Masanori Saito

Born 1942-02-01 · Tokyo, Japan

Died 2018-07-14

Masanori Saito was a Japanese professional wrestler better known as Mr. Saito or Masa Saito who wrestled for 33 years across 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 WWE in 1981, where he teamed with Mr. Fuji to hold the WWE World Tag Team Championship twice. In Japan, he wrestled for both top leagues, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). He wrestled Antonio Inoki across Ganryū-jima island for over two hours. Saito was imprisoned for two years in the mid-1980s for physically assaulting police officers in Waukesha, Wisconsin, following an accusation of vandalism against his friend Ken Patera.