18 Facts About Wataru Sakata

Wataru Sakata is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist and professional wrestler.

Around this time, Wataru Sakata would get important submissions wins over Valentijn Overeem.

In 1999, Wataru Sakata participated at the King of Kings MMA tournament, but he was eliminated at the first round by Renzo Gracie, with the Brazilian taking him down and submitting him.

When RINGS collapsed in 2002, Wataru Sakata participated in PRIDE Fighting Championships fights and joined Pro Wrestling Zero-One as a freelancer.

Wataru Sakata's wrestling ventures increased over time, and he finally joined Zero-One full-time.

In 2004, Wataru Sakata started appearing in off-beat wrestling "opera" federation Hustle due to its business relationship with Zero-One.

However, Wataru Sakata was later put in a hair vs hair match against Umanosuke Anjo and was defeated, being forced to shave his head, which took its toll on his morale.

Now free, Wataru Sakata teamed up with other unaligned wrestlers like Mark Coleman, Takehiro Murahama and Ryoji Sai, which he called unofficially "Wataru Sakata Army".

Wataru Sakata's team grew stronger, winning the Hustle Tag Team Championship from Genichiro Tenryu and Tadao Yasuda and later adding Tenryu himself when Sakata lost a match to him and asked him to be the stable's advisor.

Wataru Sakata gained the support of Yuko Aoki as his valet for a time after saving her from a beatdown by general manager Hiroko Suzuki.

However, his momentum came to an end after Wataru Sakata received a knee injury by Kawada, which stunted his performance; this made them lose the titles against Erika and Margaret, as well as the finals of the Hustle King Memorial tournament.

In early 2007, after being repeatedly beaten down by Tiger Jeet Singh, Wataru Sakata finally came to his senses and re-joined the Hustle Army, bringing Ryoji Sai with him.

Wataru Sakata became the first Hustle Army member to defeat The Esperanza after HG and TAJIRI had failed in do so, thus solidifying himself as Hustle's top face.

In 2008, Wataru Sakata participated in the Hustle Grand Prix, in which the winner could ask a wish inside the company, in order to wish for the disbandment of the Monster Army.

Depressed, Wataru Sakata left the company and secluded himself in a natto field in order to meditate, later returning as a masked superhero-like character named Nattoman.

Wataru Sakata started to intervene in matches, trying to help Hustle army members yet often causing them trouble by accident, until he was identified as Sakata and forced to return to his former self.

Wataru Sakata stayed with the company until its closure in 2009.

Wataru Sakata was married to model Eiko Koike on August 29,2007.