Ryo Saito

Infobox Wrestler
name=Ryo Saito


names=Ryo Saito
height=174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
weight=80 kg (180 lb)
birth_date =birth date|1978|8|15|mf=y
death_date =
birth_place =Yamagata-shi, Yamagata, Japan
resides=
billed=
trainer=Último Dragón
debut=May 11 1999
retired=|

nihongo|Ryo Saito|斎藤 了|Saitō Ryō, is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently wrestles for Dragon Gate. His name is sometimes abbreviated as SaiRyo, so as not to confuse him with Toryumon/DG alumni SAITO. He is currently a member of the Typhoon stable.

Career

Toryumon

Ryo debuted in 1999 as a fourth term student. He fought in that year’s Young Dragons Cup, but lost in the finals to the newly-heel Yasushi Kanda.

In 2000, he would divide his time between Japan and Mexico, and in Japan he adopted the gimmick of a bicycling enthusiast, wearing a professional bicycler’s outfit, helmet, and glasses and coming to the ring on a bicycle. He became something of a jobber, losing nearly 20 opening matches in a row to Keni'chiro Arai. He also participated in that year’s Young Dragons Cup, and made it to the finals again, but lost to the man who would become his greatest foil, Milano Collection A.T. When he returned to Japan, his bicycle was stolen by Sumo “Dandy” Fuji 2000, starting up a feud between them that led into 2001. Ryo eventually managed to win his bicycle back, and he and the now-renamed Big Fuji would start teaming on and off as the Bicycle Brothers for the next couple of years.

2001 was also the year when Ryo finally broke out of his small role and achieved some championship success. On August 14, he teamed with Magnum TOKYO and Dragon Kid to win the UWA World Trios Championship from CIMA, SUWA, and Big Fuji of Crazy MAX, and on September 30, he beat Susumu Mochizuki for the NWA World Welterweight Title. However, his momentum came to a halt in the fall when the T2P class arrived in Japan, and he would spend the next few months losing to Milano Collection A.T. and feuding with the newly-heel Genki Horiguchi. It was during this time that he would form a close friendship with T2P student Anthony W. Mori.

In 2002, Ryo began to make a heel turn. He, along with Dragon Kid, aligned with Darkness Dragon after he lost a mask vs. mask match to Dragon Kid on September 8 and was booted out of M2K, joining the Do FIXER unit that Darkness created. On October 28, Magnum TOKYO sealed M2K after Yasushi Kanda retired, and later that night he revealed that he and the other members were the real Do FIXER, along with the newly re-named K-Ness. K-Ness had been sent into the home army as a spy to cause problems within it, and it worked in that Ryo was not welcomed back into the home army. Because of this, he decided to actively pursue gaining membership into Do FIXER. He abandoned his bicyclist character, smashing up his bike with a chair, but he couldn’t pass leader Magnum TOKYO’s dance test and was denied entrance. That all changed in December when he debuted his own personal and bizarre dance called the “SaiRyo Dance,” and Magnum TOKYO – pleased with it – allowed him to join should he pass one more test, which was a match on December 20 where he and the other Do FIXER members would face Masaaki Mochizuki, Kenichiro Arai, Raimu Mishima, Takamichi Iwasa, and Anthony W. Mori in an elimination match. Towards the end, Magnum eliminated himself, leaving just Ryo and his friend Mori as the final two. Ryo proved his allegiance to Do FIXER by betraying Mori, smacking him with a black box and winning the match.

2003 went by quite uneventfully for Ryo. He acted as the main H-A-G-E call cheerleader for stablemate Genki Horiguchi, and he was derailed by injuries.

Dragon Gate

2004 was also another injury-plagued year, but he began to turn face again, aiding his old friend Mori in his feud with Takuya Sugawara. He helped him overcome the shock of Sugawara’s betrayal, and when Mori lost a hair vs. hair match, Ryo took the haircut for him.

2005 brought about a major resurgence in his career. He opened the first show of the year on January 9 by pinning CIMA in a six-man tag match. Then, when he appealed for a shot at the Open the Dream Gate title, held by Masaaki Mochizuki, he was given a January 14th singles match with Milano Collection A.T. as a hurdle, and he defeated Milano after four years of losses to him. However, he failed to win the Open the Dream Gate title in the February 6th match. He spent the remainder of the year garnering high profile victories, as well as two Open the Triangle Gate title reigns with Genki Horiguchi and Dragon Kid, and when Magnum began to move down a different path with his Renaissance project, he named Ryo the new leader of Do FIXER. Ryo would then win a feud with CIMA, and in December he won the inaugural King of Gate Tournament. His momentum continued right into February 2006, when he beat Magnitude Kishiwada to win the Open the Dream Gate title and became the ace of the promotion.

However, his quick ascent to the top was not entirely accepted by the fans, and thus his career went downhill after his title victory. He dropped the title to Susumu Yokosuka in his first defense, and though he had a third Open the Triangle Gate title reign with Genki and Dragon Kid, things were quiet for him for the rest of the year. He made it to the finals of that year’s King of Gate Tournament again, but lost to Masaaki Mochizuki.

In February 2007, Genki Horiguchi betrayed Do FIXER to join the Muscle Outlaw'z, so Ryo decided to end Do FIXER activity and follow the only other remaining member Dragon Kid into CIMA’s Typhoon stable. In Typhoon, he reunited with Susumu Yokosuka to form the RyoSuka team. Despite achieving some success in the tag ranks, most notably winning the WAR I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in July from Jado & Gedo and two more reigns as Open the Triangle Gate champion with CIMA and Susumu, Ryo continued to slide further in rank.

In 2008, Ryo began to regain rank in the promotion. He took offense to CIMA putting down the Open the Brave Gate title after he challenged for it, causing some strife within Typhoon. It resulted in Ryo challenging CIMA for the Open the Dream Gate title on April 27, and though Ryo lost, their issues were reconciled afterwards. On May 5, Ryo and Susumu achieved further success with their team when they won the Open the Twin Gate titles from Kenichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa of Tozawa-juku. They would drop the belts to inaugural champions Speed Muscle - Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino - on September 26.

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves:*"Premium Bridge" (Bridging wrist-lock dragon suplex):*"Dancing Yahoo" (Hammerlock / Single leg Boston crab combo):*"Messenger's Delivery" (Modified inside cradle):*"Fisherman Express" (Rolling fisherman suplexes followed into a fisherman buster):*Dragon suplex:*"Shrimp Cooker" (Fisherman suplex lift dropped into either a sitout powerbomb or a spinebuster):*"Fisherman Splash" (Diving splash):*German suplex:*Top rope fisherman buster:*Rolling sole butt:*Savate kick

Championships and accomplishments

*Toryumon Japan:*NWA World Welterweight Championship (1 time):*UWA World Trios Championship (2 times) - with Magnum Tokyo & Dragon Kid (1) and Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi (1)

*Dragon Gate:*Open the Dream Gate Championship (1 time):*Open the Triangle Gate Championship (5 times) - with Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi (3) and CIMA & Susumu Yokosuka (2):*I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Susumu Yokosuka:*Open the Twin Gate Championship (1 time) - with Susumu Yokosuka

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter:*5 Star Match (2006) with Genki Horiguchi and Dragon Kid vs. CIMA, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino ("ROH Supercard of Honor", March 31):*Match of the Year (2006) with Genki Horiguchi and Dragon Kid vs. CIMA, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino ("ROH Supercard of Honor", March 31)

*Westside Xtreme Wrestling:*Winner of the "Golden Pineapple" Tournament together with Matt Sydal over Emil Sitoci and Claudio Castagnoli (May 6th 2007) (1 time)