Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
The family of Roddy Piper announced the passing of Steve Stewart, who wrestled internationally as Bart Sawyer yesterday. The circumstances of his passing are not yet known. He was only 57 years old.
Our condolences and love to the family and friends of Steve Stewart, aka Smart Bart Sawyer. The Toombs Clan is sad to hear of his passing. Rest in Peace Steve. #ripbartsawyer pic.twitter.com/hlfOhWZfww
— Rowdy Roddy Piper (@R_Roddy_Piper) September 21, 2023
Sawyer, who broke into the business under Bob Giegel in the Kansas City are, is probably best known for a babyface run in the Portland area as well as work in the USWA and W*ING in Japan but was a true journeyman who wrestled everywhere he could, large promotions and small, across the length of his career in pro wrestling.
He made lots of enhancement appearances in the WWF and WCW over the years and wrestled through late 2004 when he was forced to retire following a minor stroke. He had made appearances for NWA: TNA in Nashville that same year.
In Portland, the Bart Sawyer name and character turned into a play on animated character Bart Simpson of The Simpsons, which was very much at the zeitgiest of its popularity. Sawyer worked as a babyface against Matt Borne, Ricky Santana, Col. DeBeers and Al Madril, among other heels. Nicknamed "The Bartman" (a dance and song Bart Simpson did on the series), Sawyer cut his hair spikey to look "more" like the animated character. he was a staple of the territory in the late 80s and 1990. He later worked the Championship Wrestling USA and other promotions that came out of the post-Don Owens era locally.
Historically, Sawyer was also the USWA Tag Team Championship partner of Flex Kavana, who went on to worldwide acclaim as The Rock. The pair won the USWA Tag Team belts in a tournament, defeating Reggie B. Fine and Brickhouse Brown, the first title win of Dwayne Johnson's pro wrestling career. They feuded for a short time with Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, losing the belts but regaining them in a bout where Kavana/Rock promised to shave his head if they lost.
In an interesting trivia note, Rock and Sawyer were in the opening match of the final show ever promoted by Lawler and Jerry Jarrett in the legendary Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis defeating Brown and Fine.
Sawyer had previously worked in Memphis in the early 1990s, teaming with Doug Masters to feud with Jeff Jarrett and Robert Fuller. Sawyers and Masters were split apart to feud with each other as well. He would also team with Miss Texas on occasion.
In Japan for W*ING, Sawyer would be involved in a lot of bloody brawling gimmick matches, facing Mr. Pogo, Jason the Terrible and Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, among others in the time period where W*ING was one of the wilder promotion in the world. As noted earlier, he worked regularly as an enhancement talent for WCW in the mid-1990s, working with everyone from Brian Pillman to Lex Luger to DDP on WCW Worldwide, WCW Pro and other similar syndicated series. He would work a TON of independent promotions as well, everywhere from you can imagine.
Sawyer's career ended after the aforementioned stroke in 2004, which left him partial paralyzed on the left side. While he would recover, he retired from performing in the ring.
PWInsider.com sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Bart Sawyer.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
