Sabu (wrestler)
Terrance Michael Brunk was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Sabu. He was known for his trademark style of hardcore wrestling, which he pioneered in his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling. He was a three-time world champion, having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once.
Under the tutelage of his uncle Ed "The Sheik" Farhat, Brunk began his career wrestling in the North American independent scene in 1985 under the name of Sabu, before traveling to Japan, competing in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, winning several championships, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He returned to the United States in 1995, briefly working for World Championship Wrestling, before beginning his most well-known stint in ECW, where he quickly became a fixture of the promotion. During his time in ECW, he became a two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion and a one-time ECW World Television Champion. He would have both a feud and an alliance with The Tazmaniac, defeating him for the ECW FTW Championship and winning the ECW World Tag Team Championship with him. In 1997, Sabu began a tag team with Rob Van Dam, winning the ECW Tag Team Championship twice.
After leaving ECW, Sabu wrestled in several national promotions, winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for the National Wrestling Alliance in 2000. He also had multiple stints in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, debuting shortly after its creation in 2002 and making his final appearance in 2020. From 2006–2007, he was signed to World Wrestling Entertainment as part of their rebooted version of ECW. He remained a mainstay on the independent circuit for decades, and wrestled his retirement match for Game Changer Wrestling three weeks before his death.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1985–1991)
Brunk began his wrestling career in 1985, working for his uncle Ed "The Sheik" Farhat's promotion, Big Time Wrestling. Over the next few years, Brunk wrestled for various independent promotions and made a few appearances for United States Wrestling Association in 1991 as Samu, feuding with Jeff Jarrett and Robert Fuller.World Wrestling Federation (1993)
Sabu made three appearances for the World Wrestling Federation in 1993. He defeated Scott Taylor in a dark match before Monday Night Raw on October 18, lost to Owen Hart the next night for a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping, and defeated Taylor again in a dark match at a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping on October 20.Frontier Martial–Arts Wrestling (1991–1994)
In 1991, Sabu made his first tour of Japan with Frontier Martial–Arts Wrestling. While wrestling for FMW, Sabu received many of the scars on his arms and torso for which he became famous. On May 6, 1992, Sabu teamed with his uncle, the Sheik, in a Fire Death Match against Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto, where the ring ropes were replaced with flaming barbed wire and covered in towels soaked in kerosene. They were in the ring for about a minute before evacuating due to the intense heat. His final match in FMW was a loss to the debuting Hayabusa at Summer Spectacular on August 28, 1994.Eastern/Extreme Championship Wrestling (1993–1995)
On October 1, 1993, Sabu debuted in Eastern Championship Wrestling as a villain at NWA Bloodfest, defeating The Tazmaniac. In his second match with the promotion, he rose to main event status and defeated Shane Douglas to win the ECW Heavyweight Championship. Sabu headlined the inaugural November to Remember event on November 13, teaming with Road Warrior Hawk in a title versus title dream partner tag team match against Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy with Sabu's ECW Heavyweight Championship and Funk's ECW Television Championship on the line, which he won after Bundy turned on Funk, becoming a double champion. Sabu lost the Heavyweight Championship to Funk at Holiday Hell on December 26. He received a rematch for the title in a Three Way Dance at The Night the Line Was Crossed on February 5, 1994, also involving Douglas, which ended in a sixty-minute time limit draw, thus Funk retained the title. Sabu lost the Television Championship to The Tazmaniac, which aired on the March 15 episode of Hardcore TV. At When Worlds Collide on May 14, Sabu and Bobby Eaton defeated Funk and Arn Anderson, ending their feud.At Heat Wave on July 16, Sabu turned into a fan favorite by forming a tag team with Tazmaniac to defeat The Pitbulls. Later that night, Sabu faced Douglas for the Heavyweight Championship, but lost via count-out. Sabu and Tazmaniac would begin feuding with The Triple Threat, which led to Sabu facing Benoit in the main event of November to Remember on November 5, headlining ECW's premier event for the second consecutive year. The match prematurely ended when Benoit gave Sabu a back body drop and, expecting his opponent to land face-first, Sabu rotated himself in mid-air to attempt to land on his back. This injured Sabu's spinal cord, resulting in nerve damage.
On February 4, 1995, Sabu and Tazmaniac defeated The Public Enemy to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship in a double tables match at Double Tables. They lost the titles to Benoit and Malenko three weeks later at Return of the Funker. Sabu wrestled his last match of his first tenure in ECW on the March 28 episode of Hardcore TV by defeating Mikey Whipwreck. In April, after being scheduled to compete in the main event of Three Way Dance for the World Tag Team Championship, Sabu no–showed the event to accept a booking in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, which led Paul Heyman to publicly and legitimately fire Sabu at the event.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1995)
Sabu wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling throughout 1995, making his debut on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, teaming with Masahiro Chono to defeat Junji Hirata and Tatsumi Fujinami. On May 3, Sabu defeated Koji Kanemoto at Wrestling Dontaku in the Fukuoka Dome to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He lost the title to Kanemoto on June 14 in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan in a bout where Kanemoto's UWA World Welterweight Championship was also on the line. He also defeated Gran Hamada to win the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship on November 23 in the Todoroki Arena in Kawasaki, which he lost to El Samurai on December 1 in Niigata City. Sabu made his final appearance with NJPW in Osaka on December 11, teaming with Hiro Saito to defeat Dean Malenko and Wild Pegasus.World Championship Wrestling (1995)
Sabu made his WCW debut on the September 11, 1995 episode of WCW Monday Nitro against Alex Wright. Sabu won the match, but the decision was reversed when, after the match, he put Wright through a table. Sabu defeated Mr. J.L. on the October 9 episode of Nitro and at Halloween Havoc on October 29; following the latter match, Sabu's uncle Sheik shot J.L. in the face with his trademark fireball. His last match in WCW was a victory against Disco Inferno on the October 30 episode of Nitro.Big Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling (1996–1997)
Sabu returned to Japan to work for Big Japan Pro Wrestling in March 1996, where he embarked on an 18-match winning streak, first defeating Jason Knight on March 13 until June 4, when he lost to Kazuo Sakurada's Kendo Nagasaki. He made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling in November 1996, initially teaming with Gary Albright before teaming with Rob Van Dam the following year.Return to ECW (1995–2000)
Various feuds (1995–1997)
On November 18, 1995, Sabu returned to ECW at November to Remember, defeating Hack Meyers in his first match in the promotion in eight months. He would embark on a winning streak against the likes of Cactus Jack at Holiday Hell on December 29, Stevie Richards at House Party on January 5, and Mr. Hughes at Big Apple Blizzard Blast on February 3. He faced 2 Cold Scorpio for the World Television Championship at CyberSlam on February 17, Just Another Night on February 23, and Big Ass Extreme Bash on March 8, but the matches ended in twenty-minute time limit draws.Sabu defeated Rob Van Dam on April 20 at Hostile City Showdown. Van Dam refused to shake hands with him after the match, leading to a respect match at A Matter of Respect on May 11, which Sabu lost. He was forced to shake hands with Van Dam, who refused by saying "not only do I not respect you, you're a piece of shit". Sabu defeated Van Dam at Hardcore Heaven on June 22, in a stretcher match at The Doctor Is In on August 3, and at Unlucky Lottery on September 13, after which Sabu finally earned Van Dam's respect. Van Dam was about to shake Sabu's hand until they were both attacked by The Can-Am Express. Their match against the Can-Am Express on September 14 at When Worlds Collide ended in a thirty-minute time limit draw, but they defeated them in a rematch at High Incident on October 26. Sabu and Van Dam failed to win the ECW Tag Team Championship from The Eliminators in a Tables and Ladders match on February 21, 1997 at CyberSlam. At this time, Sabu's former tag team partner Tazmaniac began to publicly challenge Sabu at every given opportunity, but got no response. After a year of call-outs and insults from Taz, Paul Heyman revealed that he had asked Sabu, as a friend, to ignore Taz's challenge. This culminated in a match on April 13 at ECW's first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, which Taz won. Following the match, Taz's manager Bill Alfonso turned on him and sided with Sabu and Van Dam. This resulted in a double turn as Taz became a fan favorite while Sabu turned heel; he defeated Taz in a rematch on June 6 at Wrestlepalooza.
At Born to be Wired on August 9, Sabu competed in a no-rope barbed wire match against Terry Funk for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, which was promoted as being "too extreme even for ECW". In one of the most memorable moments in ECW history, Sabu attempted the "Air Sabu" corner splash on Funk, but he moved and Sabu collided violently into the wire, which tore open his biceps. He then asked his manager Bill Alfonso for some tape, which he used to tape up the approximately 10-inch gash. Sabu ultimately defeated Funk to win the title for a second time; the match ended with both men so badly tangled up together in the barbed wire that it took several ring technicians armed with wire cutters to free them from the predicament. On the DVD Bloodsport – ECW's Most Violent Matches released by World Wrestling Entertainment, Paul Heyman said that the match was so gruesome that he never booked another barbed-wire match. At Hardcore Heaven on August 17, Sabu lost the title to Shane Douglas in a three-way elimination match also involving Funk.