When you mention the name Sabu, many images come to mind. It may be him diving off the ring ropes using a steel chair to dropkick an unfortunate opponent in the face.
It might be a flaming 2×4 igniting the fans’ excitement. It may be the catch phrase, Homicidal, Suicidal, and Genocidal, that lives in your mind.
Whatever you remember, Terry Brunk, also known as Sabu, for, it surly was entertaining. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, we lost this extreme legend. Let’s take a look back at this ECW originals career.
Making of Sabu
Sabu was hardcore from the get-go. If you consider that his uncle, Ed ‘The Sheik’ Farhat, who was one of the most violent competitors of his era, was his first trainer, you will realize that hardcore wrestling was in Sabu’s blood.
He started training at the age of 19. Not only did The Sheik train Sabu, but also many of his contemporaries, such as Rob Van Dam. Brunk has stated that he took the name Sabu from an actor his uncle liked.
His famous pose, in which he points toward the sky, is rumored to be a tribute to his uncle. However, Sabu and RVD have both confirmed that’s not correct.
Sabu was wrestling in Memphis, and he flew so high they thought he hit the lights. He kept doing it, so it stuck. It was kind of an inside joke, like the sky is falling.
In 1985, Sabu terrorized New Japan Pro Wrestling. He became IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. It was in Japan that Sabu earned his famous scars, literally.
In 1992, he competed against his uncle, The Original Sheik, alongside Tarzan Goto and Atsushi Onita in a Fire Death Match. As you can imagine, none of the competition was ready for that kind of heat.
The ring ropes were replaced with towels soaked in kerosene, covering barbed wire. The wire was then lit on fire. The smell of the kerosene was so bad they couldn’t breathe, so it was a very short match, but definitely one to watch.
One of his fellow competitors often said Sabu smelled like smoke because he had gone through the fire. They were right. Sabu also competed in Exploding Death Matches.
In these matches, explosives were hidden under the ring, which would detonate when a timer reached zero. Not to mention, the ropes were barbed wire.
The late, great Terry Funk was interviewed about these matches, saying how funny it was that the fans wanted front-row seats for this.
He joked about how stupid they were for not knowing they would be hit with debris. Sabu competed with many greats in these barbaric matches, including Mick Foley. These matches in Japan made Hell in a Cell and Inferno Matches look tame.
Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal
Sabu returned to the United States and made a few appearances in the USWA against Jeff Jarrett. He also made tryout appearances in the World Wrestling Federation in 1993.
WWF did make an offer to Sabu, but they wanted to modify his look to that of the Sultan. Sabu stated that he didn’t really feel a modification was necessary.
He already had guaranteed deals in Japan. He turned them down. Being himself was more important to Terry Brunk than being a character. Instead, Sabu went to the land of misfits, Extreme Championship Wrestling.
Sabu’s hardcore, violent, and reckless style earned him a name in ECW quickly. On October 1st, 1993, at NWA Bloodfest, Sabu debuted. He was wheeled to the ring, chained to a board like an animal.
He went after another extreme icon, the Tasmaniac, also known as Taz. ECW arena was not ready for this rivalry. The two threw chairs everywhere.
They fought through the fans, the locker room, and back to the ring. Most impressive was Sabus’s own disregard for his own body. Sabu would use the ropes to suicide dive on Taz and the front row of fans.
We all know Taz is the human suplex machine, but Sabu also demonstrated technical skill. Even though Sabu was homicidal, suicidal, and genocidal, there were times in his matches where you saw a gifted technical wrestler. Sabu would target the legs of his opponents and break them down.
This is not something usually seen in an extreme daredevil. The man knew how to wrestle you as well as defy gravity. At his ECW debut, Sabu defeated The Tazzmaniac with a moonsault. An ECW Icon had arrived.
Paul E. Dangerously saw the potential in Sabu and made him an offer to join the Dangerous Alliance. At the time, Paul E was still managing, but he also owned ECW.
Previously, Shane Douglas was a part of the Dangerous Alliance. Douglas and Heyman parted ways, but Paul E still owned the champion’s contract. In the contract, it stated that Heyman can make substitutions for the champion’s opponents.
He substituted Sabu for Sandman. ECW was so impressed with Sabu’s win over Tazz that they awarded him an ECW Heavyweight Championship match against the Champion, Shane Douglas.
Originally, the match was scheduled as the Sandman vs. Douglas; however, the Sandman was attacked before the match was to take place. Sabu attacked Douglas. After hitting a moonsault, he pinned Douglas. In only his second match, Sabu became the new ECW Champion.
Teaming with the Tazmaniac
A month later, at the first November to Remember event, ECW champion Sabu teamed with Road Warrior Hawk against ECW television Champion Terry Funk and King Kong Bundy. Both titles were on the line.
Sabu and Hawk ended up defeating Funk and Bundy when Bundy turned on the Funkster. Sabu was now a double champion, having only been in ECW for a few months.
A month later, Sabu lost the ECW title to Terry Funk at Holiday Hell. At The Night The Line was Crossed, Sabu participated in a three-way dance with Shane Douglas and Terry Funk, which ended in a 60-minute draw.
On March 15, 1994, Sabu lost the ECW Television Title to Taz. The fans and wrestlers were all impressed with Sabu. He was gaining increasing popularity.
At Heatwave ’94, Taz and a mystery partner took on the Pittbulls. Tazz walks to the ring alone against the pitbulls. ECW Commissioner Todd Gordon decides to postpone the match. All of a sudden, Sabu hits the ring.
He and Tazz take care of the Pitbulls. Two rivals were now a force to be reckoned with. Sabu and Taz started feuding with the triple threat comprised of Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko, and Chris Benoit.
This rivalry led to the showdown between Sabu and Benoit at the November to Remember event. It was in this match that Sabu injured his spinal cord, resulting in permanent nerve damage. After that incident, doctors warned Sabu to never wrestle again.
On February 4, 1995, on ECW television, Sabu and Taz became ECW World Tag Team Champions, defeating The Public Enemy in a Double Tables Match.
Public Enemy’s tagline was Violent by Design but they had no idea the violence they were about to encounter. It was around this time that Sabu earned another nickname, The Human Highlight Reel.
Sabu literally sat Rocco Rock of Public Enemy on a chair on the arena floor, then suicide dived from the ring onto Rock. Sabu would also use the chair as a springboard to clothesline his opponent.
It was as if Sabu and the chair were connected somehow. It looked effortless. Sabu would use the chair in his Arabian facebuster for added intensity.
Sabu also would unfold a chair on the top turnbuckle and leap off it. Sometimes doing a triple jump moonsault. Finally, Tables were introduced by Public Enemy.
After Tazz suplexed himself and Johnny Grunge through the table, the teams were even. Then Rocco Rock put Sabu through a table, but the referee never saw it, so the match continued.
Tazz got Rocco Roc on a table as Sabu hit the guillotine leg drop to win the ECW tag team titles. Behind the scenes, the tag team champions did not get along at all.
Unfortunately, three weeks later, the duo lost the titles Benoit and Malenko. On March 28th, on Hardcore TV, Sabu wrestled his final ECW match, defeating Mikey Whipwreck.
Sabu was scheduled to participate in the Main Event of Three Way Dance, but he no-showed, prompting Paul Heyman to publicly fire Sabu. However, later on, Sabu would return to the Land of Extreme.
World Championship Wrestling
Sabu returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1995. On May 3rd, he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He also became the UWA World Junior Lightweight Champion.
In 1995, Sabu returned to the States but not to ECW. Sabu went to work for World Championship Wrestling. His debut was against Das Wunderkind Alex Wright.
Sabu debuted on WCW Nitro with a taped-up shoulder and his trademark scars from ring wars in Japan. During the match, Sabu proved why he was suicidal.
After he defeated Alex Wright, Sabu grabbed a table, went to the top rope, and hurled his body into Wright through the table. The referee had no choice but to reverse the decision.
Shortly after his WCW debut, Sabu started a feud with Mr. JL, aka Jerry Lynn. Lynn is another ECW star. WCW was able to convince The Sheik to be in Sabu’s corner.
Sheik’s gimmick was always throwing a fireball at his opponents. According to Jerry Lynn, he wasn’t told the Sheik was going to throw a fireball.
He said he just felt this flash of heat, and he probably didn’t notice it at first. The Sheik was told not to but Ed Farhat did his own thing no matter what. Sabu ended his rivalry with Jerry Lynn.
Sabu’s final WCW match was against The Disco Inferno. According to Sabu, he wanted to be involved in an angle with Hulk Hogan, but Eric Bischoff wanted him to be a Junior cruiserweight. Sabu parted ways with WCW.
Extreme Respect From RVD
He missed the land of the Extreme. On November 18th, 1995, Sabu returned to ECW at November to Remember. Sabu was welcomed back with open arms by Paul Heyman and the ECW faithful.
Sabu began a momentous winning streak. On April 20th, 1996, Sabu defeated Rob Van Dam. RVD refused to shake hands with him after the match. Sabu was now majorly over with the ECW fans.
This led to an intense rivalry culminating at A Matter of Respect PPV. Sabu lost and was forced to shake RVD’s hand. However, RVD arrogantly refused.
Finally, towards the end of 1996, Sabu earned RVD’s respect. Just as they were about to shake hands the Can Am Express attacked them.
The Can-Am Express forced RVD and Sabu to team up. The two made an unstoppable team. They defeated tag team after tag team but could not wrestle away the ECW tag team titles from the current champions, The Eliminators.
Meanwhile, Sabu’s former partner, Taz, began to publicly challenge him. Paul Heyman also urged Sabu not to accept Taz’s challenge, as he knew Taz had evil intentions.
It was also revealed that Taz, Sabu, and Heyman agreed that if Sabu was brought back to ECW, Taz would not hold a grudge against Sabu. Taz was not content with that.
Taz put his signature hold, the Tazmission, on everyone and anyone until Sabu had no choice but to comply. Sabu finally accepted, and the two extremists met at ECWS’s first PPV, Barely Legal.
However, on the road leading to the PPV, ECW was invited onto WWF Monday Night Raw on February 24, 1997. This was one of the first cross-promotional shows WWF ever allowed.
Taz was wrestling a match when Sabu appeared on top of the Raw logo and dove onto Team Taz. Finally Barely Legal had arrived.
For over a full year, Taz had been calling out Sabu. Taz caught Sabu with the Tazmission. Sabu had no choice but to tap out. His neck and body could not take any more.
After the match, Taz surprisingly said that Sabu gave him the match of his life, and he respected him. Sabu, in turn, raised Taz’s hand.
In a shocking moment, Sabu, along with RVD and Taz’s manager Bill Alfonso, attacked Taz. It was a double turn as Taz became a fan favorite and Sabu turned heel.
Barbed Wire Barbarian
In what was possibly the highlight of his ECW career, Sabu faced the legend Terry Funk at Born to Be Wired on August 9th, 1997.
This match was right up both competitors’ alley as the ring ropes were replaced with barbed wire. It was promoted as “too extreme even for ECW”.
The highlight of the match was when Sabu put his body on the line during a missed splash, directly into the barbed wire. Sabu ripped the flesh off his bicep. Instead of quitting, he tapped up the wound.
Now that’s Extreme, that was Sabu. He also wrapped his body in the barbed wire and did the Arabian Facebuster to Funk. His crazy antics paid off as he defeated Terry Funk to win back the ECW title.
However, neither man looked like a winner after that match. Joey Styles said it perfectly: “This matchup will leave Sabu scarred for life, physically and mentally”. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Sabu lost the title to Shane Douglas, The Franchise.
After the loss, Sabu started another rivalry with The Sandman. Dressed as Sabu, Rob Van Dam helped Sabu take out The Sandman with a Double Arabian Facebuster through a table.
Sabu began to team with RVD on a regular basis. The team won the ECW Tag Team Championship. They held the titles for four months.
After that match, Sabu and RVD joined forces with Taz. They called themselves the New Triple Threat and began a short rivalry with Shane Douglas’s Triple Threat.
Rivalry with Taz
On December 13th, 1997, Sabu and RVD defeated The Dudleys to win the ECW tag titles again. It was around this time that Taz introduced his own title to ECW. It was called the FTW title.
Sabu won the FTW title in a triple-threat match with Taz and Justin Credible. On March 21st, 1998, Sabu once again found himself opposite his old rival Taz. Taz was now ECW champion, and Sabu was still FTW champion.
The two could not co-exist. Therefore, a title unification match was scheduled. Winner takes all. During that match, Sabu landed directly on his head several times. His already injured neck could not take the assault. Even Bill Alfonso, Sabu’s manager, tried to throw in the towel.
After Taz trapped Sabu in the Tazmission, it was all over. Taz won the match and was the undisputed ECW Champion. Sabu’s injuries were beginning to take their toll.
He started wearing a neck brace and taking time off. As a result, RVD had to defend the tag team championship. Unfortunately, they lost the titles to the Dudleys again. S
abu defeated Chris Candido on January 9th, 1999, at Guilty as Charged. This would be his last ECW PPV appearance.
Sabu invades TNA
Sabu decided to try his luck in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He made his TNA debut on July 17, 2002. He then teamed with Raven. However, eventually the two stars became enemies.
The feud was stopped midway due to Sabu’s real back injury. On July 29th, 2005, he returned to TNA. This time, teaming with the new NWA champion, Raven, against Jeff Jarrett and Rhino.
The name of the PPV was appropriately named Sacrifice. Nobody knew more about sacrifice than Sabu. During the match, the monster Abyss attacked Sabu.
As homicidal, suicidal, and genocidal as Sabu was, he could not match the violent brutality of Abyss. He was defeated several times by the monster.
Finally, at TNA Turning Point on December 11th, 2005, Sabu defeated Abyss in a Barbed Wire Massacre Match. The Match actually won the 2025 TNA Match of the Year.
World Wrestling Entertainment
The wrestling landscape underwent significant changes when World Wrestling Entertainment acquired WCW and ECW. Vince McMahon and company wanted to position ECW as the third brand.
To achieve this, he hosted a PPV event called ECW One Night Stand. This would be similar to the old ECW, too extreme for a PG rating. McMahon brought back several ECW originals, including Sabu.
At ECW One Night Stand, Sabu defeated Rhyno. The PPV was such a success that a second One Night Stand event took place the following year. This time, Sabu fought the World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio.
Later, it was revealed that the storyline was supposed to continue between Sabu and Mysterio, but that never materialized. The premiere of the ECW TV show was on the Sci-Fi network.
During that show, Sabu won a 10-man Extreme Battle Royal with taped ribs, which earned him a title match against WWE Champion John Cena. Unfortunately, Sabu lost to Cena at the Vengeance PPV.
One thing Sabu always said was that when he worked for the WWE, they always wanted to change his character. Sabu never liked that idea. WWE wanted Sabu to talk.
Until now, the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal madman had a mouthpiece. It was either Bill Alphonso, Paul E, or even RVD. He started doing promos demanding a shot at ECW champion The Big Show.
ECW was becoming less extreme and more like WWE. At Summerslam, Sabu lost to the Big Show. Sabu later stated that he loved to wrestle The Big Show because he was a worker and held back.
If he didn’t, he would hurt us badly. At Survivor Series 2006, Sabu was a part of Team Cena vs Team Big Show. Unfortunately for Sabu, that night he was eliminated by Show.
ECW was about to have its first PPV since being under the WWE brand. Sabu was originally scheduled to compete at December to Dismember in the elimination chamber, but was replaced by Hardcore Holly.
According to Sabu, he was taken off the show due to his refusal to read a promo. The night after, at ECW, Sabu returned to help CM Punk and RVD.
ECW started to fizzle, and instead of becoming the third brand everyone hoped for, it became another lost in the shuffle WWE show.
He then joined fellow ECW Originals RVD, Tommy Dreamer, and The Sandman against the New Breed at WrestleMania 23.
Sabu knew he did not want to go along with the direction of WWE. He had a one-year contract. On May 16th, 2007, Sabu was released.
EV2.0 vs TNA
In the summer of 2010, Sabu returned to TNA. The company would be holding its own ECW reunion show. At Hard Justice,
The main event of the show was Sabu vs TNA World Champion Rob Van Dam. Their old friend Bill Alphonso was managing The Whole Dam Show RVD.
However, the twist in this match was that Alphonso claimed he would manage both RVD and Sabu. True to his word, he walked to the ring with both.
Sabu was sporting a new look with a shaved head. Another thing to note about this encounter was that Taz, who was involved in their ECW feud, was on commentary.
Another interesting fact about this match is that it was supposed to be Jerry Lynn vs RVD. At one point, RVD was knocked over the guardrail.
Sabu propelled himself out of the ring into the crowd. In the end, it was a 5-star frog splash that was the end of Sabu. Just as they had in ECW years before, RVD and Sabu showed the respect they had for each other. All of the ECW locker room came out to celebrate.
The rest of the TNA roster did not celebrate. Fortune, led by AJ Styles, decided to attack the Extreme Version 2.0, also known as EV2. They could not say ECW, as it was owned by WWE.
This led to a lethal lockdown match where Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, and Stevie Richards, along with Mick Foley, defeated Fortune.
Sabu teamed up again with RVD, but egos got the best of both stars, forcing them to be broken up by the rest of EV2.0. At the next PPV, Turning Point EV2.0 faced off against Fortune again in a 10-man tag.
In this match, each member of EV2.0 put their career on the line. AJ Styles pinned Sabu after catching him in a Styles Clash. Sabu was fired from TNA.
Sabu’s Final Days
In 2023 Sabu appeared in All Elite Wrestling where he was the special guest enforcer in the unsanctioned match of Adam Cole vs Chris Jericho.
On April 18th, 2025, Sabu wrestled his retirement match, defeating Joey Janela at GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break.
Unfortunately, shortly after this match on May 11, 2025, Terry Brunk passed away at the age of 61. His death was definitely a blow to the business.
On Monday Night Raw, the show opened with a tribute to Sabu. CM Punk also pointed to the sky as tribute during his match.
Sabu’s style had a profound influence on many in wrestling. You might say Sabu was involved in TLC matches before they were cool.
Every night, he put his body on the line for the fans. He wore his scars proudly like medals. Even when they tried to change his character, Sabu stayed strong.
He also remained strong when he was named in a class-action lawsuit against the WWE for failing to provide adequate care for neurological injuries.
Probably the most interesting fact about Sabu was he was listed as 60 when he passed, but he was actually 61. No matter what age he was, Terry Brunk will be remembered in history as the most suicidal, genocidal, homicidal, extreme pioneer in wrestling.
