The Sandman on Sabu: “The Dude Never Hurt Me, Ever, Except the First Punch”

The professional wrestling world is mourning the loss of hardcore icon Sabu (Terry Brunk), who passed away on Sunday. On a special edition of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio dedicated to celebrating his life and career, hosts Bully Ray, Tommy Dreamer, and Mark Henry were joined by fellow ECW legend The Sandman to share memories and reflect on Sabu’s impact.

Bully Ray opened the segment by explaining his immediate thought to include Sandman in the tribute. “I personally knew who I wanted on this show today with Sandman, obviously Tommy, but Sandman being one of the very first names that came to mind,” Bully stated. He recounted reaching out to Sandman, who quickly agreed to participate. Bully shared a poignant moment: “A couple of hours later, I called Sandman, and he picks up the phone and he said, ‘Dude, I’m literally wiping away the last of my tears.’ And that really hit home with me, because I didn’t know that the Sandman cried… to hear Sandman wiping away the final tears was was huge.”

The Sandman then joined the show, describing how he received the news and the grieving process. “Yeah, freaking yesterday, I got the news from Tod Gordon, my best friend in the world, says we SOS need to talk to you immediately, and he tells me what happened,” Sandman shared. “But it it didn’t hit me until like 5:30, 6 o’clock, and I just lost it for a little while, you know. And just like, grieving is a very personal thing for people, you know what I mean, like, so I can’t understand, like, what took so long with me to cry or whatever, like that.”

In a touching moment, Sandman revealed a recent dream: “It was nice that he visited me in a dream last night. He I’m driving, of course, Tod Gordon’s in the front seat, Franny (Francine) and [inaudible] in the backseat. We’re arguing over directions… but Sabu just kept saying, and Tod’s like, ‘No, you gotta go left friend.’ He’s like, ‘No, right?’ Sabu is like, ‘No, everything’s going to be okay. Everything’s going to be fine.’ I woke up real quick… and to me, that was just a good sign, like, like that, he’s there. He’s in my mind, and I’ll mourn him.” He added, “I also texted him last night too. I texted his phone because I don’t know. I feel like I wanted to just to talk to him… I believe there’s an afterlife after this, guys. I really believe they’re all going to see each other again in a big steel cage match in the freaking sky.”

Reflecting on their in-ring dynamic, Sandman noted Sabu’s old-school mentality regarding wins and losses. “He would never let me win. Well, because he was brought up old school, but I think I never had to win it. You could beat me, but I’m going to get over at the end, when I drink a beer with the audience. You know what I’m saying. So I never had to win and that was fine with him, of course.” Bully Ray then asked about their first encounter. Sandman recalled, “Yeah, it was actually Tri-State Wrestling Alliance… it was like a last to bleed battle royal or something. It was in the civic center, and Abby (Abdullah The Butcher) was brought in, and The Sheik was brought in and Sabu, just like he did every other match I was ever with him, he slid under the bottom rope when it was his turn to come in… slid under the bottom rope and punched me right in the face, hard, and then he just kept Hey, it’s hard. Sorry. Sorry, that was his deal, dude.”

Sandman attributed the close bond between himself, Sabu, RVD, and Bill Alfonso (“Fonzie”) to their shared travel experiences, particularly involving Sabu’s Winnebago. “So Fonzie wanted to be the liaison to get all of us to be friends… We flying into Pittsburgh or something. Sabu is there with this, with his Winnebago, I got this bag of beer… Fonzie’s like, ‘No, he’ll be fine. He let him come on the Winnipeg and drive with us.’ We get 50 yards down the road, my beer spills all over the floor, under the Sabu’s feet… just stupid funny sh*t like should be on TV. But that’s how we got close. The only reason why, why we got close was because of Fonz.” Tommy Dreamer added to this, describing the Winnebago as a “rolling Cheech and Chong mobile” that all the boys would flock to.

Discussing their in-ring trust, Sandman emphasized Sabu’s professionalism despite his high-risk style. “To me when, when I know I can trust you with anything that we’re doing out there that will obviously make me gravitate towards your soul. And I knew that Sabu cared about like he’s doing this, this crazy stuff that nobody else is doing. But he certainly knew what he was doing every second out there. The dude never hurt me, ever, except the first punch in any match.” He contrasted their approach with modern wrestling: “With me and Sabu, we, we never had to go out there like, you know, like in AEW match. How many things is an AEW, six man remembering right now, 150 things that go on in the ring in a 20 minute match. Several we went out there with, like, three, four ideas of what we want to do… Just go out there and you flow and you feel it.”

Towards the end of the segment, the conversation touched upon why Sabu might not have received his “just due” in the broader wrestling landscape. Mark Henry opined that ECW was often seen as the “evil step cousin of wrestling” and a “wild card.” Sandman offered his perspective: “The biggest reason I know, I think that that ‘Bu didn’t get his dues. He he didn’t cut promos… if you could talk to people, you could suck them into your world, more than Fonzie blowing a damn whistle and screaming at you… And Sabu too you know, because the guy knows who he is, and he knows who his character is. He knows you’re not supposed to go out there and talk like his regular American self.” The hosts and Sandman continued to celebrate Sabu as a unique and influential figure in professional wrestling.

If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.

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