Sabu (wrestler): Difference between revisions
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===Extreme Championship Wrestling=== |
===Extreme Championship Wrestling=== |
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Sabu's acrobatic and hardcore wrestling style helped catapult Sabu to become one of ECW's most reckless and intense wrestlers. His ability to make matches that were dangerous and his craftiness with weapons brought him recognition as among the most hardcore in the business. He is dubbed "the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac." He often pushed the expectations of hardcore violence in ECW and American televised wrestling in general with his dangerous and bloody matches. He rarely, if ever, speaks on the microphone. However during a tribute show, Sabu simply said, "Thank you." Sabu's famous signature gesture, as pictured above, is pointing to the sky while looking upwards, especially when entering or exiting the ring, or before performing an especially dangerous move. |
Sabu's acrobatic and hardcore wrestling style helped catapult Sabu to become one of ECW's most reckless and intense wrestlers. His ability to make matches that were dangerous and his craftiness with weapons brought him recognition as among the most hardcore in the business. He is dubbed "the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac." He often pushed the expectations of hardcore violence in ECW and American televised wrestling in general with his dangerous and bloody matches. He rarely, if ever, speaks on the microphone. However during a tribute show, Sabu simply said, "Thank you." Sabu's famous signature gesture, as pictured above, is pointing to the sky while looking upwards, especially when entering or exiting the ring, or before performing an especially dangerous move. Rumor has it that Sabu is actually pointing upward in tribute to his uncle, The Shiek. |
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It was Sabu and Terry Funk who created one of the most violent matches seen on televised wrestling in a barbed wire match on August 9th, 1997 at ECW's Born To Be Wired event. |
It was Sabu and Terry Funk who created one of the most violent matches seen on televised wrestling in a barbed wire match on August 9th, 1997 at ECW's Born To Be Wired event. |
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Revision as of 17:32, 21 June 2006
| Terry Brunk | |
|---|---|
| File:Terry-brunk.jpg | |
| Born | December 12, 1964 Detroit, Michigan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Terry Essar, Terry Snuka, Sabu, Sabu the Elephant Boy, Samu |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (104 kg) |
| Billed from | Bombay |
| Trained by | The Sheik |
| Debut | 1984 |
Sabu (born Terry Brunk on December 12, 1964 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on its revived Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) brand. He is best known for his appearances with the original Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion throughout the 1990s, where he developed his high-risk hardcore wrestling technique. Sabu was also employed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) for a brief time in 2002 and then again from 2004 to 2006.
Career
Acclaimed for his career in hardcore wrestling, Sabu has developed a large fanbase in the US. Sabu was trained by his uncle, The Sheik. He endured a tough early career in many amateur wrestling matches held in high school gymnasiums and bingo parlors before going professional. Notable title reigns included the ECW World Heavyweight Title, the NWA World Heavyweight Title, the ECW Tag-Team Title with Rob Van Dam as well as Tazz, and the XPW World Heavyweight Title.
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Sabu's acrobatic and hardcore wrestling style helped catapult Sabu to become one of ECW's most reckless and intense wrestlers. His ability to make matches that were dangerous and his craftiness with weapons brought him recognition as among the most hardcore in the business. He is dubbed "the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac." He often pushed the expectations of hardcore violence in ECW and American televised wrestling in general with his dangerous and bloody matches. He rarely, if ever, speaks on the microphone. However during a tribute show, Sabu simply said, "Thank you." Sabu's famous signature gesture, as pictured above, is pointing to the sky while looking upwards, especially when entering or exiting the ring, or before performing an especially dangerous move. Rumor has it that Sabu is actually pointing upward in tribute to his uncle, The Shiek.
It was Sabu and Terry Funk who created one of the most violent matches seen on televised wrestling in a barbed wire match on August 9th, 1997 at ECW's Born To Be Wired event.
Sabu's neck was broken during an ECW match with Chris Benoit, (November 5, 1994) earning Benoit the nickname and gimmick of "The Crippler", but Sabu was able to recover and return to wrestling, wearing a neck brace in his return match a month later.
Sabu is also notorious for continuing to wrestle matches even though he has suffered serious injuries that would normally end a match early. An example of this was during a matchup with The Sandman where Sabu's jawbone was broken accidentally by Fullington. Rather than end the match early, Sabu actually duct-taped his jaw shut and continued to wrestle the match for another five minutes. One of the most famous cases of this is in a barbed-wire match against Terry Funk where his bicep was torn open. Instead of rushing to the hospital, he taped his arm back together and continued the match. Afterwards, he super-glued himself together to go to the hospital. He refused to miss any matches because of that injury.
Although Sabu did not sign with WWE until April 2006, Sabu did get some mainstream exposure. He won two of his three matches in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) 1995 against Mr. JL and Disco Inferno. Sabu "went against the script" -- in the storyline -- by defeating Alex Wright, only to have the ruling reversed by disqualification when he continued to fight after the bell. WCW did not like his violent style and unwillingness to lose a match, and did not offer Sabu a long term contract. Sabu was the first wrestler to dive off the entrance sign during an episode of RAW on February 24, 1997, while WWE and ECW were cross-promoting. He had actually lost his balance before diving off but managed to reposition himself in mid-air to land on Team Taz.
WCW signed Sabu to a contract in 2000, but legal action threatened by ECW precluded Sabu from ever making an appearance before WCW's demise. From 2000 to 2001, he had a successful run in California's XPW, which catapulted him back into the national spotlight after Paul Heyman had tried to prevent him from working outside of ECW by actually suing him in court for breach of contract, when - as it turned out - Heyman was actually the one who had breached Sabu's contract.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Sabu debuted in TNA on July 17, 2002, defeating Malice in a ladder match. He made a second appearance the following week, facing Ken Shamrock in a ladder match that was declared a no contest after Malice interfered.
Sabu returned to TNA on February 25, 2004, teaming with Raven to defeat Raven's former protégés, CM Punk and Julio Dinero (The Gathering). In March 2004 he began feuding with "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown and Abyss, who outnumbered him on several occasions after Raven failed to "watch his back". Raven challenged Sabu to an empty arena match on June 9, but Sabu refused to wrestle him, claiming that he had promised his uncle, The Sheik, that he would never fight Raven. Raven then waged a campaign against Sabu, disrespecting the memory of his uncle and assaulting Sabu's mouthpiece, Sonjay Dutt, until Sabu finally attacked him on July 23. Raven defeated Sabu in a no holds barred match on August 4, and a scheduled return match on August 18 was cancelled after Sabu suffered a back injury.
While injured, Sabu was hospitalized after contracting a virus, and was sidelined for ten months. On December 12, 2004, A Night of Appreciation for Sabu was held to raise funds for Sabu. After his recovery, Sabu returned to the ring and defeated "Amazing" N8 Mattson with the Camel Clutch in his first match back from injury.
Sabu appeared at Hardcore Homecoming where he defeated Terry Funk and Shane Douglas in a three-way barbed wire rope match. Two days later, at WWE's ECW One Night Stand 2005, he defeated Rhyno by doing his Arabian Skullcrusher through a table, with the help of his old friend Rob Van Dam.
Sabu returned to TNA on July 29, 2005. At TNA Sacrifice on August 14, Sabu teamed with his old enemy, then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven to face Jeff Jarrett and Rhino. The match was won by Rhino and Jarrett after Rhino gored Raven through a table and pinned him. However, this was not without controversy, as Abyss interfered in that match and press slammed Sabu through a table outside the ring. Two weeks later, Sabu returned on TNA Impact, looking for retribution against Abyss, leading to a match between the two at Unbreakable on September 11. He lost the match when Abyss performed his Black Hole Slam finisher on to a pile of tacks in the ring.
Sabu competed at TNA Bound For Glory in Monster's Ball 2 against Jeff Hardy, Abyss, and Rhino. He was press slammed stomach first through a table outside of the ring. Later Rhino pinned Jeff Hardy after a Rhino Driver from the second ropes to win the match. Sabu also competed in the 10-Man Gauntlet Match to decide who would face Jeff Jarrett. He was eliminated and Rhino won and captured the NWA Title by defeating Jeff Jarrett.
In late October 2005 Sabu signed a contract with WWE to be in their Legends program. Because of this, it will be possible for Sabu to be a part of the WWE Classic Superstars series of action figures.
On November 13, at TNA Genesis, Sabu once again lost to Abyss -- getting the Black Hole Slam onto a barbed wire steel chair.
Sabu faced Abyss again on December 11 at Turning Point in the promotion's first ever Barbed Wire Massacre, which Sabu won. He was absent from the promotion for several months, finally returning at TNA Lockdown 2006 on April 23, 2006. Despite having a broken arm, Sabu wrestled Samoa Joe for the TNA X Division Championship, but was defeated in what would be his last match in TNA.
On Samoa Joe's MySpace web page, on April 27, 2006, he announced that Sabu's injuries from TNA Lockdown were worse than reported. Joe stated that part of Sabu's fingertip was severed, he had a broken arm, as stated above, and he had been partially scalped in an undisclosed Mexican independent event.
World Wrestling Entertainment
On April 24, 2006, Sabu's official website reported that he signed a contract with WWE. The contract, which he signed with WWE for one year, will end with the option for renewal when it is completed. On May 5 2006, WWE.com confirmed that he had signed a contract, now becoming a member of its newly-revived ECW brand. After that announcement, Sabu's profile was removed from the TNA roster page on its website, indicating that no deals have been worked out between TNA and Sabu. Shortly afterwards, Sabu was added to ECW.com's roster page.
On the June 2, 2006 edition of SmackDown!, Paul Heyman announced that Sabu would challenge Rey Mysterio at ECW One Night Stand 2006 for the World Heavyweight Championship.
On June 11 Sabu would go on to fight Rey Mysterio. The insane Mysterio vs. Sabu match at One Night Stand was stopped when the medical staff proclaimed both men unable to continue after both men fell on their heads after going through a table. As Rey stood on the table, Sabu flew at his opponent and caught him in a headlock, nailing a DDT that drove both men down through the table. Champion and challenger both landed hard and awkwardly on the floor, and doctors and officials ran to ringside to check on them. After a consultation, Dr. Rios declared that both men were unfit to continue and the match was stopped.
On June 13 on ECW, Paul Heyman made the main event a 10 man extreme battle royal. Sabu won the match after Big Show eliminated everyone, save Big Guido and Sabu himself. Show pushed Big Guido out of the ring, but Guido held on in an effort to eliminate him. Meanwhile, Sabu set up a flying chairshot on Big Show, eliminating him. As a stipulation of the match, Sabu won the opportunity to face John Cena at WWE Vengeance.
Wrestling facts
Finishing and signature moves
- Atomic / Flying Arabian Facebuster (Diving leg drop or somersault leg drop, driving a steel chair into the face of the opponent)
- Atomic / Flying Arabian Skullcrusher (Diving leg drop or somersault leg drop, driving a steel chair into the back of the opponent's head)
- Camel clutch
- Triple jump legdrop
- Triple jump moonsault
- Air Sabu (Crossbody block to a cornered opponent, with the assistance of a steel chair)
- Arabian Facebuster (Leg drop or standing somersault leg drop, driving a steel chair into the face of the opponent)
- Arabian Piledriver (Scoop slam piledriver)
- Arabian Powerbomb (Sunset flip powerbomb)
- Arabian Press (Flying crossbody block)
- Arabian Skullcrusher (Leg drop or standing somersault leg drop, driving a steel chair into the back of the opponent's head)
- Fireball
- Guillotine leg drop
- Plancha
- Steel chair throw / shot
Managers
- The Cuban Assassin
- Paul E. Dangerously
- Sonjay Dutt
- Fonzie
- Josh Lazie
- Shafee
- The Sheik
- Gideon Wainwright
Nicknames
- The Arabian Machine of Destruction
- The Human Highlight Reel
- The Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying Maniac
Championships and accomplishments
- Asylum Championship Wrestling
- 1-Time ACW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time BCW Can-Am Heavyweight Champion
- 2-Time ECW World Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time ECW World Television Champion
- 1-Time ECW FTW Heavyweight Champion
- 3-Time ECW World Tag Team Champion, once with Taz, and twice with Rob Van Dam
- Second winner of the ECW Triple Crown
- Extreme Wrestling Alliance
- 1-Time EWA Junior Champion
- 1-Time FMW World Martial Arts Tag Team Champion (with Horace Boulder)
- Insane Wrestling Federation
- 2-Time IWF Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time JCW Heavyweight Champion
- Main Event Championship Wrestling
- 1-Time MECW APW (Alternative Pro Wrestling) Champion
- Motor City Wrestling
- 1-Time MCW Heavyweight Champion
- National Wrestling Conference
- 2-Time NWC Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time NJPW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion
- Professional Championship Wrestling
- 1-Time PCW Television Champion
- Pro-Pain-Pro-Wrestling
- 1-Time 3PW Heavyweight Champion
- PWI ranked him # 86 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- 1-Time Stampede Pacific Heavyweight Champion
- Ultimate Championship Wrestling
- 1-Time UCW Heavyweight Champion
- Universal Wrestling Association
- 1-Time UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion
- USA Xtreme Wrestling
- 1-Time USA Pro Heavyweight Champion
- USPW
- 1-Time USPW Heavyweight Champion
- 1-Time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion
Championship succession
References
- Sabu at Accelerator3359.com
- Sabu at Bodyslamming.com
- Sabu at Gerweck.net
- Sabu at ObsessedWithWrestling.com
- Solie's title histories
- Wrestling-Titles.com