During a recent edition of his “My World” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett shared his fond memories of the late ECW legend Sabu who recently passed away at the age of 60.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his first memories of Sabu: “I can’t think of Sabu without first thinking of his uncle, The Sheik. And the stories and as wild and crazy, and one of the originators of being a true, true, true heel that protected the business. And I know it’s a different generation. But behind that man was — and the first time my old man refers to Eddie, Eddie Farhat, as the promoter in the Detroit area. And that that generation of promoters, and he came in and worked with Lawler a few times. And my dad, this is maybe ’87 -— I know it was his first, second, or third year. ‘Hey, Sabu and a guy named Judge Dredd are coming in,’ and a young man named Rob Zachowski, later known as RVD.”
On getting to know him: “So where I really got to know him was the early days of TNA. And that’s when you understand kind of the man behind everything. Scars — not just in his forehead, but his arms. And he felt — when you were around him, you just felt this guy like ‘Damn, this guys’ been through the ringer.’ But he worked for us at TNA, off and on, really the whole run that I was there. And did it all. And some of the stories he and Abyss would tell in the ring, and they had a good relationship.”
On Sabu’s work ethic and selflessness: “The innovator, the uniqueness, the unorthodox style, the passion that he gave to the business. And look, I don’t think anybody who knew him, knew his style, knew his work ethic, wouldn’t say, ‘Hey, that was a crazy S.O.B.’ But right down in the core of who he was, he was a giver. He gave to the business, he gave everything he had, and even on a light show, he never went second or third gear. He always just had it in him. Who he was as a person was a complete giver with none of the nonsense ego. Because he protected who Sabu was for years and years.
“And to me, I respect the hell out of that. There’s a lot of integrity in that. And you really wouldn’t associate those words with Sabu [the character]. But I’ll just say the business lost a human being who trailblazed his path. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? Blaze our own path and leave a legacy of, ‘Hey, he gave more than he took.’ And you can say that about Sabu.”
During a recent edition of the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Bully Ray discussed WWE’s tribute to Sabu earlier this week on RAW, noting Chris Jericho’s feedback on a particular aspect that Sabu wouldn’t have liked.
The RAW episode featured Michael Cole and Pat McAfee talking about the late Sabu, along with a graphic showing his real name, Terrence Brunk.
Ray said, “I hope Jericho does not get mad at me for this, but I’m gonna pull back the curtain a little bit. When WWE put up the whole thing last night about ‘in memory of’ and it said Terrance Brunk, Jericho texted me and he said, ‘Sabu would’ve hated this. He would’ve never have appreciated it.’ And I understand what Chris is talking about just knowing Sabu, whether it was the use of the name Terry, [Sabu saying] ‘that’s not who I am,’ or ‘now you put me over [now] that I’m dead.’”
