Ryo Saito

One of the top stars of Dragon Gate-when he can stay healthy, that is-Ryo Saito is an 11-year veteran and one of many DG stars to come up through the Toryumon system. Debuting in 1999, he was used mainly as a jobber and comedy character until 2001, when he started shedding his prior gimmick of a bicyclist and won a couple of titles before making a heel turn in 2002. He eventually joined the Do Fixer faction but was still used in a bit of a comedy role and also was injured for a good part of 2003 and 2004.
Things turned around in 2005, when he earned his first Open The Dream Gate Title shot (he lost) and won 2 Open The Triangle Gate Titles on the way to winning the Dream Gate in 2006. 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 2007 Saito left Do Fixer to join the Typhoon faction, re-forming a team known as RyoSuka with former partner/rival Susumu Yokosuka. 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 and Taku Iwasa of Tozawa-juku. They would drop the belts to inaugural champions Speed Muscle-Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino-on September 26. After Typhoon was forced to disband at the end of 2008, Saito joined Real Hazard. Since the faction shifting in late 2010 Saito now appears to have aligned with the Blood Warriors faction, winning his third Open The Twin Gate Title with Genki Horiguchi-the 2nd time he’s won it with Horiguchi as his partner.

Stats & Info:
Age: 31
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 187 pounds/85 kg
Experience: 11 years
Finishing move: Double Cross, Premium Bridge
Current affiliation: Dragon Gate
Ring entrance theme: “Dragon Fly”

Titles won:
1-time Open The Dream Gate Champion
5-time Open The Triangle Gate Champion
3-time Open The Twin Gate Champion
1-time I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Champion
1-time NWA World Welterweight Champion
2-time UWA World Trios Champion

Tournaments won:
2005 King Of Gate
2007 WXW Golden Pineapple Tournament

Other accolades:
1 Wrestling Observer Newsletter 5 Star Match
2006 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match Of The Year (with Genki Horiguchi & Dragon Kid vs. CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino, 3/31)

Official website (Japanese):
http://spora.jp/sairyo (Not updated since November ’09)