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<\/p>\nThe puroresu world felt the loss of one of their own this weekend, as Masa Saito, a popular Japanese wrestler from the 1960’s through the late 90’s, passed away on July 14 at the age of 76, from complications from Parkinson’s Disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2000.<\/p>\n
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Masanori Saito started as an amateur wrestler, representing Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the freestyle wrestling category. He made his professional debut shortly after, wrestling in Japan and the West Coast of the United States. A student of Hiro Matsuda and Kinji Shibuya, his first success came with the World Wrestling Alliance (WWA) in California (which would later become NWA Hollywood). He would become a 6x Americas Tag Team Champion with NWA Hollywood, alongside his mentor Kinji Shibuya. He also competed with Championship Wrestling in Florida, All Star Wrestling in Vancouver, Georgia Championship Wrestling and various other NWA territories.<\/p>\n In 1974, he made his debut with NJPW in his homeland, although he would only wrestle sporadically with them at first. He spent most of his first two decades working in the United States and Canada. He joined the WWF in the early 1980s, replacing Professor Toru Tanaka as Mr. Fuji’s new tag team partner, where he would become a 2x WWF World Tag Team Champion. He only lasted a few years with the WWF, eventually moving to Verne Gagne’s AWA in 1983, where he remained until 1990. It was in the AWA that he finally won his first singles World title, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Larry Zybysko at an NJPW\/AWA Super Fight show in the Tokyo Dome.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nrQqo6ZbGPo<\/p>\n In 1987, Saito had finally began to become a regular with NJPW, the company he would remain with until he retired in 1999, winning the IWGP Tag Team titles on two occasions, once with Riki Choshu and once with Shinya Hashimoto.<\/p>\n Rest in Peace the legendary Japanese wrestler Masa Saito #goforbroke<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wxyI1GD82Y<\/a><\/p>\n — Shinsuke Nakamura (@ShinsukeN) July 16, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/NINTCHDBPICT000420905765.jpg\")
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