(NOAH) Throwing a headbutt that "splits the forehead"...the pride of the man who inherited "Masa" as demonstrated by Kitamiya.
ABEMA TIMES
On March 7th at the Yokohama Budokan, Masa Kitamiya won a fierce battle of 33 minutes and 3 seconds, for the GHC Tag Team Championship, for the first time in two and a half years for THE AGGRESSION, with Katsuhiko Nakajima, his older brother from the Kensuke Office. With blood pouring from his forehead, Masa Kitamiya shouted, "This belt has been taken from the playful old men in a fight to the death!"
His appearance was awesome, reminiscent of Masa Saito, who was called "The Prison Gate Demon".
Masa Saito is a famous wrestler, who went from representing Japan at the 1967 Tokyo Olympics where he wrestled freestyle (heavyweight, 97kgs or more) to be a professional. A top wrestler in America, and a lone wolf, he is someone who Kitamiya admires.
Kitamiya, who wrestled in both high-school and university, was greatly influenced by Saito, who was the supervisor at the Kensuke Office, and on April 11th 2016, he changed his name from Mitsuhiro Kitamiya (his real name) to Masa Kitamiya. When Kitamiya received permission from Saito to change his name, he was told, "For a comeback, I am desperately fighting Parkinson's Disease. Let's work hard together. I am not giving up on wrestling." Kitamiya said he was blown away.
The proof that he is Masa Saito's successor, is the knee-length tights with the word "JAPAN" sewn on it, and his ruggged body. Saito had said, "If you don't build a sturdy body, then you will not be able to make money in America". He put on muscle tone with weight training, and in his heyday he boasted a body of 180cm and 120 kilos. Although he is smaller than Saito, Kiyomiya has a body of 172cm and 115 kilos.
However, Kitamiya says, "I am not a trainee of Saito". Saito, who had a policy of travelling across America in solitary style, said "Professional wrestlers are private people, so I don't give any advice. It's better for you to do it yourself than to be taught, make wrestling your own, not something that someone teaches you, that was stolen from someone".
Kitamiya is impressed with that policy, which is why he made a rugged body, the will as a pro wrestler, and used a unique twisting backdrop...the Saito Suplex wasn't taught by Masa Saito, but he was close, he saw it, he felt it and he used it. It was also the Prison Lock that was inherited from Saito, which he used to win the GHC Tag Team Championship this time.
The Prison Lock is the finishing hold that was developed by Masa Saito towards the end of his professional wrestling life. As the name suggests, it is a submission technique that Saito developed in prison, when he was involved in an incident caused by fellow wrestler, Ken Patera, who he shared a hotel room with in Waukesha, Wisconsin on April 6th 1984. Patera, who had been refused entry to McDonald's, which was closed, broke a window of the store. The police officer who was called, went to to the hotel where Patera and Saito were staying. Despite being unrelated to the incident, Saito was sprayed with pepper spray, and was accused of assaulting a policewoman. He was imprisoned for a year and a half in a prison in Hawkins, Wisconsin from June 1985 to December 1986. Working towards a comeback at the time of his release, he came up with the idea to create a technique which the opponent would "never escape from once it was decided, but once escaped, it's no longer a prison". This is why Kitamiya desperately endured, and after being slapped by Sugiura, threw a headbutt that smashed his forehead into his and took the win via TKO. That is the pride of the man who inherited "Masa".
Masa Saito died on July 14th 2018 at the age of 75, but as long as Kitamiya works hard at the forefront of the ring, his name will never be lost to history.
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