On October 23rd, 1983, Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich faced off against one another in what was titled – The Last Battle of Atlanta. However, before their final, decisive bout, it is important to recall what led to this infamous battle between them.
Their rivalry truly ignited in early 1982, centered around the NWA Georgia National Heavyweight Championship. Buzz Sawyer defeated Rich for the title on May 2, 1982, marking the start of repeated clashes.
Rich recalls calling it a weekly ordeal:
“It was a fight every night… He had a bad personality. He was rough. I just went in there and threw it back at him.” – WWE
Their backstage style differed sharply—Rich calm, Sawyer manic and intense. Photographer Bill Apter remembered:
“Buzz Sawyer would be pacing back and forth… going ‘AH! AH! AH! GET OUT OF MY WAY!’ while I was trying to get pictures.” WWE
They took the fight everywhere: concession stands, dressing rooms, even in other wrestlers’ matches. Paul Ellering, Sawyer’s manager, said:
“Buzz was very intense. He had one gear, wide open.” WWE
The rivalry drew so much heat that WCW-era NWA officials reportedly banned them from being in an arena together—until it became the only way to draw fans.
The Build-Up to Their Final Showdown
Crowds were chanting for violence. Wrestling reporter Bill Apter noted:
“When one was wrestling another opponent, the other would run in and attack him during the match…
National Wrestling Alliance put down a ruling that neither could be in the ring at the same time.” WWE
Fans attended en masse to see Rich and Sawyer clash—Georgia crowds in particular packed the Omni Coliseum for their encounters. Matt Striker commented:
“Tommy Rich had charm… Buzz was the antithesis. They were a perfect storyline.”- WWE
After nearly two years of escalating intensity, both men agreed to settle it once and for all in a no‑rules, enclosed steel cage match, where no one could escape. Sawyer’s manager, Paul Ellering, was even locked in a cage suspended over the ring.
Buzz Sawyer and Tommy Rich – The Last Battle of Atlanta
With both Sawyer and Rich facing one another, the chain-link fencing at the top of the cage appeared as sure to collapse as any.
But it didn’t matter; both men were prepared to do as much damage to one another as possible. Sawyer was the jeered heel, and Rich was the beloved face going into this matchup.
With Precious Paul Ellering suspended in a shark tank above the ring, it would mean the sole intention was for no one to get into the ring, and until it reached its climax, no one would get out of it.
Once taken to the middle of the ring, Sawyer began to gnaw at the forehead of Rich, continuing to brutalize Wildfire in the process.
From there, Sawyer continued to wrench on the arm of Rich. He then whips Rich face-first into the cage and then responds to those in attendance.
He would move between working over Rich’s arm and gnawing on his forehead throughout the early part of the match.
Sawyer’s efforts would not go unnoticed. As the face, blond hair, and white trunks would begin to see the results of Sawyer’s constant gnawing. Blood would begin to drip down the face of Tommy Rich nearly incapacitating him in the process.
This was until a desperate Rich would fire back with a low blow on Sawyer in the middle of the ring. The desperate actions of Rich was exactly what he needed to give himself a fighting chance in this match.
Sawyer collapsed to the mat. It was at that point that fans believed that Rich would begin his comeback. But it would be for naught as Sawyer had enough to drive a right hand into the face of Rich, forcing him back to the mat.
This led to Rich rolling all the way to the side of the cage. Much like a shark smelling blood, Sawyer pursued Rich towards the cage, continuing his onslaught. Buzz Sawyer would continue to grind the face of Tommy Rich into the steel cage.
Eventually, Rich is brought to the middle of the ring and Sawyer delivers another right hand with both men standing.
The punch staggers Rich, but doesn’t drop him to the mat. What does happen is that after a second right hand, it appears to wake up Tommy Rich.
A fired-up Tommy Rich throws a right hand of his own at Sawyer and lands it right across the side of Buzz’s face. It was enough to stop Sawyer’s attack while Rich staggered back to the corner and tried to regain his senses.
As Sawyer was attempting to come at Rich again, Tommy raised his right foot, hitting Sawyer in the face with it. And in the process, knocking Sawyer back and onto the mat.
Rich then followed up by delivering an elbow across the head of a prone Sawyer lying on the mat. A now enraged Tommy Rich begins to gnaw at the face and forehead of Buzz Sawyer.
Rich follows this up but picking up Sawyer and driving him headfirst into the steel cage. A now battered and bloodied Sawyer staggers all the way across the ring, collapsing while barely clutching the ring ropes.
Everything that Rich had endured in the first few minutes of the match had changed. It was Sawyer on the receiving end of an attack. But regardless of how battered Sawyer was now, he still continued to pursue Rich.
While on his knees, he would drive his head into the midsection of Rich and then follow that up with a right hand, all while on his knees.
Now, as both men are fighting from their knees, Sawyer continues to throw right hands at the side of Tommy Rich’s head. Sawyer, now on his feet, began to lay a boot on Rich while Tommy was on the mat.
After momentarily walking around the ring, Sawyer then grinds the head of Tommy Rich against the steel cage once again. T
hen, in what appeared out of nowhere, Rich hits a piledriver on Sawyer, almost what appeared to be out of desperation. Unlike other matches, with both men down from outside the ring, a count was being made.
As is often the case, a winner is declared if they can get to their feet before the opposition reaches a count of ten.
When the count hits 7, the count is broken up as Rich attempted to hit a knee drop on Sawyer, who would move. Once again, both men make it to their feet, and the battle rages on with right hands and forearms hitting one another.
For the next few minutes, the two men would battle with kicks, punches, elbows and knees. What was interesting to note is that a person could get pinned by the opposition despite a referee not being in the ring.
A count is made from the outside of the ring. This was evident as Sawyer attempted to pin Rich, and a count could be heard on the overhead speaker.
As the match continued, the blood spilled by both men began to cover the mat. From one side to the other, the crimson masks that both men wore had stained the ring. Rich would once again drive the head of Sawyer into the cage, and this appeared to be the decisive blow.
Sawyer fell back to the mat, and a bloodied, battered, and beaten Tommy Rich would crawl to the centre of the ring and cover Sawyer for a count of three!
As the two men lie in the ring motionless, photographers at ringside are quick capture this moment. These two warriors didn’t wrestle; they fought.
It was bloody, it was brutal and although only 12 minutes in length was still a remarkable battle between these two men.
After the match, the referee raised Tommy Rich’s hand and asked for help to have him removed from the ring. At the same time, Precious Paul Ellerring was lowered from above the cage now that the match had drawn to a conclusion.
When the referee attempted to check on Buzz Sawyer, he was met with a clubbing right hand, knocking the referee back and forcing him to leave the ring in the process.
After Ellering comes into the ring and helps Sawyer out, Ole Anderson would proceed to come in and beat down Paul Ellering in preparation for their match. That, however, is a tale for another day.
The match essentially ended their rivalry—both were physically and emotionally spent. Apter compared it to Ali–Frazier III:
“Both were never the same again.” WWE
Shawn Michaels credited the structure as the inspiration for WWE’s Hell in a Cell:
“Wrestling fans back then remembered Tommy Rich being trapped in the ring with ‘Mad Dog’. I came up with the idea that evolved into Hell in a Cell.” – WWE
The feud between Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer wasn’t just another Georgia territory rivalry—it was a plunge into unfiltered violence and raw emotion.
Their final encounter in the steel-caged “Last Battle of Atlanta” delivered that chaos with devastating clarity. It cemented their legacies, influenced wrestling’s deepest structures, and still resonates as a blueprint for storyline culmination and boundary-pushing violence.
