Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Most wrestling fans know Terry Brunk aka Sabu as the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death defying maniac that was at one time the face of ECW. Sabu has wrestled all over the world and for countless promotions including WWE, WCW, ECW, XPW, TNA, FMW, New Japan…etc. There was a brief moment in time, where Sabu could have been someone completely different than how we know him to be now.
In 1993, Sabu had really made himself into a sort of underground sensation while working on the independent circuit and Japan. Vince McMahon was starting to rebuild his World Wrestling Federation with newer, younger talent that was ultimately dubbed…’The New Generation.’ With new talent being brought in and pushed to the top of the card, McMahon was looking for fresh faces to go against his newest main event star…Lex Luger. One of McMahon’s top executives, James J Dillon was familiar with Sabu’s work and suggested that he be brought in. Seeing as he was the nephew of wrestler/promoter Ed Farhat aka The Sheik…Vince was intrigued.
Dillon made the call to Sabu and asked him if he would be interested in having a tryout with the company. Sabu was a bit puzzled, as he never heard of having to try out with a wrestling promotion. Despite this…Dillon offered Sabu three hundred dollars per match for three days. Sabu agreed to the money and was on his way to the WWF for his try out.
Sabu admitted when he first met Vince McMahon he felt a bit intimidated. McMahon who was flanked by JJ Dillon, Pat Patterson and Bruce Prichard…began asking Sabu his style of wrestling. Sabu was never one for many words said it was better to just watch him wrestle and maybe understand his style that way.The dark match try out took place on October 18th, 1993 at Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. His opponent for the evening was Scott Taylor later known as Scotty Too Hotty.
According to Jim Cornette, the match was very sloppy with Sabu doing all of his high spots from the indies and thought it was somewhat of a train wreck. Bruce Prichard and Sabu both disagreed with the assessment. As a matter of fact, they both say that McMahon saw some potential with Sabu and asked him to work with a more established wrestler in Owen Hart the next night. Sean Waltman (123 Kid/X-Pac) said Sabu’s match with Owen was great and something different from the usual stuff the WWF did at the time.
Sabu said McMahon liked him enough to offer him a deal allegedly worth $250,000. The money was certainly attractive to Sabu…but the apparent idea the WWF had for him was not. According to Sabu, they pitched him the idea of an Arab wrestler whose tongue was cut off and couldn’t speak. He would be managed by The Iron Sheik and be renamed ‘The Sultan.’ Of course as you know…the gimmick was used a couple of years later with Rikishi.
Sabu wasn’t opposed to the change of his character, as much as he thought having The Iron Sheik manage him might offend his uncle the original Sheik…who he looked up to. Sabu allegedly pitched that his uncle manage him instead…to which McMahon said no. Vince told Sabu, “We don’t hire talent, we create talent.” Sabu turned down the offer, but was still offered to work the next night and get another pay day and he agreed.
Bruce Prichard claims the real reason Sabu turned down the WWF offer was because Vince would not allow Sabu to continue to work in Japan after he signed. Sabu was a big star in Japan and that was where the majority of his money was coming from. Either way, Sabu wrestled one more dark match against Scott Taylor and was back to wrestling in Japan and the upstart ECW. Years later, Sabu admitted that while he had his principles and his heart was in the right place….he regretted not taking that WWF offer. If for nothing else, his financial security.