Munenori Sawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler.
30 Facts About Munenori Sawa
2.
Besides Battlarts, Munenori Sawa worked for various other promotions in Japan, Germany and the United States, most notably Pro Wrestling Zero1, where he became an NWA Intercontinental Tag Team and NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2011 Tenkaichi Jr.
3.
In 2002, Munenori Sawa started taking part in grappling matches, before entering UWF Snakepit Japan, where he received further training in mixed martial arts and professional wrestling.
4.
Munenori Sawa made his professional wrestling debut on August 31,2003, but did not become a full-time wrestler until nearly two years later.
5.
Munenori Sawa fought his only official mixed martial arts match on May 21,2006, when he was defeated by Takeshi Ono via technical knockout due to strikes.
6.
In late 2007, Munenori Sawa began feuding with El Dorado Wrestling representative Toru Owashi.
7.
On February 7,2010, Munenori Sawa took part in Yuta Yoshikawa's retirement match, where he and Ikuto Hidaka defeated Yoshikawa and Katsumi Usuda, with Munenori Sawa defeating Yoshikawa via technical knockout.
8.
On November 5,2011, at Battlarts' final event, Munenori Sawa defeated Manabu Suruga via submission.
9.
Early on in his career, Munenori Sawa created himself an alter ego, Lingerie Mutoh, a comedy persona based on Keiji Mutoh.
10.
Munenori Sawa worked several intergender matches alongside and against Kong for the rest of the month.
11.
On January 24,2006, Munenori Sawa made his first Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max appearance under his real name, losing to Osamu Namiguchi in a singles match.
12.
On October 28, Munenori Sawa won a one-night qualifying tournament to earn a spot in the 2008 Tenkaichi Jr.
13.
Munenori Sawa continued teaming with Hidaka throughout 2009, with the two making successful title defenses against the teams of Katsumi Usuda and Minoru, Minoru Fujita and Yusaku Obata, Speed of Sounds, and previous champions Minoru Fujita and Takuya Sugawara.
14.
Three days later, Munenori Sawa was defeated by longtime tag team partner Ikuto Hidaka in his professional wrestling retirement match.
15.
From 2005 to 2009, Munenori Sawa made a couple of appearances per year for DDT, where he went on to become a two-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion as Lingerie Mutoh.
16.
In 2010, Munenori Sawa began working more regularly for the promotion under his real name, winning the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship two more times, before he and Sanshiro Takagi defeated Kudo and Yasu Urano on February 11,2010, to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship.
17.
On November 4,2011, Munenori Sawa returned one last time to DDT, teaming with Sanshiro Takagi in a 59-minute three-way tag team match, where they defeated Choun Shiryu and Danshoku Dino, and Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu to retain the Greater China Unified Zhongyuan Tag Team Championship.
18.
On June 10,2006, Munenori Sawa made his first and only appearance for All Japan Pro Wrestling, taking part in a nine-man battle royal, during which he, as Lingerie Mutoh, got in the ring for the first time with Keiji Mutoh.
19.
From 2007 to 2011, Munenori Sawa made several appearances for women's wrestling promotion Ice Ribbon, mainly working against the other male wrestlers in the promotion, including Choun Shiryu, Ribbon Takanashi, Mr Gannosuke, and Gentaro, but going opposite female wrestlers like Makoto, Miyako Matsumoto, Hikari Minami, and the promotion's founder Emi Sakura.
20.
On June 29,2007, Munenori Sawa wrestled on the first ever match held by the Inoki Genome Federation, defeating Yuki Ishikawa.
21.
Munenori Sawa returned to IGF on February 22,2010, defeating Akira Joh.
22.
Munenori Sawa returned to Dragon Gate on March 22,2010, when he unsuccessfully challenged Super Shisa for the Open the Brave Gate Championship in a three-way match, which included Genki Horiguchi.
23.
On March 26,2016, Munenori Sawa made a one-night return to professional wrestling by taking part in Kenji Takeshima's retirement event.
24.
In what was billed as an "exhibition match", Munenori Sawa wrestled Takeshima to a ten-minute time limit draw.
25.
On March 20,2017, Munenori Sawa made an appearance at DDT's 20th anniversary event, taking part in the Ironman Heavymetalweight and King of Dark Championship battle royal, from which he and Ken Ohka were the last men eliminated by Guanchulo.
26.
On January 16,2010, Sawa made his American debut, when he took part in Evolve's first ever event in Rahway, New Jersey, defeating T J Perkins via submission.
27.
On September 11,2010, Munenori Sawa returned to the United States to take part in Evolve 5, losing to the WWE-bound Bryan Danielson in the main event of the evening.
28.
On January 15,2011, Munenori Sawa returned to Westside Xtreme Wrestling, when he and Hikaru Sato unsuccessfully challenged Oberhausen Terror Corps for the wXw World Tag Team Championship.
29.
Munenori Sawa returned to Kaiju Big Battel in on October 14,2011, taking part in an event in Brooklyn, New York.
30.
Munenori Sawa is employed by a gym called FLENJI which is owned by his former tag team partner, Ikuto Hidaka.