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Satoru Sayama
Sayama, as Tiger Mask, with the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, 1982
Born
(1957-11-27) November 27, 1957 (age 66) Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
Satoru Sayama Tiger Mask Super Tiger Tiger King Sammy Lee The Mask of Tiger The Tiger
Billed height
5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[1]
Billed weight
198 lb (90 kg)[1]
Trained by
Karl Gotch Antonio Inoki Yoshiaki Fujiwara Kotetsu Yamamoto
Debut
May 28, 1976
Satoru Sayama (佐山 聡, Sayama Satoru) (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, writer, and mixed martial arts (MMA) and wrestling promoter, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He has wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, 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.[2][3] Sayama has the distinction of being a competitor (along with "Dynamite Kid" Thomas Billington) in the first 5 Star Rating awarded for a Match by Dave Meltzer, for their NJPW Sumo Hall Show 1983 match. This is thought of very highly in the industry.
He is also recognized as a pioneer in mixed martial arts, founding Shooto in 1985, one of the first MMA organizations in the world. Sayama also pioneered mixed martial arts training and developed his own Shooto syllabus for learning what could be considered the first put together MMA training of its kind, with a focus on striking from arts like Boxing, Muay Thai and Karate, and grappling from Wrestling, Judo, and Sambo. The curriculum would help produce the first well rounded fighters of MMA several years before the first UFC event.[4] He is also the founder of the martial art Seikendo and professional wrestling promotion Real Japan Pro Wrestling.
^ ab"Tiger Mask". WWE. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
^"Satoru Sayama profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
^"Profile at Puroresu Central". Puroresu Central. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
^Gould, KJ (July 24, 2012). "Satoru Sayama, Shooto And The Style Of Japanese Catch Wrestling". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
SatoruSayama (佐山 聡, SayamaSatoru) (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, writer, and mixed martial arts...
astronomer Satoru Sakaguchi (阪口 悟, born 1978), Japanese shogi player Satoru Sasaki (佐々木 悟, born 1985), Japanese long-distance runner SatoruSayama (佐山 聡,...
to the likes of Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, SatoruSayama, Masami Soranaka, and Akira Maeda. Most of these professional wrestlers...
wrestled numerous acclaimed matches against the first two Tiger Masks: SatoruSayama and Mitsuharu Misawa. Kuniaki Kobayashi debuted in New Japan Pro-Wrestling...
Nagasaki and SatoruSayama (billed in the UK as "Sammy Lee") in England. He and Sayama also feuded in Japan while both under masks, Sayama as Tiger Mask...
Yuji Nagata. Fujita was trained in the NJPW dojo by Antonio Inoki and SatoruSayama, who described him as a "monster". Regarded as a promising rookie for...
several wrestlers in Japan, including Hideki Suzuki, Hiro Matsuda, SatoruSayama, Osamu Kido, Barry Darsow, Minoru Suzuki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Akira Maeda...
at the Tiger Gym of SatoruSayama. In November 1985, he became a full-time staff member of Sayama's gym. He trained in Sayama's style of shoot wrestling...
character and created a real-life Tiger Mask, originally portrayed by SatoruSayama, to help boost their junior heavyweight division. In 2010 and 2011,...
attempt to give professional wrestling a legitimate sports-like feel. SatoruSayama and Akira Maeda in the UWF and Nobuhiko Takada in the UWFi popularized...
the inaugural Shooto Middleweight Champion. Sekishima trained under SatoruSayama at the Super Tiger Gym. He was originally a judoka and also trained...
May 6 against Kuroneko. During this time, he was also a student of SatoruSayama, better known as Tiger Mask, who trained Yamazaki extensively in shoot...
for the Nippon Sport Science University, where he met SatoruSayama. Sakuragi moved to Sayama's Seikendo promotion and started training in order to be...
original Tiger Mask (SatoruSayama) and The Great Sasuke and unlike the second and third Tiger Masks, Yamazaki has been endorsed by Sayama himself. He also...
jujutsu, sambo, and kickboxing developed by professional wrestler SatoruSayama. Shootfighting: A Japanese martial art consisting of Muay Thai and catch...
lucha libre before becoming stars in Japan. These include Gran Hamada, SatoruSayama, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Último Dragón. Lucha libre is also known...
including top stars such as Seiji Sakaguchi, Tatsumi Fujinami, Akira Maeda, SatoruSayama, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Masakatsu Funaki, Masahiro Chono...
including Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Hiro Matsuda, Osamu Kido, SatoruSayama (Tiger Mask) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Starting from 1976, one of these...
organization founded in 1985 by former shoot wrestler "Tiger Mask" SatoruSayama, Pancrase founded in 1993 by wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki...
Bantamweight and Featherweight divisions. Tanaka is one of the earliest SatoruSayama trainees under Super Tiger Gym, and was the inaugural Shooto Lightweight...
nickname "Supernova" and facing Hall of Famers, such as Kenta Kobashi, SatoruSayama, Jushin Thunder Liger, and Tatsumi Fujinami. He has competed in several...
(which included Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid, Gentleman Chris Adams, SatoruSayama, Akira Maeda and Steve Regal) to carry the match before tagging Daddy...
basis and became very popular with the fans. The original Tiger Mask, SatoruSayama was inspired by Mil Máscaras to create the masked "Tiger Mask" persona...
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