Masa Saito
Masa Saito | |
---|---|
Birth name | Masanori Saito |
Born | [1] Tokyo, Japan[2] | August 7, 1942
Died | July 14, 2018 Saitama, Japan | (aged 75)
Cause of death | Parkinson's disease |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Assassin #3 Masa Saito[1] Mr. Saito[1] The Unknown Soldier |
Billed height | 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] |
Billed weight | 120 kg (265 lb)[1] |
Trained by | Hiro Matsuda Toyonobori |
Debut | June 3, 1965[2] |
Retired | February 14, 1999 |
Masanori Saito (斎藤 昌典, Saitō Masanori, August 7, 1942 – July 14, 2018) was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or Masa Saito (マサ斎藤),[1] who wrestled for 33 years around the world. He had success as a singles wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1990, and as a tag team wrestler with multiple partners in various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.
Saito joined the
Saito was imprisoned for two years in the mid-1980s for physically assaulting police officers in Waukesha, following an accusation of vandalism against his friend Ken Patera.[4]
Amateur wrestling career
Saito competed in freestyle wrestling for Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics, placing seventh.[5][6]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1965–1968)
Recruited to the professional game along with fellow Olympian Koji Sugiyama, Saito began his pro wrestling career in 1965 and quickly established himself in both Japan and the United States. Nicknamed "Mr. Torture" for his punishing and sadistic style,[7] Saito held numerous titles while wrestling in North America and Japan.
National Wrestling Alliance (1968–1981)
On July 13, 1968, Saito won his first title, teaming with
Saito's next championship came in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he teamed with Austin Britton to win the Vancouver version of the Canadian Tag Team Championship.[12] They held the belts for almost four months before dropping them to Ormand Malumba and Guy Mitchell on March 3, 1975. Saito regained the championship later in the year, however, teaming with Dale Lewis.[12]
Saito next wrestled in
Wrestling in the United States again in 1981, Saito won the Alabama Heavyweight Championship twice, defeating Bob Armstrong and Ray Candy.[16] That year, he was also involved in a controversy regarding the Florida version of the North American Tag Team Championship. The Assassins were stripped of the title when it was discovered that Saito was wrestling under a mask as a third member of the team.[17]
World Wrestling Federation (1981–1982)
Later in the year, Saito signed with the
American Wrestling Association (1983–1990)
In June 1983, Saito went to Minneapolis and began wrestling for
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1985)
Saito wrestled two tours for
Return to NJPW (1987–1997)
In 1987, Saito returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he became involved in a
World Championship Wrestling (1990-1991, 1995-1996)
Saito had a couple short stints in
It wouldn't be until five years later that Saito briefly returned, which included an appearance at
Last Match NJPW (1999)
On February 14, 1999, Saito wrestled his last match, which was a loss to Scott Norton.[26]
Retirement
Upon retiring in 1999, he stayed in NJPW as a commentator, until leaving the company in January 2003 and joined
Professional wrestling style and persona
Saito's style is considered "very physical style that included lots of suplexes [...]" and "brought hard physicality with his clotheslines".[27] One of these suplex is known as the Saito Suplex.[28] Saito is credited also as the innovator of the Scorpion Deathlock / Sharpshooter submission hold.[29] During his time in prison, he created another hold, which was named Kangokugatame, translated as Prison Hold.[30] During his career, Saito played the stereotypical salt-throwing Japanese heel, a role usually performed by Hawaiians in the 60s.[29]
Personal life and death
In 2000, Saito was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.[31] He died from complications of the disease on 14 July 2018 at the age of 76.[32]
At the time of his death, Saito had been training to be a torchbearer for the upcoming
Arrest
According to police, on April 6, 1984, Ken Patera was refused service at a McDonald's restaurant after the restaurant had closed, and threw a boulder through the restaurant's window in retaliation. The responding officers testified that later, when they arrived at Saito and Patera's hotel room to investigate someone matching Patera's description in connection with the criminal damage report, Saito was uncooperative and both wrestlers assaulted the officers, taking turns beating them until other officers arrived to subdue them. As a result of the incident, in June 1985, Saito and Patera were convicted of battery of a police officer and sentenced to serve two years in prison.[4]
On November 16, 2012, Patera was interviewed on KFAN radio based out of Minneapolis, MN. In describing the incident, he stated that he went to the McDonald's around midnight to get a burger, but found it closed. The lights were on because they were shooting a commercial, so not only Patera but another customer (who he described as a young adult) had arrived, thinking that they were open for business. The young adult threw a rock through the window, but Patera was blamed. Saito was not present at the restaurant.[33]
Championships and accomplishments
- American Wrestling Association
- Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco)
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (2 times) – with Kenji Shibuya[8]
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (2 times)[9]
- Mr. Sato (2)[13]
- NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (2 times) – with Mr. Sato[14]
- George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Class of 2008[35]
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Riki Choshu (1) and Shinya Hashimoto (1)[24]
- Hiro Matsuda[15]
- NWA All-Star Wrestling
- NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) – with Gene Kiniski (1) and Dale Lewis (1)[12]
- NWA Hollywood Wrestling
- NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Kenji Shibuya[10]
- NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship (2 times)[11]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #89 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003[36]
- PWI ranked him #89 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "
- Southeastern Championship Wrestling
- Tokyo Sports
- Service Award (1999)
- Special Grand Prize (1987)
- World Wrestling Federation
- Mr. Fuji[19]
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Wrestler Profiles: Masa Saito". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ a b "Masa Saito". Genickbruch: Die Wrestlingseite des alten Europa (in German). Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- ^ "Matches « NJPW « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - the Internet Wrestling Database".
- ^ a b "Pro Wrestlers Patera, Saito, Found Guilty, Sent to Prison". Schenectady Gazette. June 15, 1985. p. 31. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
- ^ a b Oliver, Greg. "From the Olympics to the Pros". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Masanori Saito". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
- ISBN 0-8166-4187-0.
- ^ a b "A.W.A. (San Francisco) World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "Florida Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "N.W.A. Americas Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "Beat the Champ Television Title (Los Angeles)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b c "N.W.A. Canadian Tag Team Title (Vancouver)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f "Florida Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "N.W.A. United States Tag Team Title (Florida)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "N.W.A. North American Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ a b "N.W.A. Alabama Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "N.W.A. North American Tag Team Title (Florida)". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 2, 2008.
- ^ "Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
- ^ a b c d "W.W.W.F./W.W.F./W.W.E. World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "WWF Show Results 1981". Angelfire. October 13, 1981. Archived from the original on February 17, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito (w/ Captain Lou Albano) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Rick Martel & Tony Garea at 9:48 to win the titles when Saito pinned Martel after Fuji threw salt into the champion's eyes as Martel attempted a crossbody off the top, allowing Saito to roll through on the move to get the win
- ^ "WWF Show Results 1982". Angelfire. June 28, 1982. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
Chief Jay & Jules Strongbow defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito to win the titles at 9:48 when Jules pinned Fuji after Fuji missed a dive in the ring
- ^ "WWF Show Results 1982". Angelfire. July 13, 1982. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Chief Jay & Jules Strongbow to win the titles in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match; fall #1 – Fuji pinned Jules at around the 30-second mark after throwing salt into both he and Chief Jay's face while Saito distracted the referee
- ^ "WWF Show Results 1982". Angelfire. October 30, 1982. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2008.
Chief Jay & Jules Strongbow defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) to win the titles at 6:08 when Jay pinned Saito with a Thesz Press
- ^ a b c "I.W.G.P. Tag Team Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "Starrcade 1995". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- The Fight Network. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- ^ "MASA SAITO PASSES AWAY - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
- ^ "Masa Saito dead at age 76". July 16, 2018.
- ^ a b "Masa Saito passes away after long battle with Parkinson's disease". WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. July 16, 2018.
- ^ Solowrestling (August 13, 2018). "Batalla en la isla de Ganryujima: Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito". www.solowrestling.com.
- ^ パーキンソン病と闘うマサ斎藤「目標は東京五輪の聖火ランナー」. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). November 7, 2015. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
- ^ マサ斎藤さんが死去 アントニオ猪木氏と巌流島で死闘 (in Japanese)
- ISBN 978-1-59670-180-9.
- ^ "A.W.A. World Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Titles. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the originalon July 23, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
External links
- Masa Saito's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database
- Masanori Saito at Olympics.com
- Masanori Saito at Olympedia