Akitoshi Saito

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[GOTNW]

Not much to say about him except that he's been consistently good for a long period of time and will rank in the bottom half for me.

[Dylan Waco]

Best matches? What are the high points/good runs I should seek out. I have seen a lot of his work over the years, but he never stuck out as a guy that was better than pretty good. That said I have been dead wrong before, and don't want to leave stones unturned. Give me some recommendations.

[Graham Crackers]

The Saito vs Honda match from 2003 is the first one that jumps out to me.

[Jetlag]

Him vs. Honda, Kobashi and Marufuji are among my favourite NOAH singles matches. Great tag worker with a nice unique dynamic to Akiyama and Inoue.

 

I'd actually be interested in going back and checking out his 90s work. There's a super intense rookie match vs. Orihara somewhere, and I also remember a good outting from him against Koichiro Kimura in W*ING of all feds during his rookie year.

[Timbo Slice]

Really good tag worker, but I don't see him matching up well with some of the other guys of his era, even though I did like NOAH mid-card matches as much as anyone. Won't be on my list.

[Ma Stump Puller]

Good in WAR as this unseasoned pitdog that just hurls stiff karate strikes at everyone who tries tangling with him, NJPW stuff was similarly the same if a bit less explosive as he mixed into the usual cooking pot of styles around at the time. 

Had a pretty great post-prime career as a NOAH loyalist with definite unrealised potential as a low-key threat to the main players. Kinda got complicit after a while and lost his edge as time and age crept up despite having a really entertaining underdog dynamic with him and Inoue. A lot of his 2010's material in particular just wasn't much to talk about ngl. That sours any prospect of a top 100 run for me.