(NOAH) Akitoshi Saito History: Meeting with Mitsuharu Misawa
Hochi News
In 1998, Akitoshi Saito left New Japan to "regain my hungry spirit". There was a risk of losing the stability of his life, but his wife understood.
"She was like, do what you want to do. I was very grateful for that."
Saito got married when he was working at the Aichi Prefecture Sports Foundation before his debut as a professional wrestler.
"I met her in High School, she was on the swimming team at Shukutoku Gakuen (in Aichi Prefecture). I had a crush on her, and pursued her every year, but she said no for five years. So, when I pursued her in the sixth year, we started going out".
Saito was grateful for the support of his family, who supported him when he left the business world to become a professional wrestler. After leaving New Japan, he decided to take up a new job as a restaurant manager in Nagoya. He was confident in his cooking skills, having received training in cooking during his dorm life in High School and college. He also chose a location in Higashi Ward, which was far from the station.
"When I was looking for a property, all the relators told me, "There will never be any customers at this location for a restaurant", so I decided to do it there. This was also an action that stirred up my own hunger".
Saito rented the second and third floors of the building and named it "Coconut Resort" because he loved tropical countries. The restaurant operated serving lunch during the day, and as a bar at night.
"The stairs leading up to the restaurant were lit up with blue lights, giving it a mysterious atmosphere. However, when you climb the stairs, and open the door, you see a tropical atmosphere. I placed palm trees inside the restaurant to give the impression of a tropical paradise."
While the menu boasted "Tropical Curry" and "Coconut pudding", and while the restaurant aiming to be a tropical paradise, when it first opened it was deserted and the business was as cold as the north wind blowing in.
""During the day, there were five or six people. At night, there were days when no one came. It's true, it was far from the station, and the stairs look a bit suspicious, so no one would want to go in. So, I stopped serving lunch, and took a part time job with an industrial waste company from morning until evening. No one knew who I was, and when I wore a T-shirt from my wrestling days, a coworker said to me, "Hey, are you a wrestling fan?"
Saito worked part time during the day, and at the bar at night. His steady efforts gradually paid off, and customers started to come, mainly through word of mouth.
"We stocked about 800 types of alcohol, so bartenders from other bars would come and drink after word, so word spread that the bar was interesting, and we got back on track".
When business was going well, he made a decision.
"In order to regain my hunger, I opened a shop in a bad location, and now that I was somehow able to make a living, I thought it was time to make a comeback".
It was the summer of 2000, and he decided to step into the ring again as a professional wrestling. The last year of the 20th century saw a great upheaval in the world of professional wrestling. After Giant Baba passed away in January 1999, Mitsuharu Misawa, the ace who had been the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling, left in June. A large number of wrestlers and staff joined forces with him to form a new group called "Pro Wrestling Noah". On August 5th and 6th, they held two consecutive shows at Differ Ariake, and Saito decided to return as Misawa founded Noah.
Destiny was entwined.
"The two major wrestling promotions at the time were New Japan and All Japan. Misawa and the others left All Japan, and Noah was born. I had been in New Japan, so I thought, "You can't talk about wrestling without experiencing the two major promotions, so I thought I'd like to go and do it in Noah".
The centre of the wrestling world in the 1990s was The Three Musketeers of New Japan, and The Four Heavenly Kings of All Japan. In New Japan, Saito had faced the Three Musketeers of Shinya Hashimoto, Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono in singles matches, but this time he wanted to experience The Four Heavenly Kings that Misawa had pursued.
"I had an image of the Four Heavenly Kings of Pro Wrestling as zombies. They fall at incredible angles, the techniques continue endlessly, and the matches are long, but I felt how amazing it was that they got back up, even under such harsh conditions. New Japan attacked, while All Japan defended. New Japan had taught me the defending part, but I didn't know what the Four Heavenly Kings defense was, so I wanted to try it."
He had a strong desire to fight in Noah, but he had never met Misawa before, so Saito came up with the idea of asking directly. He checked Misawa's schedule, and found out that he would be visiting Tokai Radio in Nagoya to promote the Noah event there. He called the Noah office, and got permission to meet with Misawa.
"I met Misawa-san at Tokai Radio, and asked him directly, "I want to work for Noah". Misawa-san stopped and replied, "Yes, I understand how you feel. I'll contact you again", and then he left. Looking back, I think it was just a two or three minute chat. There weren't many words. However, at that moment, a strange emotion welled up up in me that I couldn't put into words. It was just a short conversation, but I thought, "I want to wrestle under this guy". I had met wrestlers in New Japan that I had admired since I was a child, but I felt something different about him".
Later, he received a phone call from Misawa, who said "First, let's do a test".
The test match would be held on October 11th at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. This would be Akitoshi Saito's first time competing in Pro Wrestling Noah.
(To be continued)
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