Munenori Sawa

is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Sawa was trained by and spent his entire career in the Battlarts promotion, adopting the promotion's "Bati Bati" wrestling style, known for its stiff strikes and submission-based shoot wrestling, but would often also incorporate comedy into his matches, especially when performing as , his comedic take on Keiji Mutoh. Besides Battlarts, Sawa also worked for various other promotions in Japan, Germany and the United States, most notably Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1), where he became an NWA Intercontinental Tag Team and NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2011 Tenkaichi Jr. tournament, and where he wrestled his retirement match on November 9, 2011, four days after the folding of Battlarts. Since his retirement from professional wrestling, Sawa has wrestled grappling matches for ZST.

Professional wrestling career

Battlarts (2003–2011)

After graduating from high school, Sawa entered the Battlarts dojo, where he was trained by the promotion's founder Yuki Ishikawa and Tamashii Okamoto in amateur wrestling. Sawa later continued wrestling in college. In 2002, Sawa started taking part in grappling matches, before entering UWF Snakepit Japan, where he received further training in mixed martial arts and professional wrestling. Sawa made his professional wrestling debut on August 31, 2003, but did not become a full-time wrestler until nearly two years later. In 2005, Sawa won a grappling tournament in the class, held by Combat Wrestling. 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.

After deciding to become a full-time professional wrestler, Sawa returned to Battlarts in 2005, making the promotion his new home. He made his in-ring debut for the promotion on June 5 in a losing effort against Daisuke Sekimoto. For his first 25 months in the promotion, Sawa was unable to win a single match, losing to the likes of Manabu Hara, Daisuke Ikeda, Viktor Krueger in a WAA Heavyweight Championship match, and Yuki Ishikawa, before finally submitting Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro)'s Fujita "Jr." Hayato for his first win on July 21, 2007. From October to November, Sawa, along with Yuki Ishikawa, represented Battlarts in Fu-Ten Promotion's Bati Bati tag team tournament, where they made it to the semifinals, before losing to Takahiro Oba and Takeshi Ono. In late 2007, Sawa began feuding with El Dorado Wrestling representative Toru Owashi. On November 11, Owashi and Manabu Hara defeated Sawa and Ikuto Hidaka in a tag team match via referee stoppage, after Sawa was unable to continue following Owashi's powerbomb. On December 24, Sawa and Owashi met in a singles match, which Owashi won via knockout following another powerbomb. When Owashi left Battlarts at the end of the year, Sawa started a new rivalry with Alexander Otsuka, with the first exchange between the two taking place on April 6, 2008, when Otsuka and Katsumi Usuda defeated Sawa and Yuki Ishikawa in a tag team match with Otsuka defeating Sawa via knockout following a dragon suplex. Sawa and Otsuka met in a singles match on June 8, when Otsuka was again victorious. Nine days later, Sawa's and Otsuka's rivalry led to a match in the Real Japan Pro Wrestling (RJPW) promotion, where Sawa unsuccessfully challenged Otsuka for his Legend Championship. On July 26, Sawa teamed with Otsuka and Yuki Ishikawa in a six-man elimination tag team match, where they wrestled Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda and Super Tiger II to a draw. The match received rave reviews and was later recognized as one of the best matches of 2008. The final singles match between Sawa and Otsuka took place on January 10, 2009, when Otsuka defeated Sawa in the first round of the B-Rule grappling tournament. The following July, Sawa took part in the first B1 Climax tournament. After two wins and two losses, Sawa failed to advance from his round-robin block.

On February 7, 2010, Sawa took part in Yuta Yoshikawa's retirement match, where he and Ikuto Hidaka defeated Yoshikawa and Katsumi Usuda, with Sawa defeating Yoshikawa via technical knockout. On December 26, Sawa teamed with Battlarts founder Yuki Ishikawa in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Hideki Suzuki and Super Tiger II. Following the match, Ishikawa announced that Battlarts would be folding at the end of 2011. For the final year of the promotion, Sawa and Ishikawa worked together, both as partners and opponents. On June 19, Sawa and Ishikawa met in the "Final Master and Pupil Showdown" main event singles match, which was won by Ishikawa. On August 21, Sawa teamed with Yujiro Yamamoto in a tag team main event, where they defeated Manabu Suruga and Seiken. Following the match, Sawa announced that he would be retiring from professional wrestling following Battlarts' dissolution. On November 5, 2011, at Battlarts' final event, Sawa defeated Manabu Suruga via submission.

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2005–2011)

Early on in his career, Sawa created himself an alter ego, Lingerie Mutoh, a comedy persona based on Keiji Mutoh. As Lingerie Mutoh, Sawa dressed in a bald cap, fake facial hair and women's lingerie and adopted all of Keiji Mutoh's signature moves and mannerisms, often performing them in an exaggerated manner for comedic effect. Sawa, as Lingerie Mutoh, made his debut for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (Zero1-Max) on August 20, 2005, when he teamed with Haruka Matsuo in an intergender tag team match, where they defeated Amazing Kong and Fugofugo Yumeji. Sawa worked several intergender matches alongside and against Kong for the rest of the month. On January 24, 2006, Sawa made his first Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max appearance under his real name, losing to Osamu Namiguchi in a singles match. Sawa and Namiguchi wrestled two rematches during the next two months; the first, on February 24, was won by Sawa, and the second, on March 28, by Namiguchi. In June, Sawa formed a short-lived partnership with Gentaro, which led to him receiving his first title shot in Zero1-Max, when the two unsuccessfully challenged Ikuto Hidaka and Minoru Fujita for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship