Former WWE Star Sabu Has GoFundMe Page for Hip Surgery

Long time friend Rob Van Dam is asking fans to fund Sabu’s desperately needed hip surgery.

Terry Michael Brunk (AKA Sabu) is not just an ECW original, but a hardcore legend to anyone who has been a fan of professional wrestling since the 1980s. To watch Sabu in action is to see a human canvas of pain and suffering. He walks with a visible limp and the landscape of his body is painted with scars and bruises that stem from his early days of barbed-wire death matches in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling. Despite being born in Staten Island, NY, Brunk took up the identity of an Arab wrestler when he joined his uncle’s promotion, Big Time Wrestling. His uncle (and trainer) is WWE Hall of Famer Ed Farhat (AKA The Sheik) and his influence would go on to shape Brunk’s career as he adopted many of his uncle’s mannerisms, including rarely speaking public in order to protect kayfabe.

After more than three decades in the ring, Sabu’s body is a jumbled mess of reset bones and tattered muscles. A GoFundMe page has now been set up in an effort to raise $50,000 for desperately-needed hip surgery that could get him back into the ring. Sabu was apparently against the idea of asking strangers for money, but RVD and other friends in the wrestling business convinced him otherwise and have since gone online to ask for the necessary funds:

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According to the website, the 50K will be used for Sabu to “get his surgery, which includes: Pre-operational procedures, the surgery itself and post-operation requirements; including physical therapy. Thousands of dollars have already been spent on getting consultations, X-rays, injections and other medical attention to help with his hip without surgery.”

Sabu’s legacy does not go unnoticed within WWE as evidenced by this article published in May 2016 on WWE.com. In this piece, numerous superstars talk about how Sabu changed the face of wrestling and yet still doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Seth Rollins gives perhaps my favorite quote that perfectly sums up the life and career of the hardcore pioneer:

"“Watching Sabu was like watching a crazy fireworks show that had just gone haywire.”"

Lest you think former ECW patriarch Paul Heyman would come to Sabu’s rescue, think again. While Heyman has spoken very highly of Sabu in the past, Sabu has not been so generous. He spoke to WrestleTalkTV in June 2015 and had this to say about his former employer:

"“As a wrestling mind he’s a genius, as a person he’s the devil, or close to it. I guess he’s not that cool. If he was any cooler he’d be the devil. He has a way better mind an way smarter than I do. Why do you think Vince [McMahon] has him around? He’s afraid to have him work for anyone else.”"

Perhaps such a fundraising effort wouldn’t be necessary if the WWE implemented a long-term health and wellness plan to assist retired/former employees. As of now, there is no such program designed to handle physical or CTE-related injuries although there is a program that assists former wrestlers with “substance-related dependency problems” that was established in 2007.

As of today, the GoFundMe page has raised a little over $3000 towards the $50,000 goal.

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