MOTW 137: Sabu vs Terry Funk
"M.O.T.W. #137: Sabu vs. Terry Funk" - ink & digital illustration
Today brings us to the 137th edition of our Chris Things Art 'Match of the Week' illustration series! And this week we travel to the famed Manhattan Centre back in 1994 for a an absolutely wonderful deep-cut classic between two of my favourites!
This delightfully insane spectacle took place on February 28th, 1994; the main event of the one & only set of TV Tapings for the not-long-for-this-world "World Wrestling Network" promotion, at the Manhattan Centre in New York City, NY.
So this week we had the sad 1st anniversary of the passing of everyone's favourite 'Arabian Madman' of Professional Wrestling & it of course got me on a Sabu watching kick. I stumbled across this match that I'd read the legend of but never seen until now. And my gosh it was absolute gold!
As background, the WWN was a startup of Jim Crockett Jr.'s following his non-compete off of the sale of JCP/WCW to Ted Turner. The promotion was sadly not meant to be but was in many ways a precursor to ECW & had lofty goals of being the first ever HD promotion back in 1994! The footage never saw the light of day & I thought this legendary match was lost forever. So you can imagine my excitement when I came across this camcorder footage on YouTube, filmed from the iconic Manhattan Centre balcony no less!
This thing is absolute glorious chaos from start to finish! The middle aged & crazy Funker & Sabu really shine here as the best versions of themselves. Despite being sparsely attended & captured on grainy fan cam, this this is pure magic! And the enthusiasm of those fans really adds such an amazing electricity to it. It has everything you could possibly expect out of these two in as wild & out of control manner possible. Crowd brawling, broken tables, Sabu doing various insane things that look like he hurts himself quite badly on & Terry being quintessentially Terry! We even get an atomic drop on a ballroom chair that brought me oh so much joy!
Terry & Sabu, you are both missed greatly. Never forget!
ENJOY!!
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