Satoru Sayama

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Satoru Sayama
Statistics
Ring name(s) Satoru Sayama
Tiger Mask
Super Tiger
Tiger King
Sammy Lee
Born November 24, 1957
Trained by Karl Gotch
Antonio Inoki
Debut May 28, 1976
As Tiger Mask: April 23, 1981

Satoru Sayama 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.

Contents

[edit] Career

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.

[edit] As Tiger Mask

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 (old Sumo Hall, the current one is the Ryogoku Kokugikan) as Tiger Mask. He made his debut against the Dynamite Kid. He shocked the Japanese fans in the arena by pinning Dynamite with his German Suplex. This immediately cemented him as a star in the New Japan Junior Heavyweight ranks. That match would be the first of many classic battles between the two men.

As Tiger Mask, Sayama held the WWF Junior Heavyweight title, which was the cornerstone of NJPW's junior heavyweight division after Fujinami made it prominent, and also won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title after the reigning champion, Les Thornton, appeared in NJPW. Tiger Mask had truly become the premier junior heavyweight wrestler in the world, and his subsequent clashes over the title with wrestlers from North America, Asia, and Europe made justice to his reign.

In 1983, however, Sayama started feeling dissatisfied. He announced his retirement from active competition so he could become a trainer to martial arts fighters, which his full-contact kickboxing experience certainly provided ability in.

[edit] In the UWF

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. Sayama made appearances for UWF alternating between use of his real name and of a Super Tiger gimmick (colored purple instead of yellow). Initially he supported the UWF concept, having several memorable matches against Akira Maeda. But pretty soon, the two business partners began disagreeing over the match content, more as a matter of style ideology (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 did not pull a kick and instead kicked Sayama hard in the groin. Maeda was disqualified, but Sayama ended with the lesser bargain, as he left UWF afterwards, 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.

[edit] Away from wrestling

Sayama left professional wrestling altogether, and spent the next few years criticizing it as worked. (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.) In 1986 he founded Shooto, finally realizing his dream of becoming a martial arts trainer.

[edit] Return and aftermath

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. In subsequent years, he (using the Original [Shodai] Tiger Mask identity), competed sporadically in 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, his own promotion.

Recently he participated in a new promotion called Real Japan Pro Wrestling.

[edit] Finishing and signature moves

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • Others
  • He is a member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)
  • 1982 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 1982 Best Flying Wrestler
  • 1982 Match of the Year (vs Dynamite Kid)
  • 1983 Best Technical Wrestler
  • 1983 Best Flying Wrestler

[edit] External links

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