Buzz Sawyer

Buzz Sawyer (born Bruce Woyan June 14, 1959-February 7, 1992) was a professional wrestler who went by the nickname of "Mad Dog". He was known for his crazy antics in the ring and out.

Career

"Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer started wrestling in 1979 in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Jim Crockett Promotions. He stayed there with some stints in Georgia Championship Wrestling until 1984. He mainly teamed with his brother, Brett Sawyer. He had a huge feud with the Road Warriors after he left their manager Paul Ellering's Legion of Doom.

Buzz also had an epic feud with Tommy Rich that led to many bloody matches, the greatest of which was billed as the Last Battle of Atlanta and for the first time featured a completely enclosed cage. It also saw manager Paul Ellering suspended 20 feet above the ring in a smaller cage. This is the match that Shawn Michaels credits for inspiring the Hell in the Cell concept used by the WWE. Tommy Rich won the Last Battle Atlanta match. Another stipulation for the match was that Sawyer and Rich would never fight again - which they did not in Georgia Championship Wrestling. They did meet again in WCW about five years later.

Sawyer had a short World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) run in 1984. He was called "Bulldog" Buzz Sawyer because Mad Dog was being used by Mad Dog Vachon. During Sawyer's only TV appearance, he was managed by Captain Lou Albano. Sawyer's gimmick included a dog chain and a lot of barking.

In 1985, Buzz went to Mid-South Wrestling (which would become the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986) and became a protege of Dick Slater's. After Slater won the North American title, he gave Mid-South TV Title to Sawyer to defend for him. The promotion tricked Slater into letting Sawyer defend the North American Title (which he promptly lost), and Sawyer then refused to give the TV belt back to Slater.

In 1986, Sawyer left the UWF for World Class Championship Wrestling. He formed a team with Matt Borne and they won the WCWA Tag Team Championship. He also won the WCWA Television Championship and the WCWA Texas Heavyweight Championship and feuded with Brian Adias while there. He got into a feud with Dingo Warrior and he lost his tag team titles to Warrior and Lance Von Erich before leaving the promotion.

He returned in 1989 as part of Gary Hart's J-Tex Corporation that was feuding with the Four Horsemen. He had some good matches against Arn Anderson before joining Kevin Sullivan's "Slaughterhouse" stable in 1990, but he left the promotion soon after that.

Sawyer was wrestling on the independent circuit when he died from a heart attack on February 7, 1992.

Sawyer was known for his crazy antics such as trying to fight the police outside a bar and also his drug abuse. He trained a few wrestlers, among them Magnum T.A. and Ken Shamrock. In Mick Foley's book Have a Nice Day, Foley recounted a story where The Undertaker told Foley he paid Sawyer to teach him to wrestle. Sawyer only showed Undertaker how to lock-up (or start a match) and then skipped town the next day.

Sawyer's son Travis is a wrestler for promotions including the United Wrestling Association on the independent circuit of Tennessee.

Profile

• Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
• Weight: 240 lb (109 kg)
• Birthday: June 14, 1959
• Hometown: St. Petersburg, Florida
• Trainer: -
• Managers: Gary Hart, Kevin Sullivan, Paul Ellering, Paul Jones, Percy Pringle
• Finisher: Power Slam

Championships/Accomplishments

National Wrestling Alliance

• National

• NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA National Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Brett Sawyer

• Regional

• NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Matt Borne
• NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Brett Sawyer
• NWA Southeast Television Championship (1 time)

World Class Championship Wrestling

• WCCW Texas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• WCCW Television Championship (1 time)
• WCCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Matt Borne

Universal Wrestling Federation & Mid-South Wrestling

• Mid-South North American Championship (1 time)
• UWF Television Championship (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 1981 Most Underrated Wrestler
• 1982 Best Heel

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked him # 185 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.