Joseph Cabibbo (born May 21, 1974) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

currently wrestling under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

s Josef and Josef Samael on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. ...

and in

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW) as a member of

Contra Unit Contra Unit is a Heel (professional wrestling), villainous professional wrestling Stable (professional wrestling), stable, currently performing in Major League Wrestling (MLW). It consists of leader Mads Krügger, Mads Krule Krügger, Ikuro Kwon, M ...

with

Jacob Fatu Jacob Fatu (born April 18, 1992) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand and is the WWE United States Champion in his List of WWE United States Champions, first re ...

Simon Gotch Seth Lesser (born October 18, 1982), better known by the ring name Simon Gotch, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he held the NXT Tag Tea ...

, and Ikuro Kwon. He is a one-time

NWA World Heavyweight Champion The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professiona ...

and (Zero1) World Heavyweight Champion.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1998–2005)

Cabibbo worked early in his career in Florida independent promotions such as

Future Of Wrestling Future of Wrestling was an American independent wrestling promotion based in southern Florida starting during the late 1990s. Founded by Bobby Rogers, the promotion was a predecessor of Full Impact Pro, Independent Pro Wrestling and NWA Florida ...

, IPW Hardcore Wrestling, Maximum Xtreme Pro Wrestling and Coastal Championship Wrestling. In 2001, he made his debut in Puerto Rico for

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...

(WWC) as NASDAQ.

Full Impact Pro Wrestling (2005–2008)

Cabibbo debuted in

Full Impact Pro Full Impact Pro (FIP) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is currently part of the World Wrestling Network (WWN) along with Shine Wrestling. Sal Hamaoui founded the company and serves as the president, while Trevin Adams is the ...

(FIP) as Joey Machete in November 2005, teaming up with Shawn Murphy and losing to Seth Delay and Chasyn Rance. They won their first match against

Tony Mamaluke Charles John Spencer (born July 19, 1977) is a retired American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Tony Marinara and with Extreme Championship ...

and Chad Parham the following day. In April, they won a three-way tag team match, featuring the Heartbreak Express and the Y.R.R. They began a streak of victories and beat the Heartbreak Express to become tag team champions. They lost their titles against the Heartbreak Express. They left the promotion in August 2008, after losing a hardcore match against The Dark City Fight Club.

Pro Wrestling Fusion (2008–2010)

Cabibbo, working under the ring name The Sheik, has made the Florida promotion Pro Wrestling Fusion his home. Originally going by the new Sheik Ali Azzad, Cabibbo shortened the name, after receiving the blessing of Sabu, the nephew of the original Sheik. He won the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title by defeating Freedom Ryder on the inaugural show on May 3, 2008, in Ft. Pierce Florida. He also developed a feud with Steve Madison, who defeated the Sheik for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title on February 2, 2009, inside a steel cage. The Sheik regained the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title from Madison on August 1, 2009.

National Wrestling Alliance (2009–2011)

The Sheik debuted in the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

's NWA Midwest in September 2009, attacking NWA Midwest Heavyweight champion,

Silas Young Caleb DeWall (born September,9,1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Silas Young. He was last contracted for Ring of Honor, where he is a two-time ROH World Television Champion, and has ...

at a RWF (Rebellious Wrestling Federation) show in Ashton IL. He then defeated Silas to win the championship. He was scheduled for a World Title match against Blue Demon, Jr. to be held in

Cicero Stadium Cicero Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Asmara, Eritrea. With a capacity of 10,000, it is currently used mostly for association football matches. History The stadium was built in 1938 during the Italian occupation by the Italian business ...

Chicago Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, but Blue Demon backed out of the match. Silas Young, on the other hand, did sign up to wrestle the Sheik and defeated him in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on December 4, 2009, at ACW Homecoming. Sheik defeated Young to become a two-time NWA Midwest Heavyweight Champion on December 5, 2009. On January 30, 2010, The Sheik defeated "El Gran" Apollo to become the new NWA North American Heavyweight Champion. On April 23, 2011, he defeated

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

to become the 44th officially recognized

. He was stripped of the title on July 11, 2011. Officially, the NWA announced that Sheik had refused to defend the title on July 31, 2011, in Ohio, however Sheik's camp says he was never scheduled for the title defense.

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2011–2012)

On May 23, 2011, The Sheik made his debut in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

for

Pro Wrestling Zero1 , often referred to simply as Zero1 and sometimes referred to as Pro Wrestling Zero1 Catch as Catch Can (stylized as ZERO1 and PRO WRESTLING ZERO1 CATCH AS CATCH CAN, respectively), is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wre ...

. He returned to the promotion on July 3, defeating

Ryouji Sai (born Choi Young-ii June 3, 1980) is a Korean professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and promoter who currently owns and operates Pro Wrestling Land's End, where he is a former All Asia Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for working fo ...

in a match, where both his NWA World Heavyweight Championship and Sai's World Heavyweight Championship were on the line, to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. He would go on to lose the title to

Kohei Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler contracted with Pro Wrestling Zero1. Sato is also a former mixed martial artist. Career A former judoka and amateur wrestler, Sato made his transition to mixed martial arts after meeting Kazunari Murakami and ...

on November 6, 2011.

Independent circuit (2013–present)

Sheik only wrestled about a dozen matches between 2013 and the end of 2015. Starting in January 2016 he started wrestling frequently for a newly founded Southern California promotion PCW Ultra. His first matches for the promotion involved a feud between himself and

Montel Vontavious Porter Hassan Hamid Assad (born Alvin Antonio Burke Jr.; October 28, 1973), better known by his ring name Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Manager (professional wrestling), manager, and sub ...

. On January 20, 2017, his newly formed team Warbeast, with

won the PCW Tag Team Championship. The faction would grow to include

Brody King Nathan Troy Blauvelt (born March 17, 1987), better known by his ring name Brody King, is an American professional wrestler, singer, and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Hounds of Hell and is a form ...

and they would defend them under Freebirds rules. King has since left the promotion, signing with

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

in 2019, but Fatu and Sheik still hold the tag titles to this day.

Major League Wrestling (2019–present)

Sheik debuted for

(MLW) under the name Josef Samael, in February 2019 at ''SuperFight'', alongside his frequent tag team partner

. However, this match would not be aired on '' MLW Fusion''. The duo of Fatu and Josef would make their debut appearance on ''Fusion'' on March 2, 2019, forming the heel stable Contra Unit with

. They debuted by attacking MLW World Heavyweight Champion

Tom Lawlor Thomas Joseph Lawlor (born May 15, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, retired mixed martial artist and podcast host. He is signed to both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was the inaugural and longest reigning NJPW Strong Openw ...

following his cage match against

Low Ki Brandon Silvestry (born September 6, 1979) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Low Ki. He is known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, Ring of Honor and Major ...

. The following week, Contra Unit attacked Ace Romero during his match with Gotch. After that, they had various feuds, but suddenly disappeared before War Chamber, not witnessing the end of his stable.

Championships and accomplishments

All Pro Wrestling All Pro Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion and training school, based in Hayward, California. The company was founded by Roland Alexander and managed by him until his death on November 5, 2013. It is located 45 miles so ...

APW Tag Team Championship The APW Tag Team Championships were introduced on November 20, 1996, when Michael Modest and Steve Rizzono became the first to win the titles. They defeated Frank Dalton and Joe Applebaumer in the finals of an eight team tournament to win the t ...

(1 time) – with

*American Wrestling Federation ** AWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shawn Murphy *

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Ab ...

**Men's Wrestling Award (2015) *Coastal Championship Wrestling ** CCW South Eastern Championship (1 time) ** CCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shawn Murphy *

DEFY Wrestling DEFY Wrestling is an American Independent circuit, independent professional wrestling promotion based out of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. DEFY was created in 2017 after founders Jim Perry and Matt Farmer successfully petitioned the Wa ...

** DEFY Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jacob Fatu *Florida Alliance Wrestling ** FWA Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Shawn Murphy *Four Star Championship Wrestling ** FSCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shawn Murphy *

** FIP Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Shawn Murphy *

Future of Wrestling Future of Wrestling was an American independent wrestling promotion based in southern Florida starting during the late 1990s. Founded by Bobby Rogers, the promotion was a predecessor of Full Impact Pro, Independent Pro Wrestling and NWA Florida ...

** FOW Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Shawn Murphy ** FOW Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *Intense Florida Wrestling ** IFW Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shawn Murphy *Maximum Xtreme Pro Wrestling ** MXPW Television Championship (1 time) ** MXPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shawn Murphy * NWA Florida **

NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF an ...

(

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) **

NWA Florida Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Tag Team Championship is the primary tag team title in NWA Florida Underground Wrestling. It started out in 1968 as the main tag team title in Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was ...

( 1 time) – with Christopher Gray *

NWA Midwest The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as the governing body for a gr ...

** NWA Midwest Heavyweight Championship (

) * Pacific Coast Wrestling/PCW Ultra **PCW Ultra Tag Team Championship (1 time, final) – with

and

*Pro Wrestling Fusion **

NWA North American Heavyweight Championship The NWA North American Heavyweight Championship, also known simply as the NWA North American Championship, was a professional wrestling championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance in 1994 after World Championship Wrestling withdrew fro ...

( 1 time) **

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professiona ...

( 1 time) *

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

**PWI ranked him #103 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 2011 *

** World Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) **

( 1 time) *Pro Wrestling Zero1 USA **NWA/AWA/Zero1 USA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *United States Xtreme Wrestling ** USXW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shawn Murphy

References

External links

Cagematch profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samael, Josef 1974 births American male professional wrestlers Living people NWA World Heavyweight Champions NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers NWA North American Heavyweight Champions Zero1 World Heavyweight Champions FIP World Tag Team Champions