Satoru Sayama

Satoru Sayama
Satoru Sayama
Born	November 24, 1957 (age 66); Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Satoru Sayama; (Original) Tiger Mask; Super Tiger; Tiger King; Sammy Lee; The Mask of Tiger; The Tiger
Billed weight	160 lb (73 kg)
Trained by	Karl Gotch; Antonio Inoki
Debut	May 28, 1976; April 23, 1981 (as Tiger Mask)

Satoru Sayama (佐山聡, Sayama Satoru) (born November 24, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He's wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, (Original) Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger. He is the only man to hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship simultaneously.

Career

Early years (1976-1981)

Sayama debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling, against Shoji Kai, a jobber known to have been the debut opponent for future stars (Rusher Kimura, Masa Saito, Osamu Kido, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Mitsuo Momota had debuted against him before). Sayama weighed only 160 pounds, which, even given his training, impaired him from getting a permanent spot on NJPW cards. So they sent him abroad, to England (where he wrestled as Sammy Lee) and Mexico, where he wrestled under his real name. It was in Mexico where he started to grow not only in physical stature but also in prominence, winning the NWA World Middleweight Title in EMLL.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1981-1983)

In 1981, NJPW was looking for a way to attract young fans to its wrestling. They looked to the popular Tiger Mask anime and created an actual wrestler called Tiger Mask for the fans, with the recently returned Sayama playing the role. On the evening of Thursday, April 23, 1981 Satoru Sayama made his way to the ring in the Kuramae Kokugikan as Tiger Mask. Initially, many traditional Japanese fans scoffed at the thought of artist Ikki Kajiwara's popular comicbook wrestling hero being pushed as a legitimate wrestling star, but he shocked the Japanese fans in the arena by pinning Dynamite Kid with his German Suplex. As a result, he was immediately regarded as the premier star in New Japan's Junior Heavyweight ranks. Moreover, that match would be the first of many classic battles between the two men.

On May 6, 1982, Tiger Mask was forced to vacate the WWF Junior Heavyweight title after injuring his right knee. Tiger Mask would go on to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight less than 3 weeks later on May 25, 1982. The next day, Tiger Mask defeated Black Tiger in a match for the WWF Junior Heavyweight title. This victory was met with controversy, as some board members on the NWA declared the title vacant, as they felt that the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship was the premier title for the division. However, during an annual meeting between the NWA and New Japan Pro Wrestling, it was declared that Tiger Mask was still recognized as the official champion, which made him the only man to simultaneously hold the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Sayama made several appearances in the United States in late 1982, mostly in the World Wrestling Federation. He defended the WWF Junior title by defeating Dynamite Kid at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 30, and Eddie Gilbert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on November 25. The elderly ring announcer at the Spectrum introduced Sayama as "Timer Mask." Sayama also appeared at least once during this time period at a WWF television taping.

During a tag team match on April 3, 1983 he was injured by Dynamite Kid; two days later, he was forced to vacate the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title after it became clear that he would need time off to recuperate. However, once the determined Tiger Mask recovered, he regained his NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Kuniaki Kobayashi on June 2, 1983, making him a simultaneous NWA/WWF Jr. champion for the second time. By 1983, however, Sayama started feeling dissatisfied as he hated the politics behind-the-scenes. As a result, he announced his retirement from active competition on August 12, 1983. It was a shock to the wrestling world, as Tiger Mask was going to retire while he was at the top of his game and as the holder of two Junior Heavyweight Championships. Both titles were declared vacant, as he became a trainer to martial arts fighters.

Universal Wrestling Federation (1984-1985)

After nearly a year of inactivity, Sayama resurfaced in the Japanese UWF in 1984. By then, All Japan Pro Wrestling had purchased the Tiger Mask name and gimmick and given it to Mitsuharu Misawa. As a result, Sayama initially made appearances for UWF as The Tiger (which was the same colors as Tiger Mask), then alternated between using his real name and the gimmick of Super Tiger (colored silver and purple). He initially supported the UWF concept and had several memorable matches against Akira Maeda and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Sayama would soon disagree with Maeda over style ideology, as Sayama wanted more kicking, while Maeda wanted more submission holds. This led to a shoot during a match between Sayama and Maeda in 1985, in which Maeda delivered a controversial kick to Sayama's lower abdomen. Sayama signaled that he was kicked in the groin, resulting in Maeda being disqualified. Shortly after this, Sayama left UWF, amid protests from other UWF wrestlers who disliked him for his selfish leadership. With no key opponents for Maeda, the UWF collapsed and Maeda and the rest of the roster headed back to NJPW.

Retirement (1985-1995)

Sayama left professional wrestling altogether due to his experience in the UWF, and spent the next few years criticizing it as worked. In 1986 he founded Shooto, finally realizing his dream of becoming a martial arts trainer. It was Sayama who [re-]popularized the term kayfabe, which was also the title of a book he wrote in which he exposed the pro wrestling business's secret to a Japanese audience.^{[citation needed]}

Return and aftermath (1995-present)

In 1995, Sayama was offered to return to puroresu for a match against old mentor Antonio Inoki. As there was already a Tiger Mask on the scene (his disciple, Tiger Mask IV, who debuted with the mask), Sayama used the name and gimmick Tiger King, using a gold-colored outfit. He lost to Inoki, but fans still were awed of his display of athleticism and said that he had not lost a step at all.^{[citation needed]} In subsequent years, he (using the Original [Shodai] Tiger Mask identity), competing sporadically in various independent promotions, often in legends matches and teams with his younger disciple. In 1998, he was invited by Inoki to be a part of the board of his new venture, Universal Fighting Organization. He did, but left a year later to form Seikendo [1], his own promotion.

Recently he participated in a new promotion called Real Japan Pro Wrestling and started to promote a new gimmick where he would be called Super Tiger. However, with a career spanning over 30 years in addition to being actively involved in martial arts aside from wrestling, have taken its toll, with Sayama being fodder in singles matches for current stars aiming to become legends, such as Shinjiro Otani and AJPW Triple Crown champion Minoru Suzuki (the title was not on the line in their match).

Sayama has also recently donned his famous costume, being billed as "The Original Tiger Mask." He has appeared in Tatsumi Fujinami's DRADITION promotion, as well as Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation. Sayama is much heavier than he was in his younger days, and as a result, his style has changed; he focuses more on mat-based wrestling, though he still uses his trademark martial arts kicks. Fans, young and old, seem quite pleased just to see Sayama in any form these days.

There has been talk that Sayama has been involved establishing a Tiger Mask V. This new Tiger Mask would have his own style and have been picked by Sayama himself. A picture of this possible new Tiger Mask can be found here.[2]