. Still getting paid, treated well, helped me with my rehab, but me, I couldn't do it. Honestly, watching the show every week, now I look back and it was a good thing. Back then, I think it was a bad thing because I had such a long time to wrestle again that I'm watching it and it's making me go more and more down this dark hole. It wasn't long before I realized that I was depressed and needed to do something. I have a very artistic mind, which I think comes from the fact that, as someone who has pretty high-function ADHD, I'm always having to try and find things to be creative with. I'm a big fan of the acting ability of Shia LaBeouf."
Sabian said he saw Shia show up to the Nymphomaniac at Berlin Film Festival with a bag over his head saying "I'm not famous anymore," and inspiration struck.
"I did more of a deep dive into Shia and what he was doing with life art. 'That's cool, maybe I'll do that.' Fast forward, I'm planning this serial killer-esque character. I'm a big fan of Halloween. In my mind, it's the greatest horror movie of all time. I thought, 'what if I could do this?' We get to All Out 2021, I packed a suit, I was gonna go buy a bag for my head, and I'm going to stand there and do my meet and greet. I printed out pictures of myself and crossing faces off. Shane, the driver, was driving me to the meet and greet. 'Can we stop for a brown paper bag.' Nowhere has a brown paper bag. I'm coming to do this random life art stuff to see if it works, and I now don't have anything for my head. We go to UPS, 'I need a box that will fit a human head.' She [laughs]. 'Do you have a box that will fit a human head?' 'Maybe this one?' She weirdly passes me the box. 'This will work. Do you have tape? Do you have a box cutter?' She's looking at me now like, 'What does this guy plan on doing with a box to fit a human head and now wants a box cutter?' I cut two random eye holes, 'I hope this will work,'" he said.
After Kip got back in the car, he thought about what he was going to write.
"Shia had 'I'm not famous anymore.' I was like, I can put, 'I'm not over anymore.' Then I had a self-realization that 'You know what, I wasn't really that over anymore.' I'm already working out the jokes that could come back at me from this. How do I really feel? I feel I'm severely underrated in wrestling on a grand stage and I've had enough. I wrote 'Underrated' and then I went, 'I'm over it,'" he recalled.
Over time, Kip would wander from meet and greets to the ring and then sit down at ringside, trying to position himself in the way of the camera to ensure he got on-screen.
"It was one of those organic things where, I didn't know what was going to happen. Tony (Khan), as well, didn't know what was going to happen at all. I didn't want to be stagnant. I wanted to develop myself further and I had to be creative. Now, we're at the point where, it's changed so many times and I love it. I feel like I'm some weird DC campy villain. I dig it. No one really knew what to say because it wasn't like this was an angle. It was an easter egg, I guess," he said.
Sabian would eventually reveal himself and make his official return on AEW television in August 2022. He entered into a feud with PAC and challenged for the AEW International Championship.
Sabian is currently aligned with the Buther and the Blade on AEW television.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
