Masanori Saito was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr Saito or Masa Saito, who wrestled for 33 years around the world.
26 Facts About Masa Saito
2.
Masa Saito 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 territories.
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Masa Saito wrestled Antonio Inoki across Ganryujima island for over two hours in 1987.
4.
Masa 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.
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Masa Saito competed in freestyle wrestling for Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics, placing seventh.
6.
On July 13,1968, Masa Saito won his first title, teaming with Kenji Shibuya to win the San Francisco version of the World Tag Team Championship.
7.
Masa Saito regained the championship later in the year teaming with Dale Lewis.
8.
Masa Saito next wrestled in NWA Florida, where he teamed with Ivan Koloff to defeat Rocky Johnson and Pedro Morales for the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship in 1977.
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Masa Saito regained the title teaming with Mr Sato to defeat the Brisco Brothers.
10.
The Assassins were stripped of the title when it was discovered that Masa Saito was wrestling under a mask as a third member of the team.
11.
Later in the year, Masa Saito signed with the World Wrestling Federation.
12.
Masa Saito formed a tag team with Mr Fuji, which was managed by Captain Lou Albano.
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The feud of these two teams ended after Fuji and Masa Saito lost the titles to Strongbows on the October 30,1982, edition of Championship Wrestling.
14.
In June 1983, Masa Saito went to Minneapolis and began wrestling for American Wrestling Association.
15.
Masa Saito would remain with them until May 1985 when he began serving his sentence.
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Masa Saito briefly returned alone in February 1988, but brought Riki Choshu with him three months later.
17.
Masa Saito's victory made headlines on newspapers, but was eclipsed by the Buster Douglas victory over Mike Tyson the next night at the same arena.
18.
Masa Saito wrestled two tours for All Japan Pro Wrestling as part of Japan Pro Wrestling in January and May 1985.
19.
In 1987, Masa Saito returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he became involved in a feud with Antonio Inoki.
20.
On June 12, Masa Saito faced Inoki in the finals of the IWGP League 1987 to determine the first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion, which Inoki won.
21.
Masa Saito followed this with a second victory the following year, this time with Shinya Hashimoto.
22.
Masa Saito had a couple short stints in World Championship Wrestling.
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Masa Saito's first came in 1990, which saw him team with The Great Muta for the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament at Starrcade '90: Collision Course, which they lost to The Steiner Brothers in the finals.
24.
On February 14,1999, Masa Saito wrestled his last match, which was a loss to Scott Norton.
25.
Masa Saito died from complications of the disease on 14 July 2018 at the age of 76.
26.
At the time of his death, Masa Saito had been training to be a torchbearer for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.