Terry Brunk was born on December 12, 1963 in Lansing, Michigan and has his life change after a fight broke out in his neighborhood in 1983 that would result in Brunk getting shot in the face. After that, Brunk decided at 19 years old it was time to ask his uncle The Sheik to train him to become a wrestler. It would not be until May 1985 that he would make his debut in Ontario for Midwestern Championship Wrestling as Terry S.R. against the Canadian Road Warrior which would go to a ten minute time limit draw.

Brunk would mostly work for Midwestern Championship Wrestling in Ontario through the rest of the 1980's including having his one and only singles match against his uncle The Sheik on December 28, 1986 in Windsor, Ontario at the Windsor Arena where The Sheik cut open his nephew before defeating him.

Brunk would eventually begin to work more outside of Ontario and begin working in Michigan, Ohio, and Hawaii. Eventually The Sheik would decide to change Terry's ring name to Sabu the Elephant Boy and he would begin to wear a Indian turban. The name came from a 1937 movie called The Elephant Boy that The Sheik loved with the main actor's name being Sabu. The Sheik loved that name and wanted to name his son "Sabu" although his wife would not allow that and instead his dog would be the first to be named "Sabu" before Terry would take the name.

While working for Memphis though, his name would get changed to Samu instead. Samu would feud with Jeff Jarrett and Brian Christopher as well as well as have a match against another Sheik student in Rob Szatkowski who the two had practiced doing all sorts of highflying moves to another in The Sheik's backyard when they thought he was not working. The Sheik coming off hip surgery would end up getting Sabu booked for the Tri States Wrestling Alliance promotion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he would compete in a Battle Royal won by Mr. Sandman.

The Sheik would then get a call from a former All Japan young boy Atsushi Onita who had started his new promotion called FMW and wanted The Sheik to participate in the FMW Tag Team Tournament that would go from November to December in 1991. The Sheik would be allowed to have whoever he wanted as his tag partner and he would choose his nephew Sabu. Sabu despite Onita having no idea who he was would end up getting paid $5,000 dollars for the two week tour.

While on the flight to Japan, The Sheik would tell Sabu that he wanted to wrestle like he had been doing in The Sheik's backyard in the ring with Rob Szatkwski when they didn't think The Sheik was looking on.

Sabu asked The Sheik to be more specific about what moves he was going to be allowed to do, and The Sheik told Sabu to do all of them. The Sheik knew that returning to Japan at the age of 65 and for the first time in Japan since 1981 and coming off hip surgery that Sabu was going to have to be the work horse of the team. Sabu was now free to finally be who he wanted to be.

Sabu would make his debut in FMW on November 20, 1991 at the Osaka Prefectural Gym for the World Strongest Tag Team Tournament. Sabu and The Sheik would take on Horace Boulder and Mark Starr which would consist of brawling for a minute in the ring until Sabu would hit an Arabian Press which would get a huge pop from the crowd and pin Starr despite Starr trying to kick out after the three count.

Sabu would get over immediately with the crowd although it was already planned for The Sheik and Sabu to not advance to the finals and so Sabu would be the one taking the pins in the tag tournament losses to the likes of Big Titan, Tarzan Goto, Grigory Verichev, and Leon Spinks. That tour he would also end up facing off against Eiji Ezaki for the first time on November 24, 1991 as he would defeat Ezaki who had made his debut 6 months earlier in just 3 minutes with an Arabian Press. Eventually Ezaki after getting fired by Atsushi Onita as his young boy would end up becoming The Sheik's young boy as Ezaki had watched The Sheik as a young boy in the late 1970s and early 1980s in All Japan would end up earning The Sheik's respect to where Ezaki would eventually be able to call him "Papa Sheik" while also having immense respect for what he was seeing from Sabu in the ring.

Sabu's second tour would see him compete in his first no ropes barbed wire death match on February 4, 1992 at the Kumamoto City Gym as he would team up with Big Titan and Horace Boulder against Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto, and Sambo Asako. Sabu looking to make a name for himself and wanting to establish himself as something different was willing to take many of the bumps going into the hospital to where his body was covered in cuts. Onita afterwards would tell Sabu to go to the hospital with Sabu not wanting to go, and instead would get some super glue the cuts himself. He would get the idea after watching a World War 2 documentary where the soldiers would use it to stop the bleeding while they were on the battlefield until they got back and get sewn up. This would become a staple that Sabu would continue to use for years afterwards.

Due to W*ING picking up in a cult popularity due to being a different kind of dangerous than FMW the response from Onita would be for FMW to be more dangerous and begin using no ropes barbed wire matches more and more due to the popularity of them. Sabu would have his first Korakuen Hall main event on April 23, 1992 teaming with Horace Boulder against Atsushi Onita and Sambo Asako in a No Ropes Barbed wire Street Fight Tornado Death Match with Sabu getting thrown into the barbed wire and getting it caught around his neck although he and Boulder would manage to wrap barbed wire around Onita and throw him out of the ring before Sabu would use Horace's hands to deliver an Arabian Press to get the win over Sambo.

FMW trying to be more dangerous would continue as it had been announced that W*ING had been planning on doing a Fire Death Match in August 1992, so Onita would decide to try and outdo them by having FMW have their own fire death match first. The only right decision made by FMW that day would be Shoichi Arai telling Mr. Gannosuke who was setting up the barbed wire before hand to no do the bottom strand of barbed wire for this to allow easier access for the wrestlers to get in and out of the ring during the fire match.

This would possibly save the lives of all four men in the match as Sabu and The Sheik would team up on May 6, 1992 against Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto in Hyogo. The kerosene used to light the fires would be too much and would be dripping on the canvas as the fire would become unbearable where the ring was too hot to even do anything and eventually all four men would exit the ring and being brawling around ringside as the FMW young boys and girls would begin taking buckets of water to try and calm down the fire that had engulfed the ring. The four wrestlers would brawl around ringside which would see The Sheik randomly shoot a fire ball with nobody near him until the match would be called due to the fire having completely taken over the ring. The Sheik would end up being taken to the hospital for third degree burns and smoke annihilation. Onita would never do another fire death match after that.

Two days later on May 7, 1992 in Toyota, Sabu and Horace Boulder would team up to defeat Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto in a No Ropes Barbed wire Tornado Death Match with Sabu pinning Onita for the first time to win the WWA Tag Team Titles. Sabu would voice his frustration to Onita about doing so many barbed wire matches with Onita responding that he figured Sabu liked being in them because of what he was willing to endure in the matches, but Sabu would respond it wasn't that he liked being in them, he just wanted to do as good of a job as he could. Sabu and Boulder would end up losing the Tag Team Titles to Tarzan Goto and Grigory Vertichev on May 24, 1992 at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum ending Sabu's only title reign in FMW after just 17 days.

The Sheik and Onita's feud through out the first half of 1992 would come to an end on June 25, 1992 at the Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center when Tiger Jeet Singh would interfere and help The Sheik win the WWA Martial Arts Title from Onita with The Sheik giving Tiger Jeet Singh the title as a reward for helping him. The Sheik and Sabu would align themselves with Tiger Jeet Singh who would go on to feud with Onita. Sabu would accompany Tiger Jeet Singh on September 19, 1992 at the Yokohama Stadium for the title against Onita in a No Ropes Exploding Barbed wire Death Match. Sabu trying to help Singh would throw in his saber to the ring, but Onita would end up grabbing it and Onita would hit him with it causing Singh to go into the exploding barbed wire which would allow Onita to pick up the win. Singh upset over Sabu's mess up would attack Sabu after the match to break up the alliance between The Sheik and Singh.

The feud between Atsushi Onita and The Sheik would start back up in 1993 on January 5, 1993 at Korakuen Hall with Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto defeating The Sheik and Sabu with Onita pinning Sabu in a Street Fight. Sabu would then challenge Onita in a singles match for the WWA Martial Arts Title in a No Ropes Barbed wire Street Fight Death Match with Sabu stabbing at Onita's bloody arm for a good portion of the match before delivering a dive that would miss with Sabu going into the barbed wire and then being hit with a Thunder Fire Powerbomb for the win to successfully defend his title. Big Titan and The Gladiator who had been align with The Sheik and Sabu through out 1992 would rush the ring and attack Sabu breaking away The Sheik's Army and joining the recently turned heel Ricky Fuji's Team Canada.

This would then setup Onita challenging The Sheik for his US Heavyweight Title on January 18, 1993 in Nagoya with Onita winning the match after managing to counter The Sheik trying to throw a fireball at him and instead getting the fire in The Sheik's face with Onita picking up the win. Onita would then get on the mic and give The Sheik back his US Title with The Sheik appreciating the kindness of Onita to give him back his belt with The Sheik and Sabu officially turning babyface and aligning themselves with Onita.

The Sheik and Sabu would team up on January 19, 1993 in Gunma with Onita against Big Titan, The Gladiator, and Dr. Luther with Titan and Gladiator both powerbombing Sabu with Titan getting the win for the final match of the January 1993 tour.

Atsushi Onita would have to miss his first set of FMW shows ever after being in critical condition with acute pneumonia combined with sepsis. Tarzan Goto would feel in as the top guy for FMW in the mean time as Goto would team up with Sabu, Grigory Verichev, and Sambo Asako against Ricky Fuji, Big Titan, The Gladiator, and Dr. Hannibal on February 19, 1993 in Kanagawa in a No Ropes Barbed wire Street Fight Single Elimination Death Match. Sabu would end up getting eliminated by Big Titan from a Powerbomb but just a minute after being eliminated he would attack the last member of the FMW group Goto from behind with a chair allowing Hannibal to pick up the win with a Fisherman Suplex for the Team Canada win as Sabu's face turn would in FMW would only last one month. Goto would get revenge Sabu two days later in the main event of Korakuen Hall on February 21, 1993 in a No Ropes Barbed wire Street Fight Death Match with Goto cutting open Sabu's bicep with the barbed wire and getting the pin with a Face  Buster for the win as Team Canada would hit the ring and attack Goto with Goto managing to take out Team Canada.

The Sheik would return for the March 1993 tour and still a babyface from siding with Onita back in January. The Sheik would go up to Sabu backstage and confront him about turning heel on FMW and joining Team Canada and would slap Sabu in the face for what he had done and shake Goto's hand stating he was still going to remain loyal to Team FMW. Sabu and Ricky Fuji would team up on March 29, 1993 at Korakuen Hall and defeat Sambo Asako and Mr. Gannosuke with Sabu getting the win with an Arabian Press on Gannosuke. Despite the win there would be conflict between Sabu and Ricky after Sabu had accidentally hit Ricky with a topeconhilo during the match causing the two to have words with one another and Sabu just leave immediately after getting the win. The main event would see Tarzan Goto and The Sheik teaming up against Tiger Jeet Singh, Sr. and Tiger Jeet Singh, Jr. with Goto getting a lariat over Singh, Jr. for the win. Team Canada upset over the result would begin attacking Goto and The Sheik when Sabu would hit the ring and hit Ricky Fuji with a chair with it looking like Sabu was turning babyface yet again. That would not be the case as Sabu would then hit Goto with a chair as well followed by The Sheik throwing a fireball in Goto's face as the two would leave reforming The Sheik's Army with just the two of them wanting nothing to do with either Team FMW or Team Canada anymore.

Sabu would continue to work for FMW for another 21 months but that would end up being the end of him in the main event scene for FMW. The Sheik and Sabu would go on to defeat Dr. Luther and Dr. Hannibal on May 5, 1993 at Kawasaki Stadium and then lose to the team of Tarzan Goto and Terry Funk on August 22, 1993 at the Nishinomiya Stadium in Hyogo after Funk would KO Sabu with a DDT to a chair for the win. The next main event match that Sabu would have in FMW would be on December 7, 1993 in Chiba as The Sheik, Sabu, and the newest member of The Sheik Army Damian would take on Atsushi Onita, Mr. Gannosuke, and Katsutoshi Niiyama in a No Ropes Barbed wire Street Fight Death Match with Onita pinning Damian.

Following Onita's return from his illness he would feud with Team Canada until Mr. Pogo would rejoin FMW in June 1993 that would see Team Canada become Team Pogo with Pogo becoming the top heel in the company once again followed by Mitsuhiro Matsunaga also leaving W*ING to rejoin FMW with Sabu and The Sheik pretty much only going as high as a semi-main event type match on the cards. Sabu would also begin working for ECW on October 1, 1993 by defeating The Tazmaniac at the ECW Arena followed by working dark matches for WWF in October 1993 against Scott Taylor and Owen Hart with Sabu turning down a WWF spot to continue working for both FMW and ECW.

One of the more famous stories of Sabu while in Japan was that he bad been told by FMW not to brawl around a specific part of people in the front row because they were members of the Yakuza. Sabu would not listen and begin brawling in the crowd and bodyslam his opponent right in front of them. This would upset the Yakuza members who were making upset faces at Sabu, which would result in upsetting Sabu so he would deliver a suicide dive outside the ring right onto them.

After the match, the Yakuza would go up to Sabu backstage with one of them getting right in his face for what he did. Sabu would end up punching him right in the face and then begin getting attacked by all of them. Sabu would hold his own for until about a dozen would show up and begin kicking the crap out of him until Mike Awesome would show up just as one of the Yakuza members was trying to hit Sabu in the head with a chair leg. Awesome would begin swinging away at all the members going after Sabu and grab him out of the pile and bring him into a nearby locker room as more Yakuza members were showing up. Mike and Sabu gasping for air would lock the door and stay away from it in the event that one of them had a gun. Mike and Sabu stayed locked inside for two hours with the Yakuza pounding at the door and making death threats until Onita would be called in and calm everything down before they were free to finally leave the building.

Another dealing with the Yakuza would be when a kid in the front row would get in the way of Shark Tsuchiya during her match so she would end up kicking the kids chair causing him to fall to the ground. The kid would be the son of a member of the Yakuza that was also at the show. The Yakuza would confront Tsuchiya after the show as she was outside about to get on the bus. Sabu and Damian would see what was going on and come out from the bus and back up Tsuchiya with the Yakuza allowing Tsuchiya to get on the bus with just a stern warning.

The last notable match for Sabu in FMW would be on August 28, 1994 at the Osaka Castle Hall. Sabu would face off against Eiji Ezaki returning to FMW for the first time in nearly a year, but now going by as the masked man Hayabusa. Sabu would be very upset going into the match that not only did he feel Hayabusa had stolen his look with the baggy pants, but he was also being asked to job to Hayabusa to help establish him as the future ace of FMW following Onita's upcoming retirement the next year. Sabu would try to do a 450 off the top rope to the outside through a table with Hayabusa moving out of the way and Sabu crashing through the table with Sabu complaining about his back after the match. Hayabusa would end up getting the win with a Shooting Star Press with Sabu actually kicking out but the referee ignoring it and counting three anyway with Hayabusa very upset over how the match would go. Sabu would shake hands with Hayabusa following the match.

Sabu while wrestling for ECW on November 5, 1994 at the ECW Arena would take on Chris Benoit with Sabu expecting to take a flapjack during the match with Sabu planning to land on his stomach, but Benoit hooking his leg with Sabu not being able to land the way he intended resulting in a rupture of the spine and a cracked C3 and C4 spinal vertebrae.

Sabu would return to work FMW three weeks after that for what would turn out to be his final tour of Onita's FMW. Sabu had asked Onita about getting paid more back in the late August 1994 tour, but Onita had stated he wanted to wait until the next tour that both The Sheik and Sabu were scheduled for in November 1994 before discussing a pay raise. Between those two tours, New Japan's referee Tiger Hattori had offered Sabu a much higher salary to join New Japan and work their Heisei Ishingun shows for the most part. Sabu would accept the deal.

Sabu would then go over to tell Onita when he would see Onita and Sheik talking about the negotiations that Sabu had wanted to have with Onita about higher pay months early but had to wait until The Sheik was there. Sabu would let Onita know about the New Japan offer with Onita accepting and shaking Sabu's hand knowing he wasn't going to be able to offer him what New Japan could. The Sheik would understand that he was losing his partner in the process but was happy to see his nephew make a lot more money. Sabu wearing a neck brace during his matches through out the tour because of his injured neck would wrestle his final match for Onita's FMW on December 9, 1994 at Korakuen Hall defeating Masashi Aoyagi and Hido with Sheik getting the win over Hido.

The Sheik would then begin attacking Sabu after the match around ringside. Backstage photographers would catch Sabu going up to The Sheik asking him what happened with The Sheik punching Sabu and telling him that he was expelled and to pack his bags and get out.

Sabu would now be in need of a new tag team partner and he would fine on in Masahiro Chono. The two would travel together to Nagoya for the New Japan show on December 11th with Sabu interfering during the Masahiro Chono vs. Junji Hirata match with Sabu attacking Hirata and moonsaulting him through a table to give Hirata the DQ win as Chono would announce a partnership with Sabu to the crowd.

Sabu would debut for New Japan on December 24, 1994 at Korakuen Hall for the Heisei Ishingun sub promotion against Shiro Koshinaka with Sabu being forced to take off his neck brace with New Japan not wanting him to look hurt despite being hurt. Sabu go for his moonsault off the top with Koshinaka laid on a table, but Koshinaka would manage to move out of the way with Sabu going through it instead. Masahiro Chono would interfere in the match to help his new partner with Sabu getting the win with an Arabian Press.

Sabu would then make his one and only appearance at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 1995 for New Japan as he would team up with Masahiro Chono against Tatsumi Fujinami and Junji Hirata when Sabu setting up a chair on the top rope and coming off of it to deliver an Arabian Facebuster to send Hirata through a table. Sabu would end up throwing a chair in Hirata's face and Chono would deliver a Yakuza kick for the win.

Sabu would challenge Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title on May 3, 1995 at the Fukuoka Dome. They had faced each other a week prior in a non title match at Korakuen Hall on April 28th with Kanemoto no selling much of Sabu's offense before Sabu would be DQ'd during the match. Masa Saito backstage would ask Sabu how he thought the match with Sabu letting him know his frustration over Kanemoto no selling. Saito told him next time to make him sell it and so a week later in their title match when Kanemoto would again begin no selling Sabu's offense with Sabu beginning to stiff Kanemoto through out the match. Sabu would eventually end up hitting Kanemoto with an Arabian Press to get the win for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Sabu would put out his hand for Kanemoto to shake after the match with Kanemoto slapping his face so hard that Sabu had thought he had broken his jaw. Sabu would end up dropping the title back to Kanemoto on June 14, 1995 at Budokan Hall.

Sabu and Masahiro Chono would then team up at a Hesei Ishingun show on May 17, 1995 at the Ota Ward Gym against Terry Funk and The Great Kabuki with Terry bringing out a more aggressive Sabu busting open Terry with a chair followed by delivering an Arabian Facebuster sending Kabuki through a table, but Terry would end up getting the win over Sabu with a Moonsault. This would upset Sabu so much that he would jump Terry backstage and kick his head against the wall leaving Funk a bloody mess backstage.

Sabu's next big singles match in New Japan would take place on September 23, 1995 at the Yokohama Arena against Jushin Thunder Liger with Sabu struggling through out the match due to being worn out from having sex the night before with his girlfriend Hitomi. It would be reported that Sabu just did not seem interested in the match with slow and sluggish he looked before Liger would end up pinning Sabu with a Fishermans Suplex for the win as Liger would raise Sabu's hand after the match.

Sabu's last tour for New Japan at the end of the year would see him defeat his favorite opponent while in New Japan in Gran Hamada on November 23, 1995 in Kawasaki for the UWA Jr. Light Heavyweight Title before losing it to El Samurai on December 1, 1995 in Niigata. Sabu's one year deal with New Japan would expire and Sabu would feel frustrated with New Japan only seeing him as a Junior Heavyweight which meant he would never get passed a certain level on the card and never make the really good money.

The next trip to Japan would instead be for Big Japan in March 1996 as Kendo Nagasaki would call him to wrestle. Sabu would state that he did not want to take part in the Big Japan Death Matches with Nagasaki agreeing he would only be in straight matches. Sabu would then arrive to Japan and see that he was lined up for main event Thumbtack Death Matches that he did not want to take part of. Sabu would get the matches changed to where he would work straight midcard matches with the likes of Seiji Yamakawa, Bull Pain, Dances with Dudley, Hack Meyers, Tajiri, and Axl Rotten before agreeing to a barbed wire board death match against Kendo Nagasaki on June 4, 1996 with Nagasaki getting the win in Sabu's final Big Japan match.

Sabu would then make his debut on June 24, 1996 at Korakuen Hall for the Tokyo Pro promotion against Abdullah the Butcher. Mr. Pogo was originally scheduled to be Abdullah's opponent, but he had recently agreed to become exclusive with FMW once again and so Sabu would end up being the replacement against Abdullah. This match would only end up going three minutes in the ring which would see Great Kabuki spit mist in Sabu's face before Sabu and Abdullah would brawl outside with Abdullah stabbing Sabu with a fork before Sabu would end up stabbing Abdullah in the forehead with a spiked nail before the referee would rule the match a Double Count Out with both men bleeding all over the place in under 5 minutes.

Sabu would mostly work with 2 Cold Scorpio the rest of the time until Tokyo Pro would lose its sponsor and Sabu would get the call from All Japan to team up with Gary Albright for the Real World Tag Team Tournament from November to December 1996 before coming back again in January 1997 to team along with his long time training friend Rob Szatkowski now going by Rob Van Dam.

Sabu and Rob Van Dam would challenge for the All Asian Tag Team Titles on January 25, 1997 at Korakuen Hall against the champions Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori with Sabu trying to give Omori a hurricanrana, but would come down not bringing Omori with him and instead land on Van Dam that would allow Omori to give Van Dam a Diving Kneedrop for the win and a successful tag title defense. Sabu and Van Dam would do another tour in May to June of 1997, but they would both be classified as Jr. Heavyweights and both of them turning heel in ECW would make them the top heels in the company they both would end up just working ECW full time the rest of the year until the end of the year.

FMW and ECW would begin a working relationship in 1997 that would see Paul Heyman with Atsushi Onita's help have an exploding ring death match in America in 1998. FMW would get several ECW wrestlers for two big shows as well as the last set of shows in December. Sabu would end up showing up in FMW for the first time in three years on December 22, 1997 in a match against The Sandman and defeat him with a diving guillotine drop across the ladder as Sabu would be a huge influence going forward with the FMW and ECW working relationship. .

The FMW and ECW relationship would continue with the agreement that Masato Tanaka would work full time in ECW for the second half of 1998 with ECW guys coming in for a big FMW show and at the end of the year for two Korakuen Hall shows. Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki would also agree to come in for the ECW Heatwave 1998 Pay-Per-View on August 2, 1998 in Dayton, Ohio. Sabu and Tanaka would pick up Hayabusa and Shinzaki in Sabu's Winnebago RV. Sabu would be blasting the radio as Shinzaki would get Hayabusa and Tanaka to sing along with him to the American songs playing the radio with them all unaware that had the police had been following them for speeding for awhile without anyone noticing. All four were taken to the police station with the FMW wrestlers not wanting to speak to the police in a language that none of them were aware of. This would get the police thinking that Sabu had kidnapped them. Sabu's Japanese wife Hitomi would be called to the station eventually and translate for Hayabusa, Shinzaki, and Tanaka that they were not being held against their will by Sabu with Sabu being let go with just a speeding ticket.

They would finally all get to Dayton for the show with Sabu and Rob Van Dam defending their ECW Tag Team Titles against Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki in a Dream Match. The match would start off well, but eventually things would start to fall apart into a car crash with Sabu and Van Dam diving off the top ropes sending both Hayabusa and Shinzaki through tables with Sabu getting the pin over Shinzaki to defend their ECW Tag Team Titles.

Sabu would then be called as an emergency replacement for FMW's Yokohama Bunka Gym show as ECW's Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, and Tammy Sytch would all no show the event. Bigelow had left for WCW earlier in the month and Candido and Sytch had gone MIA that week and would not fly to Japan. Sabu and One Man Gang would fill in with both of them facing off against Yukihiro Kanemura in a Three Way Match Elimination Match with Sabu and Kanemura eliminating Gang before Sabu and Kanemura would face off with Sabu getting the win over Kanemura with an Arabian Facebuster.

Sabu would then return to Japan a couple of weeks later apart of the ECW group doing their annual end of the year shows this time it would be two shows at Korakuen Hall. The Sheik would also come to Japan for the final time to see Sabu marry Hitomi who had married in America in a Japanese ceremony as well as have his retirement ceremony held by Atsushi Onita for his own show independent of FMW on December 11, 1998 at Korakuen Hall.

Sabu and Rob Van Dam would main event Korakuen Hall on December 12, 1998 against the team of Hayabusa and Tommy Dreamer in another match that would have some issues including Sabu delivering a diving leg drop off a table on Hayabusa but the table would be unable to break before Van Dam would end up pinning Dreamer with a Diving Body Press.

The next day on December 13, 1998 at Korakuen Hall, Sabu and Rob Van Dam would challenge Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley for the ECW Tag Team Titles with Sabu tossing a chair at Bubba and Van Dam hitting a Van Daminator and Sabu delivering a n Arabian Facebuster with a chair on D-Von before both Sabu and Van Dam would roll up Bubba to win back their ECW Tag Team Titles.

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Sabu would then come independently and tour with FMW in June 1999 where he and Super Leather would team up to challenge Koji Nakagawa and Gedo for the WEW Tag Team Titles on June 15, 1999 at Korakuen Hall as Sabu would dive off the top and hit Nakagawa, Gedo, and Leather and then send Gedo through a table. Leather would then hold Gedo as Sabu would come off the top with a broken piece of the table with Gedo moving out of the way and Sabu accidentally hitting Leather which would see Leather push Sabu and Sabu pull out his spike and go after Leather allowing Gedo to hit Leather with a belt shot and cover Leather to successfully defend the titles. Both Sabu and Leather would grab chairs and begin swinging them at one another with Leather knocking Sabu's chair away and Sabu pulling out his spike before Super Leather would go after Sabu in the crowd with his chainsaw.

The next day on June 16, 1999 in Chiba, Sabu and Super Leather would already be booked to team again against Masato Tanaka and Ricky Fuji and they would get into it again with Sabu pulling out his spike and going after Leather and Leather pulling out his spiked nail tooth brush and going after Sabu with it as the referee would call off the match and rule it a no contest officially ending the Sabu and Super Leather tag team.

Sabu's run in ECW would come to an end in February 2000 and just a couple months later the FMW and ECW relationship would officially come to an end in April 2000. FMW had planned a big show on May 5, 2000 at the Komazawa Olympic Gym with ECW's Mike Awesome coming back to FMW as The Gladiator in the main event as well as well as a midcard hardcore match with New Jack and Balls Mahoney teaming up. Mike would end up getting fed up with ECW's lack of paying him and would leave for WCW in April 2000 meaning his return to FMW was now off. FMW upset that this wasn't the first time that they had promoted ECW guys for a big show had cancelled on them would end their relationship with ECW once and for all. FMW would reach out to Sabu no longer working for ECW to come in for two shows as the big foreign star. Sabu would arrive on May 3, 2000 to team up with Masato Tanaka to take on the team of H and Mr. Gannosuke at the Fukuoka Hakata Star Lanes. Sabu would arrive a couple of hours before the show and end up passing out backstage, but he would come to and look just fine during the match as Tanaka would pin H. Sabu's match on the big May 5, 2000 would be a singles match against Mr. Gannosuke with Sabu throwing a fireball like The Sheik had in FMW in the early 90's, so Mr. Gannosuke would counter by blowing a fireball at Sabu much like Mr. Pogo through out the 1990s and the match would be ruled a no contest.

Sabu's next tour in Japan would be for returning to All Japan although this All Japan would be much different than the one he had worked for in 1996 and 1997. Giant Baba had passed away a year earlier and Mitsuharu Misawa had taken most of the full time roster with him to start up his NOAH promotion. Baba's widow Motoko Baba was now in charge and began bringing a different set of foreign wrestlers than they had the past couple of years and that included Sabu. Sabu would take on Jinsei Shinzaki on August 26, 2000 at Korakuen Hall for their first singles match in Japan against one another. Sabu who had earlier busted up his chin on the tour would end up taking a kick from Shinzaki right on that chin causing it to begin to bleed. The bloody Sabu would then decide to make the match his kind of match and bring out a table and place Shinzaki's body on a table against the guard rail and deliver an Arabian Facebuster the top. Sabu would then take a chair and dive off off the top but would miss Shinzaki and that would leave Shinzaki open to hit Sabu with a Praying Powerbomb and then get him in the Nirvana Choke for the win.

Sabu would face off against his old FMW partner Damian on September 2, 2000 at Budokan Hall with Damian delivering a Choshu Lariat and Scorpion Death Lock to him before going for a moonsault and missing and Sabu would hit him with a Diving Guillotine Drop for the win.

Sabu would return to All Japan in 2001 and with ECW having closed down at this point, Rob Van Dam would come along as well. Sabu and Van Dam who had been feuding right in ECW right as Sabu would leave the company in early 2000 would bring the feud to All Japan a year later on March 3, 2001 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym with Sabu delivering an Arabian Facebuster sending Van Dam through a table on the outside. Sabu would then try for a triple jump moonsault, but Van Dam would grab the chair for Sabu to land on instead. Sabu would begin to hold his knee in pain following that and Van Dam would capitalize by placing him in a Cross Kneelock with Sabu submitting right away.

Sabu would return to All Japan one last time in May and June 2001 with his final match taking place on June 8, 2001 at Budokan Hall as his feud with Abdullah the Butcher in Tokyo Pro would be revisited five years later with Sabu attacking Abdullah right away with his spike while Butcher would come back and cut open Butcher's forearm with his fork. Sabu would try for an Air Sabu but Abdullah would hit him with a throat thrust and then deliver an elbow drop to get the win over Sabu in what would be Sabu's final match in All Japan.

Sabu would then return to FMW on December 21, 2001 at Korakuen Hall although FMW at this point was a struggling promotion as Hayabusa two months earlier had landed on his head while attempting an Asai Moonsault in the ring and had became paralyzed unable to move ending his career at the time was fighting for his life with pneumonia. The WEW Tag Team Titles had been vacated at the time and a one night tournament would take place with Sabu teaming up with FMW young boy Yoshihito Sasaki as they would defeat the team of Biomonster DNA and Leatherface who was different than Super Leather who Sabu had issues with two years earlier. Sabu would send Leatherface through a table and then deliver a Facebuster off the top rope to get the win to advance to the semi-finals. Sabu and Sasaki would meet Mr. Gannosuke and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in the next round with Sabu trying to send Gannosuke through a table, but Gannosuke would move out of the way with Sabu crashing into the table by himself this would allow Sasaki to fight for himself as Gannosuke would end up getting the win over Sasaki with a Fire Thunder with Gannosuke and Kuroda eventually winning the tournament and becoming WEW Tag Team Champions. The reign would not last long as Gannosuke would end up suffering a broken leg in January and they would be force to vacate the WEW Tag Team Titles.

Tetsuhiro Kuroda would choose Sabu to be his partner for the WEW Tag Team Titles against Kodo Fuyuki and The Sandman on February 4, 2002 at Korakuen Hall. Hayabusa had successful heart surgery by this point although was still living in the hospital when Sabu came to visit him. Sabu would want to pay tribute to Hayabusa who had become closer with over the years and Hayabusa would end up painting his winged tattoo on Sabu's chest as Sabu would come to the ring with Hayabusa's mask in honor of him.

The match would be ten years to the day that Sabu had competed in his first no ropes barbed wire death match in FMW and now he was having a hardcore match that would see Sabu place a ladder over his head before Sandman would backdrop him with the ladder still around him followed by Sandman delivering a dive with Sabu moving out of the way and Sandman landing on the ladder. Sabu would then place Sandman over two tables and deliver an Arabian Facebuster sending Sandman through two tables. Fuyuki would set up his own table though and powerbomb Sabu through it and then deliver a Lariat to Kuroda to get the win for the WEW Tag Team Titles in what would turn out to be the final FMW match ever. Sabu along with everybody else would not get paid for the show. Sabu would be told he would have his payment mailed to him, but that would never come as FMW would end up being force to declare bankruptcy on February 15, 2002 with FMW President Shoichi Arai eventually committing suicide due to all the money he was owed.

The Sheik would end up passing away on January 18, 2003 due to heart failure. It would not be until October 2003 that Sabu would return to Japan as Michinoku Pro would contact him to tour with them and participate in the Michinoku Tag Team Tournament with him teaming up with MIKAMI although they would not manage to advance to the finals. Sabu would then compete on October 24, 2003 at Korakuen Hall for the Fuyuki Army Promotion which would consist of most of the former FMW wrestlers. Sabu would come out with Go Ito who had been in charge of the foreigners on the bus and Koji Nakagawa who had been a young boy for The Sheik after Eiji Ezaki had gone to Mexico and there would be a 10 bell memorial salute for The Sheik. Sabu would then face off against Hido in a Hardcore Match. Sabu and Hido would brawl around ringside and use chairs, a ladder, and Singapore Cain before Sabu would end up sending Hido through a table to the outside and then place him in a Camel Clutch and begin stabbing Hido with his spiked nail before using the nail to choke Hido with Hido giving up. Sabu and Hido would hug afterwards with Sabu taking the picture of The Sheik and holding it up while doing his trademark point to the sky in memory of his uncle. 

Sabu would then come back for the final Fuyuki Army show on May 5, 2004 at Kawasaki Stadium as he would take on Jun Kasai in a Hardcore Match. Sabu would use his spike early on to stab Sabu, but Kasai would try and counter by lighting a barbed wire bat on fire, but Kasai would swing and miss with Sabu getting the bat and hitting Kasai with it. Kasai would then try and hit Sabu with a chair, but be met with a dropkick and the chair hitting him in the face. Sabu would then place Kasai on a table and deliver an Arabian Facebuster sending Kasai through the table before finishing Kasai with a Triple Jump Moonsault to get the win. Sabu would then team up with The Gladiator and Kintaro Kanemura to take on Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, and Tomoaki Honma on May 8, 2004 in a Hardcore Match at the Yokohama Arena for the HUSTLE promotion. A table would be setup right away as Sabu would send Kuroda through it before Tanaka would end up placing a trash can over both Sabu and Kanemura with Honma delivering a flying dropkick at the trash can. Sabu would end up sending Tanaka outside the ring and delivering a dive over the guard rail onto Tanaka next to the announcers before The Gladiator would hit a Kamikaze Awesome Bomb sending Honma through the table to get the win.

Sabu would then begin to suffer from a injured neck and back in August 2004 that would put him out of action. During that time, he would then contract a virus that would result in his legs not being able to walk. Sabu would have to stay in the hospital with no insurance and the bills would begin to mount up. Scott D'Amore would end up setting up a charity show for Sabu in December 2004 which would then get Sumie Sakai the idea to promote her own Sabu charity show on April 17, 2005 at the Tokyo Differ Ariake. Sabu at that point would be almost all the way recovered from the virus, but the extra money from the shows would help Sabu with all the hospital bills that he was on the hook for. It would end up being split into two shows called "WE LOVE SABU" with most of the FMW wrestlers like Masato Tanaka, Kintaro Kanemura, Hido, Ricky Fuji, and others on the cards as well as The Sandman, Necro Butcher, and Eddie Edwards as the shows would end with the wrestlers posing in the ring with Sabu at the end of both shows. Hayabusa would also attend and meet with Sabu and tell him that he wants to have another match with him as the two would hug.

WWE would end up starting up a new show in 2006 called ECW and would end up signing many of the former ECW wrestlers to wrestle on the show including Sabu. Sabu would be able to finish out his bookings which would include returning to Japan on June 16, 2006 to take on Kintaro Kanemura at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring for a NOSAWA promoted show. They would brawl around ringside with Kanemura diving off the top sending Sabu through a table on the outside, not to be outdone Sabu would dive off the entrance ramp and send Kanemura through a table although the table would not manage to break. Sabu would then pull out the spike and begin stabbing Kanemura with it and then deliver a Trimple Jump Moonsault with Kanemura moving out of the way. Kanemura would take part of the broken table and smash it over Sabu's head and then stack up multiple chairs on top of one another, but as he would go up to the top with Sabu, it would be Sabu that would manage suplex him off the top through the stacks of chairs. Sabu would then go up to the top and delivering an Arabian Facebuster with a chair to get the win over Kanemura.

It would be another three years for Sabu to come back to Japan as a now bald Sabu would team up with NOSAWA Rongai to take on MIKAMI and Isami Kodaka for MIKAMI's Cruiser's Game promotion on October 4, 2009 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE. Sabu would throw a chair at Kodaka's face and then begin cutting him open with the spiked nail with NOSAWA bringing in a ladder although it would be MIKAMI that would end up using the ladder for a Swanton Dive and then would roll up NOSAWA with a School Boy for the win.

It would be another two plus years for him to come back to Japan on February 19, 2012 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall for TAJIRI's SMASH promotion as he would team up with Jun Kasai against KENSO and VENENO in a Hardcore Match. A ladder would be brought into the match with both Sabu and Kasai suplexing KENSO onto it followed by Sabu diving off the top onto VEVENO to the outside. Sabu would then grab a barbed wire bat and swing at VEVENO, but he would block it and chop Sabu across the head, but Kasai would come in to help and smash VEVENO over the head with a broken table piece and Sabu would throw a chair in VEVENO's face with an Arabian Facebuster for the win.

Sabu would come back to Japan for two shows in 2013 with the first one being for ZERO1 on February 3, 2013 at Korakuen Hall for a FMW vs. W*ING match with Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka, and Sabu teaming up against Kintaro Kanemura, Hido, and Leatherface. Sabu would brawl with Leatherface and then deliver an Arabian Facebuster on Hido before hitting a Triple Jump Moonsault and get the pin over Hido for the FMW team victory.

Sabu would then team up with another Leatherface for ZERO1's sub-promotion Big Fireworks on February 8, 2013 at the Osaka Prefectural Gym against Masato Tanaka and Shinjiro Otani with Sabu and Tanaka brawling in the crowd before setting him on a chair and delivering an Arabian Facebuster sending Tanaka through the table. Sabu would then hit a Triple Jump Moonsault on Otani then try again, but would end up messing up not getting a grasp on the chair and instead would just do a poor looking moonsault to Otani before tagging in Leatherface who would end up taking a Dragon Suplex by Otnai for the win. Sabu would go over to both Otani and Tanaka and pose with them afterwards.

Sabu would back on October 10, 2015 at the Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with NOSAWA promoting his own ECW reunion show with Sabu teaming up with Tommy Dreamer against Masato Tanaka and Jun Kasai and NOSAWA Rongai and Minoru Fujita in a Hardcore Three Way Tag Team Match with Sabu bringing in his girlfriend Super Genie. Sabu would brawl with Kasai around ringside with Super Genie toss him a chair to throw in Kasai's face. Sabu would then get in the ring with NOSAWA and begin using his spiked nail before setting Tanaka on a table and deliver an Arabian Facebuster sending him through the table before hitting another Arabian Facebuster on Fujita to get the win for the ECW team.

The next trip to Japan would be on February 26, 2016 at Korakuen Hall for the new Super Battle FMW promotion as Sabu would team up with Raijin Yaguchi and NOSAWA Rongai to take on Atsushi Onita, Hideki Hosaka, and Sean Guinness in a Barbed wire Board Scramble Bunkhouse Tornado Weapons Death Match. Onita and Sabu would square off with Onita piledriving Sabu through a table although Sabu would come back and hit an Arabian Facebuster on Hosaka sending him through a table with Sabu holding on to his knee and pretty much not playing a factor the rest of the match as Onita would end up pinning NOSAWA with a Thunder Fire Powerbomb for the FMW win. After the show, Sabu would see Hayabusa as the two would talk for a minute with Sabu giving Hayabusa a kiss on the cheek. Super Genie would ask Sabu why he did that, and Sabu would tell her he did not know why. Hayabusa would pass away a week later on March 3, 2016 with Sabu stating now he knows why he gave him that kiss.

Sabu's final tour of Japan would take place on September 23, 2018 at Korakuen Hall for DDT with Sabu teaming up with Jun Kasai and Kikutaro against the team of Konosuke Takeshita, Akito, and Shunma Katsumata in a Tornado Hardcore Match. Kikutaro would be taken out moments into the match so it would be Sabu and Kasai going up against the three DDT wrestlers as everyone would be swinging and throwing chairs at one another outside the ring right from the start. Sabu would end up tossing Takeshita off the top turnbuckle onto a chair before Kikutaro would come back to help setup Takeshita over a table as Sabu would hit him with an Arabian Facebuster sending him through a table. Eventually Kikutaro would be left alone and would end up taking a German Suplex from Takeshita to get the win for the DDT team. Sabu and Takeshita afterwards would pose together with Sabu shaking Takeshita's hand out of respect.

In what would turn out to be Sabu's final match in Japan would take place on September 27, 2018 at the Tokyo Shinjuku FACE as Jimmy Suzuki would be running his first show for his new Tokyo Championship Wrestling promotion. Sabu would take on Masato Tanaka and Yuko Miyamoto in a Three Way Hardcore Match with Atsushi Onita going by his Great Nita persona as the special referee for the match although there would be another referee assigned for the match as well. Nita would end up spitting red mist in the other referee's face before the match would start. Sabu and Tanaka would go after Miyamoto before facing against one another and eventually all three would end up going into the crowd. Sabu would end up throwing a chair in Tanaka's face followed by Miyamoto getting a chair in the face as well. They would make it in the ring with Sabu placing Tanaka on a table and Sabu would deliver an Arabian Facebuster sending Tanaka through the table. Miyamoto would then grab Sabu and hit him with a Fire Thunder although he would then be met with Nita spitting red mist in his face as Tanaka would hit Sabu with a Sliding D and the other referee that Nita had spit mist in his face earlier would end up making the three count to give Tanaka the win over Sabu. Nita would then spit green mist in the referee's face and throw him out of the ring and raise Sabu's hand as if he had won with Sabu posing. The referee would get up again and raise Tanaka's hand as the actual winner of the match and would get some more green mist spit in his face by Nita as a result.

The final match of Sabu's career would be a No Ropes Barbed wire Spidernet Barbed wire Board Death Match against Joey Janela on April 18, 2025 in Las Vegas in GCW for what would be built as Sabu's retirement match. Sabu would bring out the spike nail one last time and try a dive off the chair but Janela would miss and Sabu would end up going through the barbed wire and the barbed wire spidernet outside before thrown into the barbed wire and going into a barbed wire board on the outside. The Sandman would come out which would buy Sabu time to get up and toss Janela into the barbed wire spidernet outside the ring as Sabu would throw a chair in his face. They would end up tossing chairs at one another before Sabu would hit Janela with a DDT and then an Arabian Facebuster one last time to get the win over Janela in his final match. Janela would give Sabu a plaque for his entrance in the Indies Hall of Fame as Janela and Sabu would hug and Sabu one last time would point to the sky in the ring.

Terry Brunk would end up passing away the morning of May 11, 2025 with not much known about the details. The cause of his death remains unknown as Sabu's ex wife Hitomi and him had never officially gotten divorce and to launch an investigation on his passing, her signature is needed, but as of now she currently wants nothing to do with Sabu since the end of their marriage over a decade ago.

I got to have two interactions with Sabu. The first was getting a picture taken with him at WrestleCon on April 5, 2018 in New Orleans. I included the picture in a framed collage of me meeting FMW wrestlers that is placed over my computer. My second chance of interacting with him was on November 7, 2023 where I got to appear on his live stream show Sabu Speaks where watched Eiji Ezaki/Hayabusa vs. Sabu matches together and talked about his memories of both Hayabusa as well as his days in FMW. It saddens me that the show was not recorded as I wish I could get a chance to watch it as he had such a good memory about so many things about FMW that was around 30 years ago.

I have always been very happy to know that Sabu came from FMW and FMW always stayed in his heart even though he didn't love the barbed wire style or how little it paid in compared to other promotions, but he loved FMW and will always be considered a FMW wrestler even though he is better known for being a ECW wrestler. Sabu was also such a head of his time with his innovative style that is seen in pro-wrestling today and if there was no Sabu then Eiji Ezaki's career would have been completely different in many ways. I am glad though that I got to tell Sabu how much I respected him and how much I appreciated everything he did to please the fans for 40 years as he really was an absolute legend and will be missed.

Sabu's Japanese Title History

WWA Tag Team Championship w/ Horace Boulder
Defeated: Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto 5/7/92
Lost to: Tarzan Goto & Grigory Verichev 5/24/92

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
Defeated: Koji Kanemoto 5/3/95
Lost to: Koji Kanemoto 6/14/95

UWA Jr. Light Heavyweight Championship
Defeated: Gran Hamada 11/23/95
Lost to: El Samurai 12/1/95