Later Career
Appearing less often during the early 1990s, making an appearance on WCW Power Hour teamed with Reno Riggins against The Freebirds on January 19, he was absent from WCW television for much of 1991.
In 1992, Sabaugh started the Professional Wrestling Federation with George South although he stayed with World Championship Wrestling during 1993 often appearing on WCW Saturday Night losing to the Wrecking Crew (Rage and Fury) in a tag team match with Larry Santo on January 23 as well as title matches against WCW Television Champion "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff on April 3 and WCW World Tag Team Champions the Hollywood Blonds on April 27 before making his last appearance with George South in a tag team match against Kent & Keith Cole at a house show at the Brushfork Armory in Bluefield, West Virginia on August 20, 1993.
Sabaugh would also wrestle for a time in the World Wrestling Federation during the mid-1990s. Though he would never get higher than lower mid-card status, he did help a very young Matt & Jeff Hardy break into the WWF as jobbers. Though the Hardy's would make $150 per appearance as jobbers, Sabaugh would charge them $100 per appearance. According to Matt Hardy in the 2008 DVD Twist of Fate: The Matt & Jeff Hardy Story, Sabaugh ended up leaving the Hardy's stranded in Charlotte, North Carolina where the three were supposed to meet before traveling to a show in Macon, Georgia. In the process, Sabaugh left the Hardy's to fend for themselves, but still wanted to collect the $100 per appearance fee from the boys. Matt later told Bruce Prichard about what happened, and the WWF would contact the Hardy's directly thereafter for jobbing before the two would eventually sign with WWF full-time in 1998. Sabaugh was released afterwards partially due to the incident.
Originally based in Rutherford County, North Carolina, the promotion ran shows in the old Crockett territories in North and South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia until its close in 1999. Sabaugh and South would continue their decade long feud while in the promotion, which involved female wrestlers Mad Maxine and her mother Mama Maxine for a time, trading the PWF heavyweight title several times and at one point formed a tag team with South winning the tag team titles before they began fighting each other again.
In September 2000, Sabaugh accepted a challenge from referee turned wrestler "High Maintenance" Shawn Blanton who had recently won the PWF Junior Heavyweight Champion after a three month absence from the promotion. Losing to Blanton in a non-title match in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, he was again defeated in a rematch the following week in Hamlet, North Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Gary Sabaugh
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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