ECW Legend passes away
Australian wrestling fans woke this morning (Monday 12th May) to the sad news of legendary ECW wrestler Sabu passing away at the age of 60. The cause of death has not been reported at this time.
Terrance Brunk aka Sabu was a legend of the sport who made a name for himself within the confines of Eastern / Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from 1993 until 2000. A former 3-time World Heavyweight Champion, Sabu held the ECW Championship twice along with having the honor of holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for 38 days in the year 2000.
Brunk started his wrestling career in the mid 80’s where he was trained by his uncle Ed “The Shiek” Farhat and was a part of Farhat’s Big Time Wrestling promotion in 1985. Sabu would be billed as being from Saudi Arabia under the ring names Sabu the Elephant Boy and Terry S.R. (the S.R. standing for Shiek’s Revenge). However, as you can clearly tell, neither of these names would stick. Brunk would wrestle for various independent promotions across the United States including in Memphis, Michigan, Ohio, Canada and Hawaii.
In October of 1993, Sabu would make appearances for WWE where he would defeat Scott Taylor in a dark match and then go on to lose to Owen Hart in another dark match before defeating Scott Taylor once again, this time for a taped episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling.
Also in October, Sabu would debut for Eastern / Extreme Championship Wrestling where he would spend the next 2 years until he was publicly fired by Paul Heyman due to no showing an event and instead accepting a booking with NJPW.
Sabu would not be destined to spend a majority of his career in either of the two major companies of the 90’s (WCW and WWE). Although he would make appearances for WCW in 1995. Also, in 1995 he would make his way across the oceans to wrestle for New Japan Pro Wrestling alongside the likes of Masahiro Chono. While over in the Orient, Sabu would also take part of promotions such as Big Japan and All Japan.
Sabu would spend most of his career in ECW and was an integral part of the ECW invasion of WWF in 1997.
After ECW would close its doors and be absorbed into the WWE in 2000. Sabu would return to the independent scene before eventually making a return to one of the bigger companies, TNA in 2002.
TNA would be where Sabu would spend the next 4 years until his eventual release from the company in 2006 when he would return to WWE as a part of the newly refurbished ECW brand under the WWE umbrella. Sabu would only be a part of the new brand for one year before once again returning to the independent scene.
Multiple times throughout his career, Sabu would appear for TNA which would undergo a name change to IMPACT Wrestling.
The later years of Sabu’s career would see him appear for All Elite Wrestling in 2023 and he would wrestle the last match of his career as a part of GCW Joey Janela’s Spring Break ultimately three weeks before his death.
Sabu has had a long and storied career featuring across all the big companies and sharing the spotlight with some of extreme wrestling’s biggest names. He was a legend, and fans would always enjoy his antics no matter what the environment.
We here at PWDU want to thank Brunk for his contribution to wrestling history and we wish his family love in their time of grief.
Hello, I’m Scott aka RAZ. I’ve been an avid wrestling fan for over 30 years and have dabbled in both the world or pro wrestling and music. Previously commentated for Iron Fist Pro in South Australia, I now focus on more of the mainstream wrestling and run a few shows on YouTube where I breakdown the most recent happenings. Glad to be part of the team here at PWdownunder.com.
