Super Shisa
Super Shisa in April 2011.
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| Born |
April 9, 1970 Naha-shi, Okinawa, Japan |
|---|---|
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Saito Yoshiyuki Saito Super Shisa |
| Billed height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Billed weight | 77 kg (170 lb) |
| Trained by |
Último Dragón Dos Caras |
| Debut | June 30, 1996 |
Yoshiyuki Saito (born in Naha-shi, Okinawa) is a Japanese professional wrestler best known by his ring name Super Shisa, currently wrestling for Dragon Gate. His gimmick is inspired by the Ryukyuan Shisa. He claimed to be a student of Toryumon alumni Saito, but was outed as being Saito himself in 2007.
Saito got his start in wrestling with Último Dragón's upstart promotion Toryumon. He trained in Mexico with the rest of the Último Dragón students, and briefly used the Super Shisa gimmick while there. He wrestled January 31, 1999, on Toryumon's debut show. Wrestling under his real name, he teamed with Magnum Tokyo and Dragon Kid to take on Shima Nobunaga, Sumo Fuji and Judo Suwa in an elimination match on the main event of the card. Saito would be eliminated second following a Nodowa Elbow from Fuji, but his team would go on to win the match.
He would continue to be a top line player in early Toryumon, and would rename to Saito. In the spring of 2000, he and fellow Toryumon participant Chocoball KOBE would wrestle in Pro Wrestling Kageki. Saito would win the Hakata City Jr Heavyweight Title in a tournament, defeating Daiyu Kawuchi in the final round.
He abruptly announced his retirement in late 2001, and stated that his first student, Super Shisa, would take his place. Saito would be given a "Sayonara Saito" series of matches by Toryumon. His record in the series was 0-5-1, the draw being a double countout against Yasushi Kanda. His final match as Saito would be a loss to Shuji Kondo on 10/28/2001.
Super Shisa would debut on 11/8/2001, wrestling a 10-minute draw with Kenichiro Arai.
Shisa has spent most of his career in both Toryumon and Dragon Gate near the bottom of the card, rarely joining units. He was a member of a short lived unit called Waku Waku Fuji Land, led by Don Fujii. Waku Waku Fuji Land was designed to bridge the gap between Crazy Max and the soon-to-form Blood Generation. As Blood Generation was based on a clean face (no masks or face paint) concept, Fuji gave Shisa an ultimatum: unmask or you may not join Blood Generation. The ultimatum prompted the fans to begin chanting Saito's name, but Shisa quickly opted to leave rather than unmask.
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