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| Sabu
AKA The Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal Death Defying Maniac
Real Name: Terry Brunk Height: 6’ Weight: 222 lbs. Finisher: Air Sabu, Triple Jump Moonsault ECW
Title History:
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| Bio: Sabu was trained by his legendary uncle, the original Sheik, in the early 80’s. The Sheik instructed Sabu on the basics of mat and brawling type wrestling. Sabu taught himself the death defying aerial moves he performs by himself in the ring that he built in his house. After a couple of years of training and preparation, Sabu made his unofficial debut in 1984 against The Sheik himself. Sabu bounced around Indie feds throughout the 80’s simply because there wasn’t a market for small high flying technical types. Sabu landed his first major break in 1992 when he signed with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW), one of the top feds in Japan. There he teamed with Horace Boulder and eventually they won the FMW WWA tag titles from Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Gota. After about a year in FMW, word of mouth was starting to spread about Sabu, even to the point where Vince McMahon offered Sabu a contract, which he turned down because he had to fulfill commitments in Japan. In the fall of 1993, Sabu left FMW and signed with then Eastern Champion Wrestling (ECW), a division of the Northern Western Alliance (NWA). Sabu alternated wrestling between ECW and NWA, where Sabu won the NWA Independent Word Title from Al Snow in a ladder match that used a 25 foot ladder, the largest in wrestling history. After a short stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the spring of 1995, Sabu returned to familiar ground in ECW, now called Extreme Championship Wrestling. |
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| ECW History: Sabu made his debut on October 1st, 1993. He beat Tazmaniac twice in one night. The next night, he beat Shane Douglas for the ECW Heavyweight Belt. He did this to the surprise of many, and showed that ECW saw something in him to push him that fast. Sabu held the title for two months before losing it to Terry Funk on Decemeber 26, 1993. This set up the Sabu/Funk/Douglas feud, which was the main draw at the time for ECW. This feud lasted for about half a year, with many classic matches including the famous triangle match at When The Line Was Crossed on February 5, 1994. All 3 men fought to a no decision because the match reached the 1 hour time limit. After this major feud, Sabu was one of the most popular wrestlers in ECW, if not THE most popular. Sabu went on to fight Cactus Jack at Hostile City Showdown 1994, where they had a classic hardcore brawl. As time passed, Sabu began to get some minor injuries, but nothing as bad as on November 5, 1994, where he was put in a match against Chris Benoit. After about a minute into the match, Chris Benoit hit a back body drop on Sabu, causing him to fall awkwardly on his head. Sabu suffered a dislocated shoulder and several cracked vertebrae in his neck. However, Sabu went on to finish the match. This was where Chris Benoit originally got his nickname “The Crippler”. After this match, Sabu continued to wrestle, despite heavy opposition from doctors and family. He greatly risked his life, as one awkward fall on his head and neck area would have likely cause him to be paralyzed, or worse death. However, he continued to fight with a neck brace until it eventually healed. |
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| In 1995, Sabu was teamed up with Tazmaniac and was put in a feud against Public Enemy. On February 4th, Sabu and Tazmaniac defeated Public Enemy in a then unheard of double tables match to become the new ECW Tag Champions. However this didn’t last very long for Sabu. On February 25th, they lose the titles to Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. Shortly afterwards, Sabu was put in a triple threat tag match, but he didn’t show up in Tazmaniac’s corner, choosing instead to wrestle in a match in Japan. Upon his return, he was fired from ECW and branded a sell out. In the spring of 1995, Sabu signed a deal with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After a few weeks, he leaves because he doesn’t like it how WCW restricts his hardcore style of wrestling. Also, he left because WCW suspended Sabu for putting someone through a table. Sabu returned to ECW, now Extreme Champinship Wrestling, in November 1995. Sabu is put in a feud with the newly renamed Taz. However, they do not wrestle in one match against each other for over a year and a half. |
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| In the Spring of 1996, Sabu was put in a series of matches against RVD. These were some of the most intense and technically awesome matches at the time, leading to “I Respect” match where the winner must shake the loser’s hand and say I respect you. RVD came up the winner, but refused to shake Sabu’s hand. Their feud continued into Hardcore Heaven 96, where after a show stopping 20 minute match where Sabu came out the victor, both men were taken out on stretchers. The fans now adore Sabu and RVD because of their show stopping matches. Shortly after this, a stretcher match is set up, where Sabu defeats RVD and RVD is forced to leave the ring on a stretcher. A couple of months after this match, a tag team match was set up between RVD & Johnny Smith vs. Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas. Smith no showed in the match. Surprisingly, to the shock and delight of the crowd, Sabu came out to take his place. They end up winning the match. The two men begin to win many matches tagging together. They fight many classic tag matches against an Eliminators team consisting of Perry Saturn and John Kronus. The highlight of which was their match at November to Remember 96 where they fought to a draw. This went on into early 97. However, around march of 97, Sabu’s feud with Taz was pushed back into the spotlight. Finally, after 18 months without a single match, a Sabu vs. Taz match was set up at ECW’s very first PPV, Barely Legal. Taz came up victorious, but truly ended up the loser in the end after RVD ran in and started beating on Taz. Also, Bill Alfonso, Taz’s longtime manager, turned against him and sided with Sabu and RVD. |
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| A couple of months after at Born to Be Wired 97, Sabu defeated Terry Funk for the ECW World Title in one of the most brutal, if not the most brutal barb wire match ever. At one point in the match, Sabu crazy glued his bicep shut after it was torn open by the barb wire. At the end of the match, the carnage was so bad, that the ring crew had to separate Terry Funk and Sabu by using wire cutters to cut away the barb wire they were tangled in. Shortly after, Sabu lost the belt to Shane Douglas at Hardcore Heaven 97 in a rematch of the famous triangle match. In the match, Sandman interfered, causing Sabu to lose. This led to a bloody feud, which led to many bloody matches, including the stairway to hell match in the ECW Arena where Sabu broke his jaw after hitting it off the guardrail. This feud finally ended at Living Dangerously 98, where Sabu defeated Sandman in a dueling Singapore cane match. After a brief feud with RVD for the TV Title, Sabu and RVD got back together as a tag team, and in the summer of 98, defeated The Impact Players for the ECW Tag Titles. After losing the titles, Sabu was put back into a feud with Taz. |
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| After gaining the number one contender spot for the ECW World Title at November to Remember 98, Taz was furious, and attacked Sabu and broke his neck. At Guilty as Charged 99, Sabu got back at Taz as he interfered in his match. Now Sabu was the number one contender, setting up a match at Living Dangerously 99. Both men beat the hell out of each other before the PPV. Taz even broke Sabu’s jaw 2 weeks before the show. At the PPV, Sabu reinjured his jaw, causing blood to pour out of his blood and mouth. However, he still continued with the match, but ended up losing. At the end of the match, Taz extended his hand, and Sabu took it, bringing an end to one of the most legendary feuds in ECW. After his feud with Taz ended, Sabu and RVD teamed up once again against The Impact Players, who were trying everything to send Sabu and RVD out of ECW. In theirs efforts, they found a by law in the New York State Athletic Commission. It stated that if an athlete did not take off time to heal his injury, he was to be banned from competition. Sabu was furious at Justin Credible, throwing him into a furious rage which ended up getting him thrown out of ECW shows by cops and security on more then one occasion. Sabu took off time to heal, but throughout the summer, he showed up at events to beat up The Impact Players, even putting Sid through a table, causing Sid to leave ECW. A match was finally set up at Anarchy Rulz, where in one of the biggest upsets in ECW history, Justin Credible pulled out the win. |
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| Shortly after this, the announcement was made that Taz was leaving for the WWF, putting Taz and Sabu in one final match where Sabu defeated Taz. After RVD beat Taz in an ECW TV Title match, Sabu was once again put up against RVD for the TV Title. Sabu vowed that if he lost, he would never return to ECW again. At Guilty As Charged 2000. After a brutal 45 minute match, RVD came up the victor, and Sabu left ECW for good. A couple of months later, Sabu returned and teamed up with Mike Awsome to feud against RVD, but after a contract dispute, Sabu left ECW, waiting to sort out his contract. |  |
| Where
is he now?: After leaving ECW, Sabu went to Japan to work a couple of more
FMW shows. He returned to the USA, and joined XPW. Sabu quickly made his
way up and has now held the XPW World Title for over a year now. Rumors
still persist of him either signing with the WWF or WCW, but for now it
looks like he’s happy in XPW.
Memorable
Matches:
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