}}'''Yoshiyuki Saito''', better known as '''Super Shisa''' (sometimes spelled ''Super Siesar''), is a [[Toryumon Japan|1st Term graduate of the Ultimo Dragon Gym]]. He actively wrestles in [[Dragon Gate|Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling]].
+
}}
+
'''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.
==Career==
==Career==
−
===SAITO===
+
===As SAITO===
−
Saito wasthefirststudentoftheUltimoDragonGymtowrestle,makinghisdebutonJune30,1996. He officially graduated the followingyearand, competingassimplySAITO,wouldbecomeanintegralpartinthedevelopmentof Toryumon. Hewasatoplineplayerthroughtheearlyyearsofthepromotion,culminatinginatriptoProWrestlingKageki in 2000alongwithChocoballKOBE.During the trip,SAITO would enteratournamentforthe HakataCityJuniorHeavyweightChampionship, whichhe would winafterdefeatingDaiyu Kawuchi in the final round.
+
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]], [[Don Fujii|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.>
−
SAITOisrecognizedasbeingtheinnovatoroftheYoshiTonicfinisher, whichisbetter known to most wrestling fansas the SunsetFlipPowerbomb.ItiscommonlybelievedthattheYoshiTonicnamewasinspiredfromtheYoshicharacter in the SuperMarioBros.videogames,thoughitcouldalsobelooselytakenfrom part of SAITO's realfirstname.
+
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.
−
In late 2001, SAITO made the sudden announcement that he was retiring. He addedthat his place in Toryumonwouldbefilledby his first student, Super Shisa.NotcommonlyknownisthathehadtestedtheSuperShisagimmickearlyinMexico. ASayonaraSAITO series of matches was held, duringwhichhe did not win a single match and ended up with five loses and a double countout against Yasushi Kanda. He would compete in his last match as SAITOin a loss against Shuji Kondon on October 28, 2001.
+
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===
+
===As Super Shisa===
−
Super Shisa would make his debut on November 8, 2001 in a ten minute draw againstKeni'chiro Arai. For several months, fans would constantly harass him into admitting that he really was SAITO. He steadfastly refused. While the fans stopped their harassing him, they still believed he was SAITO, but accepted him as Super Shisa.
+
Super Shisa would debut on 11/8/2001, wrestling a 10-minute draw with [[Kenichiro Arai]].
−
Shisa wouldspendthe majority of his career nearthe bottom of the card in Toryumon and then Dragon Gate.Atfirst,hehadnointention of joining aunituntilhehookedupwith the short lived Waku Waku Fujii Land group led by Don Fujii. Thegroupwouldend up being designed to bridge the gap between Crazy MAX and the soon-to-form Blood Generation. When Blood Generation cametobe,theinitialbasiswasfora clean face concept, meaningnomasks.FujiigaveShisatheultimatumofunmaskingorleave the group.Fans began chanting SAITO's name, but Shisa declinedandleft.
+
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.
−
Shisa wouldlater hook up with the Magnum TOKYOdeveloped Pos.HEARTS unit. However, Pos.HEARTS would entera hiatus due to TOKYOgettinginjurednot long after it began and appointedleaderAnthonyW.MoribrieflyjoiningTozawajukuforpolishing.Inthemeantime, the Shisa lineagewouldbeintroducedasKingShisa and Shisa BOY appeared in 2006. Thisgroup ended up being short lived when theMuscleOutlaw'z outed King Shisa as the devious Mexican heel Pentagon Black.He would revert to the gimmick and join up with the heel group for the remainder of his stay.
+
Shisa then aligned with [[Magnum Tokyo]]'s PosHearts unit. PosHearts would go on hiatus due to an injury to Tokyo, and Shisa spent the latter part of 2005 and much of 2006 teaming with King Shisa, and occasionally with Dragon Gate dojo student Shisa Boy. The team broke up when King Shisa was outed as being Mexican heel Pentagon Black, and reverted to that gimmick.
−
Pos.HEARTSwouldreuniteshortlythereafterandendupwinningtheOpenTheTriangle Gate Championship, the first title Shisa held in thepromotiondatingbacktoitsbeginnings.Theirreignwith the beltsandtheirstayasaunitwouldnotlast. Towardstheendof2006, they lost the titles to the Muscle Outlaw'z underan added stipulation that the group would disband if they lost.Duringthe match,Shisatook a great deal of damage to theheadthatitcausedhismasktotearand left him bleeding. With little choice, Shisa voluntarily unmasked in the middle of the match and outed himself as being SAITO,much to the delightoffans.Nevertheless,hewouldcontinue being Super Shisaafterward.
+
Towards the end of 2006, PosHearts would reunite, and Shisa would win his first title in Toryumon / Dragon Gate, winning the [[Open the Triangle Gate Championship|Open the Triangle Gate]] titles with stablemates [[BxB Hulk]] and [[Anthony W. Mori]]. The success was short lived, as PosHearts lost the titles to the Muscle Outlaw'z, and then lost a follow up match forcing them to disband as a stable. It was during this match that Shisa was outed as being Saito; damage to the mask and blood loss forced him to voluntarily demask.
−
Following the dissolution of Pos.HEARTS, Shisa continued wrestling low on the card. He hasprimarilyfocusedonhisdutiesasatrainerattheDragonGatedojo. When on the main roster, hewas generally aligned with the thirty-and-over group thatincludedfellowveterans Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, K-ness, and Magnitude Kishiwada forashort time. Shisa hasalsoventuredinto smaller Japanese independent promotions to compete and acting as an ambassador on behalf of Dragon Gate.
+
Since the dissolution of PosHearts, Shisa has remained unaligned and wrestling low on the card. He is a trainer in the Dragon Gate dojo, and focuses primarily on those duties. While wrestling on the main roster, Shisa aligns with the "Mushozoku" Unit, a group of older wrestlers including [[Masaaki Mochizuki]], [[K-ness]] and [[Magnitude Kishiwada]]. Aside from Dragon Gate, Shisa spends time in various smaller Japanese independent promotions.
−
On Februrary 27, 2010, Shisastunnedeveryonebydefeating K-ness for the Open The Brave Gate Championship.Itimprovedhisrankslightly and he began to wrestle higher on the cards. His reign lasted for just under two months before losing it to Tigers Mask of Osaka Pro Wrestling as part of a storyline feud between the two promotions. Once again, Shisa would fall back into his previous position on the card.
+
On February 27, 2010, his ranking in the promotion improved significantly when he defeated K-ness to become the [[Open the Brave Gate Championship|Open the Brave Gate]] Champion. He held the title for just under two months before losing it to Tigers Mask of [[Osaka Pro Wrestling]].
−
In April 2011, Shisa madearareUnited States appearance, participating in the CHIKARA King of Trios Tournament with Akira Tozawa and KAGETORAas Team Dragon Gate. They defeated The Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked, and UltraMantis Black) inthefirstroundonApril15,butlostto The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Hieracon, and Ophidian) inthesecondroundonApril16.On April 17, Shisa and KAGETORA were thelast entrants in a TagTeamGauntletofteamsthathadbeeneliminatedfromthetournament.Theylost to Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada, who were representing Osaka Pro Wrestling.
+
On April 15, 2011, Shisa represented Team Dragon Gate in the 2011 King of Trios tournament along with [[Akira Tozawa]] and [[Kagetora]]. In the first round of the tournament, Team Dragon Gate defeated the Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and Frightmare). The following day, Team Dragon Gate was eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-final stage by The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Hieracon and Ophidian). On April 17, the final day of the tournament, Shisa and KAGETORA took part in a gauntlet tag match and were the final team to enter, but they were defeated by [[Atsushi Kotoge]] and [[Daisuke Harada]].
−
Shisa was recently part of the Blood WARRIORS-Junction Three war, accepting Mochizuki's invitation to join JIII on May 14, 2011. Nevertheless, he was still generally found on the undercard. This has remained the case even after the group was forced to disband on February 9, 2012.
+
===The Shisa Lineage===
−
==UnitHistory==
+
Other wrestlers with a Shisa gimmick have appeared in Dragon Gate, aligned with Super Shisa. One of the current dojo students is Shisa Boy. Mexican wrestler Pentagon Black spent several months in Dragon Gate as King Shisa. Introduced as the leader of the Shisa clan, King Shisa was pushed further than Super Shisa ever was, even going so far as to get a [[Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Championship|Dream Gate]] title shot. He was eventually outed as being Pentagon Black by the Muscle Outlaw'z, and joined them.
−
* Waku Waku Fuji Land (2004-2005)
+
==Factions==
−
* Pos.HEARTS (2005-2006)
+
*Waku Waku Fuji Land (2004)
−
* Junction Three (2011-2012)
+
*Pos.Hearts (2005–2007)
+
*Junction Three (2011–2012)
+
*MadoGiwa Windows (2012–2013)
+
*Oretachi Veteran-gun (2013–2014)
−
==Arsenal==
+
==In wrestling==
+
*'''Finishing moves'''
+
:*''Shisa Clutch'' ([[Handstand]] taunt transitioned into a modified [[Pin (professional wrestling)#Gannosuke Clutch|arm trap somersault cradle]])
:*''Alejandro Lock'' ([[Professional wrestling holds#Cross-legged STF|Cross-legged STF]])
+
:*''Doshanko Tiara'' ([[Backflip|Rope aided backflip]] transitioned into a [[Professional wrestling throws#Headscissors takedown|headscissors takedown]] to an opponent outside the ring)
+
:*[[Professional wrestling attacks|European uppercut]]
+
:*''Face the Mountain'' ([[Professional wrestling holds#Straight jacket|Bridging straight jacket choke]])
+
:*''Hasaaku Clutch'' ([[Professional wrestling holds#Scissored armbar|Scissored armbar]])
+
:*''Manji Cobra Twist'' (Simultaneous [[Professional wrestling holds#Octopus hold|octopus hold]] and [[Professional wrestling holds#Abdominal stretch|abdominal stretch]] to two opponents)
+
:*''Saito Special'' ([[Handstand]] [[Professional wrestling holds#Crossface|crossface]])
+
:*''Saito Special II'' ([[Handstand]] [[Professional wrestling holds#Figure-four leglock|figure four leglock]])
+
:*''Saito Special III'' ([[Handstand]] [[Pinfall#Gannosuke Clutch|inverted Gannosuke clutch]])
+
:*''Saito Special IV'' ([[Handstand]] [[Professional wrestling attacks#Mule kick|mule kick]])
+
:*''Saito Special V'' ([[Handstand]] [[Pin (professional wrestling)#Sunset flip|sunset flip]])
+
:*''Saito Special VI'' ([[Handstand]] [[Professional wrestling holds#Crossface|inverted crossface]])
+
:*Turnbuckle headstand headscissors to an opponent on the top rope transitioned into a [[Professional wrestling aerial techniques#Frankensteiner|frankensteiner]]
+
:*''Yoshifuusha'' ([[Suplex#Double underhook suplex|Double underhook suplex]] floated over into a [[handstand]] [[Pinfall|pin]])
+
*'''[[Nickname]]s'''
+
:*'''"Lion of Ryukyu"'''
+
*'''Entrance themes'''
+
**"Dosanko Shisa" by GLAY
+
**'''"Shisa Callin'"''' by Yoji Kubota
−
*'''Finishingmoves'''
+
==Championships and accomplishments==
−
** ''ShisaClutch'' (Handstand taunt transitioned into a modified arm trap somersault cradle)
**[[Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship]] ([[Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship#Title history|1 time]]) – with [[BxB Hulk]] and [[Anthony W. Mori]]
−
+
**[[Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship]] – (1 time)
−
*'''Signaturemoves'''
+
*'''Pro-Wrestling Kageki'''
−
** ''AlejandroLock'' (Cross-leggedSTF)
+
**Hakata City Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
−
** ''Doshanko Tiara'' (Baseball slide transitioned into a headscissors takedown to an opponent outside the ring)
−
−
==Other Wrestling Information==
−
−
* '''Entrance Themes'''
−
** "Shisa Calling" by Youji Kubota
−
−
==Championships and Accomplishments==
−
−
* '''[[Dragon Gate]]'''
−
** Open The Triangle Gate Championship (1 Time) - with Anthony W. Mori and BxB Hulk
−
** Open The Brave Gate Championship (1 Time)
−
−
* '''Other Titles'''
−
** Hakata City Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 Time)
−
−
==External Links==
−
−
* [http://spora.jp/siesar-callin/ Super Shisa Spora Blog (Japanese)]
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.
Career
As SAITO
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.
As Super Shisa
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.
Shisa then aligned with Magnum Tokyo's PosHearts unit. PosHearts would go on hiatus due to an injury to Tokyo, and Shisa spent the latter part of 2005 and much of 2006 teaming with King Shisa, and occasionally with Dragon Gate dojo student Shisa Boy. The team broke up when King Shisa was outed as being Mexican heel Pentagon Black, and reverted to that gimmick.
Towards the end of 2006, PosHearts would reunite, and Shisa would win his first title in Toryumon / Dragon Gate, winning the Open the Triangle Gate titles with stablemates BxB Hulk and Anthony W. Mori. The success was short lived, as PosHearts lost the titles to the Muscle Outlaw'z, and then lost a follow up match forcing them to disband as a stable. It was during this match that Shisa was outed as being Saito; damage to the mask and blood loss forced him to voluntarily demask.
Since the dissolution of PosHearts, Shisa has remained unaligned and wrestling low on the card. He is a trainer in the Dragon Gate dojo, and focuses primarily on those duties. While wrestling on the main roster, Shisa aligns with the "Mushozoku" Unit, a group of older wrestlers including Masaaki Mochizuki, K-ness and Magnitude Kishiwada. Aside from Dragon Gate, Shisa spends time in various smaller Japanese independent promotions.
On February 27, 2010, his ranking in the promotion improved significantly when he defeated K-ness to become the Open the Brave Gate Champion. He held the title for just under two months before losing it to Tigers Mask of Osaka Pro Wrestling.
On April 15, 2011, Shisa represented Team Dragon Gate in the 2011 King of Trios tournament along with Akira Tozawa and Kagetora. In the first round of the tournament, Team Dragon Gate defeated the Spectral Envoy (UltraMantis Black, Hallowicked and Frightmare). The following day, Team Dragon Gate was eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-final stage by The Osirian Portal (Amasis, Hieracon and Ophidian). On April 17, the final day of the tournament, Shisa and KAGETORA took part in a gauntlet tag match and were the final team to enter, but they were defeated by Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada.
The Shisa Lineage
Other wrestlers with a Shisa gimmick have appeared in Dragon Gate, aligned with Super Shisa. One of the current dojo students is Shisa Boy. Mexican wrestler Pentagon Black spent several months in Dragon Gate as King Shisa. Introduced as the leader of the Shisa clan, King Shisa was pushed further than Super Shisa ever was, even going so far as to get a Dream Gate title shot. He was eventually outed as being Pentagon Black by the Muscle Outlaw'z, and joined them.
