Curb Your Dog: The Brief WWF Tenure of Buzz Sawyer

Brian Damage

We have all heard stories about the wrestler that was known as ‘Mad Dog’ Buzz Sawyer. He was a drug addict, a con man, unstable, unreliable etc, etc. Buzz was also a tremendous talent inside the ring and on the microphone when he wanted to be. The wild, party life that Sawyer lived daily finally caught up to him on February 7th, 1992…when he was found dead from a drug overdose.

While he was alive, however, Buzz was mostly remembered for his time in such territories as World Class, Florida, the Mid South and even the NWA. Many fans don’t realize or just simply forgot that Buzz briefly joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1984. It was brief, because he only lasted a couple of months before being shown the door. This is the story of how Buzz made it to the big time…only to disappear.

‘Mad Dog’ Buzz Sawyer was coming into the WWF red hot as he had a classic bloody and violent feud with ‘Wildfire’ Tommy Rich in the Georgia territory. Vince McMahon was taking the WWF national and by doing so…raided all of the existing territories of their top stars. Buzz Sawyer was one of those stars. When he came into the federation, he was given a little bit of a makeover. He was still a heel, but had his nickname changed to ‘Bulldog’ Buzz Sawyer.

The reasoning was Vince didn’t want to confuse fans of having two Mad Dog’s in the promotion as ‘Mad Dog’ Vachon had joined the WWF a year prior. He was also given a dog collar to wear and barked and growled like a dog when entering the ring. Vince paired Sawyer up with manager ‘Captain’ Lou Albano. While Buzz was not an overly large individual (he only stood 5ft 9) his personality and presence was magnetic. It also didn’t hurt that Buzz was a friend of WWF champion Hulk Hogan. Buzz was a roommate of Hogan’s while the two competed in the Georgia territory. It seemed like Sawyer was a lock in the company…but as we will soon find out…that wasn’t the case at all.

As mentioned earlier, Buzz had a serious drug problem during his career. It was rumored that he often wrestled under the influence and placed himself and his opponent at a great risk. While Buzz may have partied way too much during his WWF tenure…drugs weren’t necessarily the big issue. During that period of time, there was a “Cocaine Culture” that was prominent in the WWF locker room. Top stars like Hogan, Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper were all doing it. McMahon would mostly turn a blind eye to his roster’s drug habits, because as long as they showed up on time and performed well…that was all that really mattered to Vince. Sawyer, on the other hand…was a completely different breed. He allegedly made veterans like Tony Garea and ‘Chief’ Jay Strongbow feel very uneasy with his erratic and intense behavior. He also wasn’t that reliable as he would often show up late to shows, in no condition to properly work or didn’t bother showing up altogether. All of these reasons lead to Vince McMahon cutting ties with Buzz Sawyer. He would never return to the WWF again.