| Masa Saito | |
|---|---|
.png) Saito,c. 1983 | |
| Birth name | Masanori Saito |
| Born | (1942-08-07)August 7, 1942[1] Tokyo, Japan[2] |
| Died | July 14, 2018(2018-07-14) (aged 75) Saitama Prefecture, Japan |
| 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 Japaneseprofessional wrestler, better known by thering nameMr. Saito orMasa Saito (マサ斎藤).[1] He wrestled for 33 years around the world. He had success as a singles wrestler, winning theAWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1990, and as a tag team wrestler with multiple partners in variousNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories.
Saito joined theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1981, where he teamed withMr. Fuji to hold the World Tag Team Championship twice and would claim the nickname "Chopstick Charlie". In Japan, he wrestled for both top leagues,All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) andNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He wrestledAntonio Inoki acrossGanryujima island for over two hours in 1987.[3]
Saito was imprisoned in the United States for two years in the mid-1980s for physically assaulting police officers inWaukesha, Wisconsin, following an accusation of vandalism against his friendKen Patera.[4]
Saito competed infreestyle wrestling for Japan in the1964 Summer Olympics, placing seventh.[5][6]
Recruited to the professional game along with fellow OlympianKoji 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.
On July 13, 1968, Saito won his first title, teaming withKenji Shibuya to win theSan Francisco version of theWorld Tag Team Championship.[8] The following year, he defeated Dale Lewis to win theNWA Florida Heavyweight Championship.[9] After losing the title toJack Brisco on February 10, 1970, he continued to team with Shibuya in the Los Angeles-basedNWA Hollywood Wrestling, winning theNWA Americas Tag Team Championship three times in 1971 and 1972.[10] While wrestling in Los Angeles, he also won the NWA Beat the Champ Television Championship twice in 1972.[11]
Saito's next championship came inVancouver, British Columbia, where he teamed withAustin Britton to win the Vancouver version of theCanadian Tag Team Championship.[12] They held the belts for almost four months beforedropping them to Ormand Malumba andGuy Mitchell on March 3, 1975. Saito regained the championship later in the year, however, teaming withDale Lewis.[12]
Saito next wrestled inNWA Florida, where he teamed withIvan Koloff to defeatRocky Johnson andPedro Morales for theNWA Florida Tag Team Championship in 1977.[13] After losing the belts, Saito and Koloff won them twice more.[13] Their final loss, on January 25, 1978, was toJack andJerry Brisco.[13] Saito regained the title, however, teaming withMr. Sato to defeat the Brisco Brothers.[13] They lost the belts back to the Brisco Brothers three months later but succeeded in regaining them fromMike Graham andSteve Keirn later in the year.[13] While wrestling inFlorida, Saito also teamed with Sato to win theNWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship on two occasions in 1978 and 1979.[14] In 1979, he also won theJapan version of theNorth American Tag Team Championship, teaming withHiro Matsuda to win the belts on April 5.[15]
Wrestling in the United States again in 1981, Saito won theAlabama Heavyweight Championship twice, defeatingBob Armstrong andRay 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]
Later in the year, Saito signed with theWorld Wrestling Federation. He formed atag team withMr. Fuji, which was managed by CaptainLou Albano.[18] They began afeud with tag championsTony Garea andRick Martel, whom they defeated on edition of October 17, 1981, ofChampionship Wrestling to win their firstWWF Tag Team Championship, though it was Fuji's fourth individual reign.[19][20] They began feuding with The Strongbows (Chief Jay andJules) in the fall of 1981. This culminated in a title match on June 28, 1982, atMadison Square Garden (MSG) where Strongbows won the titles.[19][21] On the July 13, 1982, edition ofChampionship Wrestling, they defeated Strongbows in atwo out of three falls match for Fuji's fifth and Saito's second WWF Tag Team Championship.[19][22] The feud of these two teams ended after Fuji and Saito lost the titles to Strongbows on the October 30, 1982, edition ofChampionship Wrestling.[23]
In June 1983, Saito went to Minneapolis and began wrestling forAmerican Wrestling Association. While there, he formed a tag team withJesse Ventura called the Far East-West Connection. After Ventura left for the WWF, Saito was aligned withNick Bockwinkel andBobby Heenan, before Heenan left for the WWF as well. He would remain with them until May 1985 when he began serving his sentence. After being released for good behavior, Saito returned to the AWA in 1986 on Christmas night, aligning himself withLarry Zbyszko andSuper Ninja. He remained with the AWA until April 1987. He briefly returned alone in February 1988, but broughtRiki Choshu with him three months later. It would not be until November 1989 that Saito would come back and would bringKoji Kitao over with him to train. In February 1990, at 48 years of age, he won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, defeatingLarry Zbyszko atSuper Fight in Tokyo Dome. His victory made headlines on newspapers, but was eclipsed by theBuster Douglas victory overMike Tyson the next night at the same arena. He would hold onto the title until April when Zbyszko regained the title atSuperClash IV.
Saito wrestled two tours forAll Japan Pro Wrestling as part ofJapan Pro Wrestling in January and May 1985.
In 1987, Saito returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he became involved in afeud withAntonio Inoki. On June 12, Saito faced Inoki in the finals of theIWGP League 1987 to determine the first everIWGP Heavyweight Champion, which Inoki won. To settle the feud, the two competed in an Island Death match on October 4, 1987. They were placed onGanryujima Island and wrestled a match that lasted two hours and spread across the island. Ultimately, Inoki was victorious, defeating Saito bytechnical knockout.[5] The following year, after leavingAll Japan Pro Wrestling to return toNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, Saito won his firstIWGP Tag Team Championship while teaming withRiki Choshu.[24] He followed this with a second victory the following year, this time withShinya Hashimoto.[24]
Saito had a couple short stints inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW). His first came in 1990, which saw him team withThe Great Muta for the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament atStarrcade '90: Collision Course, which they lost toThe Steiner Brothers in the finals.
It wouldn't be until five years later that Saito briefly returned, which included an appearance atStarrcade '95. Wrestling as part of a series of matches between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling, Saito lost his match to WCW representativeJohnny B. Badd by disqualification.[25] His last match for the company aired on May 18, 1996, onWCW Pro, teaming withMasahiro Chono, wrestlingHarlem Heat to a double disqualification.
On February 14, 1999, Saito wrestled his last match, which was a loss toScott Norton.[26]
Upon retiring in 1999, he stayed in NJPW as a commentator, until leaving the company in January 2003 and joinedFighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling until its collapse a year later. In 2005, after accepting an invitation fromKensuke Sasaki, Saito worked with theDiamond Ring promotion as a supervisor and manager/advisor to the promotion's younger talent. Diamond Ring ran its last show in February 2014. After Diamond Ring, Saito moved back to his home in Tokyo.
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]
In 2000, Saito was diagnosed withParkinson'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 upcomingSummer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.[citation needed]
According to police, on April 6, 1984, Ken Patera was refused service at aMcDonald'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 ofbattery of apolice 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]
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
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
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
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
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