Bruce Woyan
Bruce Alan Woyan was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Buzz Sawyer. Sawyer started wrestling in 1978 (other sources state 1979) in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) affiliate Jim Crockett Promotions. He stayed there with some stints in Georgia Championship Wrestling until 1984. He mainly teamed with his brother, Brett Sawyer. Buzz had a feud with The Road Warriors after he left their manager Paul Ellering's Legion of Doom. Pez Whatley was the first wrestler to pin Sawyer on live television. He also had an epic feud with Tommy Rich that led to many bloody matches, the greatest of which occurred on was billed as the "Last Battle of Atlanta" and for the first time featured a completely enclosed cage; Rich won the match. It also featured 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 WWE. The stipulation for this match was that Sawyer and Rich would never wrestle one another again. Tommy Rich lost a match to Ted DiBiase in which the stipulation was a loser leaves town match. Rich appeared the next week on TV under a mask and calling himself the mysterious Mr. R. WWE released the entire match on the WWE Network on September 5, 2016. Sawyer had a short WWE run in 1984 as "Bulldog" Buzz Sawyer (since the moniker Mad Dog was being used by Maurice Vachon) with Captain Lou Albano as his manager. Sawyer's gimmicks included a dog chain, a lot of barking, and a new bulldog finisher. After his WWF stint, he surfaced in the NWA territory Championship Wrestling from Florida, under the mind control of Kevin Sullivan. He feuded with Mike Graham, Dusty Rhodes, and Adrian Street. In 1985, Buzz went to Mid-South Wrestling (which became the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986) and became a protégé of Dick Slater's. After Slater won the North American title, he gave the 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, with Master Gee substituting for him, to Warrior and Lance Von Erich before reportedly being fired after failing a drug test.[6] He returned to WCW in 1989 as part of Gary Hart's J-Tex Corporation that was feuding with the Four Horsemen, and he had several matches against Arn Anderson.[6] He then joined Kevin Sullivan's "Slaughterhouse" stable in 1990. At the Wrestle War event in 1990, he was victorious in a tag team match where he and Sullivan defeated The Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace), but also fractured his wrist. He left WCW in 1991. Sawyer died at his Sacramento, California apartment from heart failure due to a drug overdose on February 7, 1992.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 1.09 |
Birthday | 1969-06-14 |
Place of Birth | St. Petersburg, Florida, USA |
Also Known As | Buzz Sawyer, Mad Dog, "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer, "Bulldog" Buzz Sawyer, |
1985
NWA The Great American Bash 1985
0/0
The Great American Bash: Freedom Challenge took place on July 6, 1985 at the American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The main...
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NWA The Great American Bash 1985
1983
GCW at The Omni (December '83)
0/0
GCW December 4, 1983 from The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia
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GCW at The Omni (December '83)
2007
Mid-South Wrestling Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains vol. 1
0/0
Mid-South Wrestling is proud to present, it's 1st volume of a 4 DVD collection entitled "Giants Midgets Heroes & Villains". It captures some of the gr...
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Mid-South Wrestling Giants, Midgets, Heroes & Villains vol. 1
2008
Giants, Midgets, Heroes and Villains II
0/0
Once again fans can re-live the legendary glory age of wrestling and once and for all know that the bone breaking, blood-pounding action is real. Seve...
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Giants, Midgets, Heroes and Villains II
2013
Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection
10/2
A collection of the greatest matches from one of WWE's all time greatest superstars, with commentary from Bret along the way.
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Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection
2013
Legends of Mid-South Wrestling
9.3/3
For the first time ever, WWE presents the Legends of Mid-South Wrestling. One of the 1980’s hottest territories, Mid-South garnered national attention...
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Legends of Mid-South Wrestling
1983
NWA The Last Battle of Atlanta
0/0
Within the grizzly confines of a completely enclosed steel cage, and Paul Ellering hanging above the ring, the blood feud between "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawye...
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NWA The Last Battle of Atlanta
1990
NWA Clash of The Champions X: Texas Shootout
0/0
WCW Clash of The Champions X: Texas Shootout took place on February 6, 1990 at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas. There were 3,000 fans i...
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NWA Clash of The Champions X: Texas Shootout
1990
NWA WrestleWar '90: Wild Thing
7.8/2
WrestleWar 1990: Wild Thing took place on February 25, 1990 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The main event was for the NW...
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NWA WrestleWar '90: Wild Thing
1986
The First Annual NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament
10/1
The first Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament was held on April 19, 1986. The tournament featured 24 tag teams.
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The First Annual NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament
1986
WCCW Cotton Bowl Extravaganza '86
0/0
The Eyes of Texas fall upon The Cotton Bowl in Dallas for the hottest action around!
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WCCW Cotton Bowl Extravaganza '86
1986
WCCW Labor Day Star Wars '86
0/0
It's Roode vs. Adams with all the gold on the line in The Lone Star State
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