Satoru Sayama

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

Satoru Sayama (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.

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.

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, to compete for the vacanted WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship against Dynamite Kid. 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 with his German Suplex. As a result, he was immediately regarded as the premier star in the New Japan Junior Heavyweight ranks. Moreover, that match would be the first of many classic battles between the two men.

Tiger Mask was finally defeated by the Black Tiger on May 6, 1982 for the WWF Junior Heavyweight title. Regardless of the loss, Tiger Mask would go on to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight less than 3 weeks later on May 25, 1982. The very next day, Tiger Mask defeated Black Tiger in a rematch 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 cemented him as the only man to simultaneously hold the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship and the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship.

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.

In 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 Jr. Heavyweight Championships. Both titles were declared vacant, as he became a trainer to martial arts fighters.

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.

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.

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 and started to promote a new gimmick where he would be called "Super Tiger #2". Over 30 years of career (including the years spent out of wrestling, as he was actually actively involved in martial arts then), 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).

Finishing and signature moves

• Tiger suplex
• High angle German suplex
• Tombstone piledriver
• Swandive headbutt
• Modified release underhook suplex
• Double underhook suplex
• Backflip kick
• Corner backflip kick
• Shoot kick, spin kick, jumping rolling sole butt kick combination
• Space Flying Tiger Drop (Cartwheel plancha)
• Rolling moonsault
• Surfboard
• Tiger feint kick

Championships and accomplishments

• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

• NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)
• Note: This championship is promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, a wrestling promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Despite still having NWA as part of it's name, the National Wrestling Alliance no longer recognizes it as an official championship.

• National Wrestling Alliance
• World

• NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• Best Technical Wrestler award in 1982
• Best Flying Wrestler award in 1982
• Worked Match of the Year award - vs. Dynamite Kid in 1982
• Best Technical Wrestler award in 1983.
• Best Flying Wrestler award in 1983.
• 5 Star Match award: vs. Dynamite Kid - April 23, 1983.
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Trivia

• He is the only man to hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship simultaneously.

External links

• Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) biography