The mid 90's saw ECW morph from a NWA territory into the island of misfit toys that rode the edge of a lightning bolt until the wheels fell off (their lightning bolt had wheels).
Two of the men that helped propel the regional hardcore promotion into the cultural zeitgeist are The Human Suplex Machine, and the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac.
Join us this week as we roll back the the rivalry between Taz and Sabu, on the Feud Rewind.
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Please drink some.
Make sure to follow us on all social media platforms @feudrewind
Email: feudrewind@gmail.com
Thank you!
The mid 90's saw ECW morph from a NWA territory into the island of misfit toys that rode the edge of a lightning bolt until the wheels fell off (their lightning bolt had wheels).
Two of the men that helped propel the regional hardcore promotion into the cultural zeitgeist are The Human Suplex Machine, and the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac.
Join us this week as we roll back the the rivalry between Taz and Sabu, on the Feud Rewind.
*water*
Please drink some.
Make sure to follow us on all social media platforms @feudrewind
Email: feudrewind@gmail.com
Thank you!
EP: 12
TITLE: Taz vs Sabu
INTRO:
April 13th 1997 saw the PPV debut of ECW with Barely Legal. For the last 18 months, Taz has been biding his time to get his hands on Sabu, and the clock has finally struck midnight. A rivalry built upon real life animosity that has helped propel the regional upstart promotion up the ladder of the social consciousness. A feud that is almost entirely centered around emotions than trading match wins and losses back and forth. A feud centered around disrespect and loyalty.
Dont tap out yet, we gotta roll this back with a rewind
theme music
Chapter 1:
Welcome to the Feud Rewind, I am your host Benza Lance.
The feud that we’re rolling back this week is one of the more unique feuds that we’ve touched on thus far, in that this is a rivalry that isnt centered around a classic back and forth trading of wins and losses. Instead, this is a feud that revolves around both personal and professional disagreements and disrespect. For a storyline, at first blush this might not sound like anything extraordinary; it appears to be the foundation of a traditional blood feud, and indeed it is. However, it takes the confluence of two galvanizing opponents and the island of misfits toys that they were fighting on, that would elevate this story to not only legendary status, but would help this story stand against time as one of the best examples of long term storytelling. But before we really crank this rewind back, we have to talk about the fellas involved.
Fellow Libra baby Peter Senerchia was born in 1967 in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up in the Red Hook district in the 1970s would normally lead one to develop a hardened exterior and a chip on their shoulder; however, Taz, like your truly, is vertically challenged at roughly the same height of 5’9” on a good day, which as I can tell you, definitely can make you feel some type of way. Early on, both his environmental and genetic factors would cause Taz not to skirt around issues and instead face them head on. This virtue would lend well in his scholastic sports career, with him excelling in both high school wrestling and football, where despiste his short frame, he would play linebacker and guard. He also pursued an interest in the martial arts, eventually earning a second degree black belt in Judo. After school, Taz would work a job installing railroad tracks and also bouncing at various bars while mulling over potentially pursuing a wrestling career. Receiving wrestling training from Johnny Rodz out of the legendary Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, Taz would first wrestle under the moniker Kid Krush before moving on to the name The Tazmaniac.
The first years of Taz’s wrestling career was a nonstop uphill battle. During this era, size was a dominating factor in your position on the card; being half the size of some of his opponents, Taz would face numerous roadblocks on his journey. He wrestled both domestically in International World Class Championship Wrestling and Century Wrestling Alliance, while also doing tours internationally in Japan with NJPW. Token tryouts in both WWE and WCW occurred in the early 90s would lead to little traction in getting signed with either promotion. Years of continuing to work his straight job to provide for his family while using what little PTO he acquired to wrestle independent dates was wearing thin on Taz. A man that had never been handed anything in life also, for better or for worse, had his life imitate his art; while initially utilize high flying lucha inspired moves, in no doubt due to his size, Taz would grow his character gimmick into a mat based technician that was more prone to suplex an opponent on their heads as opposed to hitting a corkscrew moonsault. No longer was he adorned with his luscious curls or his “wildman” gimmick; replaced instead with a no nonsense pitbull that you definitely wouldnt want to be on the wrong side of. All Taz needed was an advocate, someone who could see the visceral emotion that seeped from Taz’s pores and could help translate that into something easily digestible for an audience. Fellow New Yorker Paul Heyman had recently started taking over the reigns for the Philadelphia promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling, and was trying to rebuild this promotion from its status as a NWA territory into a promotion that was on the cutting edge of progression. Heyman had long been a fan of the Tazmaniac; Heymand had been the one to arrange the failed tryout in WCW. Finally being able to get his hands on the human embodiment of a brick shithouse, Heyman would pair Taz with various partners over the next year, including Joe Chetti and Kevin Sullivan. It was with one partnership, however, that would intrinsically change not just Taz, but the promotion that had now changed from Eastern Championship Wrestling to Extreme Championship Wrestling; Taz’s partnership with the suicidal, homicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac that is Sabu.
Terrance Brunk was born in 1964 in Staten Island, New York, although he grew up in the Detroit area of Michigan. Being born into a wrestling family, as his uncle was the Ed Farhat, known as “The Shiek” (NOT the Iron Shiek), Brunk would start training with his uncle after high school to be an in ring technician, and would debut under the ring name Sabu The Elephant Boy, the name “Sabu” being taken from the Indian-American actor Sabu, of whom his uncle was a big fan. Making the rounds in various American independent promotions, Sabu would soon make his way overseas to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in 1991; it was in this Atsushi Onita led promotion that Sabu would earn his stripes in the deathmatch style of wrestling these Japanese fans wanted. Undergoing dozens of no-rope barbed wire deathmatches with the likes of Onita-san and Tarzan Goto, Sabu would endear himself as a competitor that had no bars, no filter, and often very little regard for his own body for the sake of his art. Sabu’s most notably characteristic is often time having to attempt the same manuever multiple times, and often times literally just fucking himself up more than his opponent. It was during this time that tape trading was nearing it’s apex, and this style of wrestling was not well known nor well distributed in America; the images of bloody, scarred, and on fire competitors wrestling in a ring made of barbed wire that’s engulfed in flames was surreal to put it lightly. Being referred by Tod Gordon and catching the eye of the aforementioned Paul Heyman, Sabu would finally gain a sense of firm ground in his home country by accepting an invitation to debut in ECW. Presented as a mute Hannibal Lecter like madman, Sabu would quickly climb the ranks of ECW and in quick order entering into rivalries with Shane Douglas and hardcore legend Terry Funk. Becoming a one time double champion, holding both the ECW World Heavyweights and TV Championships simultaneously, Sabu would form a successful tag team with fellow companyman Taz. This move turned Sabu from a villainous hell into a beloved babyface, as the two went on to have tag feuds with the stables The Triple Threat and The Public Enemy, winning the tag championships from Public Enemy in February 1995. Things came to a head, however, starting at “Three Way Dance”, which was a live event ECW produced on April 8th, 1995. Originally scheduled as the main event was a triple threat match for the ECW Tag Team Championships. The current champions Triple Threat were set to defend against Public Enemy and Taz and Sabu; however, prior to the event, Sabu had accepted an offer to tour Japan with NJPW; Sabu’s reasoning was he had an established career in Japan, and while he was popular in ECW, he only wrestled occasionally. Without having his partner, Taz would fail to recapture the titles with stand in partner Rick Steiner. A few months later on July 20th 1995, Taz would not just face another obstacle, but his biggest yet; while in a match versus 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko, Taz suffered a devastating neck injury when a spiked piledriver off the second rope didnt go quite as planned. Now on the shelf with a neck injury, and without his tag partner, Taz would fester in his rage, and the next time we would see him, he would not only be a much different and much more grumpier man (if that was possible), but we would also see him start to exact his revenge on those he held responsible for keeping him down; the entire fucking world.
Chapter 2
Taz would be out of action from July until December. During this time, he would make appearances with The Steiner Brothers while recuperating from his neck injury. At 1995’s November to Remember event take took place on November 8th, however, is where things start to pick up. This event is notable for two main reasons; firstly, concerning Taz, he would act as a special guest referee in a match between ECW Commisioner Tod Gordon and manager Bill Alfonso. Alfonso is the heel, and in dickish fashion, knocks out the originally scheduled referee Beulah McGillicutty. The two men fight back and forth until Gordon nails Alfonso with a frying pan. Gordon goes for a pin, and Taz runs out to take place as special officiator. He insteads turns on Gordon, and ostensibly ECW, by punching him and pulling Alfonso on top of the unconscious Gordon for the 1-2-3 victory. After this match, Taz goes on the first of what would become many of his infamously scathing promos against both Paul Heyman and the ECW faithful for not only the lack of support for when he was injured; but also for their overwhelming support for the surprise return that happened early in the night’s festivities, and that was the surprise return of Sabu. From Tazz’s perspective, this is a man that has gotten over by jumping through barb wire tables, without really any notable wrestling techniques, and a man without integrity, as Sabu jumped ship for a bigger payday as opposed to honoring his word. Taz, meanwhile, has to constantly fight, train, and scrape for the small amount of respect and adulation that he received. The fact that a fighter with no valor could return to such a heartwarming ovation while the true warrior sat injured and underappreciated was going to be the jet fuel for this feud.
Taz himself would ultimately get back into ring action the following month in December at Holiday Hell, and it was a donning of a Taz we hadnt seen before. Gone was the long hair and calculated flashiness; instead we had no the iconic black and orange singlet, with the focus being on mat wrestling and explosive suplexes. Almost ubiquitous with wrestling now is the appearance of the tap out when a submission hold is applied; for the younger fan that might be unaware, this was not commonplace in wrestling at all until Taz started unleashing his finisher “The Tazmission”, a move based on the katahajime from Taz’s judo background. Prior to this, most submission finishers either nodded their head “yes” to giving up or vocally yelled their relinquishment. This change in attitude and perception didnt happen overnight; rather, this was years of trying to find out what would work to appease an audience, feeling like you got proverbially shit on by the fans and business in generally, and now we’re just unleashing pure rage via pure mastery of craft. This is right around the time that I personally came to know Taz, and he was instantly a gravitational force. One of the aspects that I wanted to most see in wrestling, and I would suggest that most people want to see in entertainment in general, is a sense of fellowship and a reflection of oneself. In Taz, I saw exactly what, in my wildest dreams, i could be; a stocky suplexing machine that commands respect and garners fear from both small and large opponents alike. Taz was never presented, to me anyway, as a “small guy” or even as an underdog; little did i know, this would probably be the one time that a competitor that is comfortably under 6’ tall would be presented as an unstoppable force that used brute strength and cunning to ensure victory. While we did have talent a few years later such as Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho that were under 6’ and became world champions, I would suggest that those respective reigns wouldnt have happened when they did if not for Taz and Paul Heyman presenting Taz as a legitimate shoot killer.
Over the calendar year of 1996, Taz would go on to feud with the heart and soul of professional wrestling Tommy Dreamer and ascend up the ranks of ECW. Notably, at every opportunity he got a chance to have a microphone in his hand, he called out the one man he wanted to face in the ring, the one man that has become the personification of his personal and professional life’s struggles; Sabu. Months and months of Taz’s beckonings went completely unanswered by Sabu. The two men were hardly, if ever, on screen together. The completely disregard for Taz’s pleas were no doubt fuel to the fire. And that is where the beauty of the feud comes in.
An angry individual constantly demanding attention and not receiving it on a regular basis. Using whomever is standing in front of him as a proxy for Sabu, Taz would embark on a pathway of rage throughout the roster. The 1996 edition of November to Remember, the event that saw Taz’s thunder stolen by the returning Sabu a year prior. This year event kicks off with Taz interrupting Joey Styles giving us the initial introductions; taking the microphone and the moment to steal Paul Heyman’s thunder, Taz announces that ECW’s first big show is going to happen in the first quarter of the new year 1997, signaling ECW’s first ppv event. He also added that he would guarantee that Sabu would face him that night. The rest of November to Remember would go off with relatively few hitches, save for a canonical event that happens after the 2 Cold Scorpio match. After the matches completion, Taz would force Scorpio to leave the ring post match and would then go on an elongated angry tirade wherein he demands Sabu to come out and face him. The crowd is with him too, as twice they are led in “Sabu, Sabu” chants in order to entice Sabu to make an appearance. After several wrestlers and other officials come to the ring to placate Taz, Paul Heyman finally makes his way ringside. Heyman reveals that the reason that Sabu hasn’t been answering Taz is that Heyman asked Sabu as a personal courtesy not to confront Taz. Taz is understandably incensed at this, and starts to put Heyman in the Katahajime, then-
Lights out.
Lights on.
Sabu and Taz are facing off across the ring as the ECW erupts. The men circle each other and rush in for a lock up.
Lights out.
Lights on.
Ring empty.
Chapter 3
The end of 1996 and the early part of 1997 saw Taz relentlessly going after Sabu at any given opportunity. During this time, Sabu was enjoying tag team success teaming with Rob Van Dam, and RVD would run interference in between Sabu and Taz, causing a mini feud of sorts between RVD and Taz. Taz often times would interrupt and attack RVD mid match, causing potential wins against The Eliminators, for example, to slip thru Sabu’s fingertips, miming Taz’s own frustrations in a way. In his own matches, Taz would be often facing off against “low level talent”, utilizing his Tazmission finisher in quick succession as he viewed this matches as secondary to his ultimate goal on getting his hands on Sabu. For the better part of 18 months, Taz has had to overcome a potential career ending injury, his tag team partner leaving him hanging high and dry only to return to more success, and not getting his requisite pound of flesh as a result. Taz’s palpable rage, disappointed, and jadedness helped propel this feud along, as once again, Sabu was absent in responding. However, the stage was set for this both this feud and ECW to take the next leap into the cultural zeitgeist; ECW’s first ppv event Barely Legal.
Barely Legal was the inaugural PPV event for ECW, and its history deserves it’s own rewind, as the genesis of Barely Legal and the difficulty that Paul Heyman had in executing the event (mostly stemming from the infamous Mass Transit incident wherein ECW alum New Jack almost murders a 17 year old. I’m being slightly hyperbolic, but if you dont know…maybe its better that you dont know.)
Anyway, the April 13th 1997 event would emanate from the hollowed halls of the ECW Arena as just under 1,200 rabid fans had shown up to see the culmination of a near 2 year long blood feud. Taz and Sabu are very well known to the ECW faithfull by now, and everyone within the zip code is foaming at the mouth to see these two titans finally trade hands. The 7th match on a 9 match card isnt necessarily the place that you want to be, and it could very well be argued that this match should have been the main event, if you’re not opposed to having a main event be a non world title bout.
The match itself starts with a classic western standoff before and exchange of slaps and punches. It quickly devolves into Taz suplexing Sabu to the outside and the men brawling into and through the crowd. Sabu actually does successfully reverse the Tazmission at one point, with Joey Styles noting this has never been done before. Taz displays a level of physicality that leaves little to the imagination, and he definitely lays it in stiff as fuck. Sabu gets some color from his nose and attempts his own Tazmission. It’s only after a handful of T-Bone suplexes and once last Tazmission does Sabu finally go meemees and stay down for the count.
Post match, Taz praises Sabu for finally showing some chivalry and giving him a match that was more than worthy. A hand in exchanged in respectful gratitude. Sabu accepts, and embraces his one time tag partner and friend in a truly heartfelt moment…
A moment that is snuffed like a candle when RVD comes down to the ring, and both he and Sabu start putting the boots on Taz. Taz’s manager Bill Alfonso removes his Taz t shirt to reveal the Sabu shirt underneath; this ends our canonical feud with the elusive double turn, as Taz walks out of Barely Legal as a babyface with a clean win, albeit with a concerted beatdown afterwards; and with Sabu, longtime fan favorite for his complete disregard to his body, showing that once again, he’s a snake in the grass, showing Taz the respect that he so much longed for only for a split second, before pulling the rug out from underneath him.
Now, I say “ends our canonical feud”, as these two men, Taz and Sabu, are forever linked together and would continue to feud off and on throught the end of their ECW run. However, the following mini feuds would not have nearly the amount of emotional weight that their intial rivalry did.
After this, Taz would wrestle into the early 2000s upon departing for WWE. The years of injuries and WWE’s lack of seeing Taz’s in ring talents would lead to him joining the commentary team. He would leave the WWE for TNA/Impact, and later for AEW, where you can still hear Taz to this day drop one of his many hilarious one line quips intersped with commentary that would be more suited for a traditional sports broadcast. Taz’s ability to convey why certain physically has different effects adds a layer of believability and conviction that is mostly lacking with other wrestling presentations, and he has become an indispensable addition to any commentary team.
Sabu himself would go on to cement his status as an innovator of the death match style, no doubt culminating in his infamous barbed wire death match against Terry Funk that resulted in a 10 inch gash cut so deep in Sabu’s bicep that he asks manager Bill Alfonso for duct tape so he could wrap his arm and continue. His career’s high water mark was definitely ECW, although he would enjoyed somewhat continued success into the mid 2010s. It should be stated that imagining a long lengthy career from a death match specialist is something of a fool’s errand, but it is nothing short of a miracle that Sabu is still alive with us today.
I realize now that the “three memorable moments” gimmick that i started a few episodes back maybe we jumping the gun a little bit. In my attempt to give a condensed cliff note’s syllabus to follow if you cant watch hours of matches and segments, I overlooked the fact that those matches and those segments are exactly why these feuds are important and deserve a rewind to being with. For example, iIn last week’s episode featuring Gail Kim and Awesome Kong, instead of offering three distinct events or moments to reference, I implored you to simply rewatch their entire feud. In that example, its because those woman didnt receive excessive screen time, and thusly their feud is condensed by default. The Taz and Sabu feud obviously does not suffer this same fate, as the rivalry went on for years. This feud, unlike every feud that we’ve rewound, really only has one match that ive chosen to focus on. In this story, the match acts as the ultimate payoff, which sorta weird as in wrestling, the match is always the pay off. Granted, I dont think that anyone could have guessed that the Taz and Sabu rivalry would also have what would be considered the Taz and Sabu match; typically we would see payoffs of a few matches traded back and forth before an ultimate decider. Instead, what we got was a phenomenal example of the genius behind Paul Heyman. The entertainment is the buildup to the match, with the focus being on the storytelling. I often refer to wrestling as “watching my stories”, much in the same way that my grandmother used to refer to her soap operas as, and right there is what makes this feud great; its literally a soap opera played out before our eyes with the final reckoning being the match. I dunno whether this is Days of our LIves or One Life to Live, but regardless, this was a story for the ages, and for that, I extend my deepest appreciation to Taz, Sabu, and Paul Heyman; gentleman, thank you so, so much.
This takes us to the end of our feud for the week.
Thank YOU for listening.
Be sure to follow, like, and subscribe. If you have a feud you’d like to see rewound, or any other comments, please feel free to reach me at feudrewind@gmail.com. We’re on all the socials as Feud Rewind as well.
Fellow fan, im’ your host Benza Lance, and I’ll roll it back with you next week, on the Feud Rewind.