Masa Saito

Masanori Saito (斎藤 昌典) was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or Masa Saito (マサ斎藤), who wrestled for 33 years around the world.

Saito competed in freestyle wrestling for Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics, placing seventh.

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, Saito held numerous titles while wrestling in North America and Japan.

On July 13, 1968, Saito won his first title, teaming with Kenji Shibuya to win the San Francisco version of the World Tag Team Championship.

The following year, he defeated Dale Lewis to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship.

After losing the title to Jack Brisco on February 10, 1970, he continued to team with Shibuya in the Los Angeles-based NWA Hollywood Wrestling, winning the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship three times in 1971 and 1972.

While wrestling in Los Angeles, he also won the NWA Beat the Champ Television Championship twice in 1972.

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.

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.

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.

After losing the belts, Saito and Koloff won them twice more.

Their final loss, on January 25, 1978, was to Jack and Jerry Brisco.

Saito regained the title, however, teaming with Mr. Sato to defeat the Brisco Brothers.

They lost the belts back to the Brisco Brothers three months later but succeeded in regaining them from Mike Graham and Steve Keirn later in the year.

While wrestling in Florida, Saito also teamed with Sato to win the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship on two occasions in 1978 and 1979.

In 1979, he also won the Japan version of the North American Tag Team Championship, teaming with Hiro Matsuda to win the belts on April 5.

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.

Saito joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1981, where he teamed with Mr. 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) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

Wrestling in the United States again in 1981, Saito won the Alabama Heavyweight Championship twice, defeating Bob Armstrong and Ray Candy.

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.

Later in the year, Saito signed with the World Wrestling Federation.

He formed a tag team with Mr. Fuji, which was managed by Captain Lou Albano.

They began a feud with tag champions Tony Garea and Rick Martel, whom they defeated on edition of October 17, 1981, of Championship Wrestling to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship, though it was Fuji's fourth individual reign.

They began feuding with The Strongbows (Chief Jay and Jules) in the fall of 1981.

This culminated in a title match on June 28, 1982, at Madison Square Garden (MSG) where Strongbows won the titles.

On the July 13, 1982, edition of Championship Wrestling, they defeated Strongbows in a two out of three falls match for Fuji's fifth and Saito's second WWF Tag Team Championship.

The feud of these two teams ended after Fuji and Saito lost the titles to Strongbows on the October 30, 1982, edition of Championship Wrestling.

In June 1983, Saito went to Minneapolis and began wrestling for American Wrestling Association.

While there, he formed a tag team with Jesse Ventura called the Far East-West Connection.

After Ventura left for the WWF, Saito was aligned with Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby 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 with Larry Zbyszko and Super Ninja.

He wrestled Antonio Inoki across Ganryujima island for over two hours in 1987.

He remained with the AWA until April 1987.

He briefly returned alone in February 1988, but brought Riki Choshu with him three months later.

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.