Buzz Sawyer Bruce Woyan ( October 14 , 1959 – February 7 , 1992 ) was a professional wrestler , better known by his ring name Buzz Sawyer . Throughout his career , he was also known by the nickname " Mad Dog " . He was characterized by his crazy antics inside the ring and out . Career . Sawyer started wrestling in 1979 in the National Wrestling Alliance ( NWA ) ' s Jim Crockett Promotions . He stayed there with some stints in Georgia Championship Wrestling until 1984 . He mainly teamed with his brother , Brett Sawyer . He had a feud with the Road Warriors after he left their manager Paul Ellering ' s Legion of Doom . Buzz also had an epic feud with Tommy Rich that led to many bloody matches , the greatest of which was billed as the " Last Battle of Atlanta " and for the first time featured a completely enclosed cage . It also saw 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 and the stipulation was a loser leaves town match . Rich would appear the next week on TV under a mask and calling himself the mysterious MR . R . There is no footage of the historic match as the rumors has it Ole Anderson tossed all the footage from classic omni shows . Sawyer had a short World Wrestling Federation ( WWF ) run in 1984 . He was called " Bulldog " Buzz Sawyer because Mad Dog was being used by Mad Dog Vachon . During Sawyer ' s few TV appearances , he was managed by Captain Lou Albano . Sawyer ' s gimmick included a dog chain and a lot of barking . After his WWF stint he surfaced in the NWA territory CWF in 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 would become the Universal Wrestling Federation in 1986 ) and became a protege 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 . 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 . He then joined Kevin Sullivan ' s " Slaughterhouse " stable in 1990 . At the Wrestle War event in 1990 , he fractured his wrist and never returned to WCW . Personal life and death . Sawyer was a graduate from Dixie Hollins High School where he was a state ranked wrestler in the 186 pound weight class . He was known for allegedly hammering nails with his forehead in locker rooms prior to and at the halftimes of their local football games . Sawyer was wrestling on the independent circuit when he died from heart failure due to an overdose on February 7 , 1992 . Fellow wrestler Billy Jack Haynes contended that his death was a well planned hit because they were both part - time drug smugglers in the Pacific Northwest around the same time . Sawyer was known for his crazy antics such as trying to fight the police outside a bar and also his drug abuse . He trained a few wrestlers , such as Magnum T . A . . Sawyer was paid by Mark Calloway to teach him to wrestle , but Sawyer only showed Calloway how to lock - up ( or start a match ) and then skipped town the next day . Calloway later went on to become known as " The Undertaker " and have great success in wrestling . Sawyer has an illegitimate son , Travis " Purebreed " Sawyer . Travis Sawyer is currently a professional wrestler in the independent circuit . He lives in Tennessee , and travels extensively doing independent shows . He is currently the Heavyweight Champion for TXW Tennessee Xtreme Wrestling in Knoxville .