[3] Saito was imprisoned in the United States for two years in the mid-1980s for physically assaulting police officers in Waukesha, Wisconsin, following an accusation of vandalism against his friend Ken Patera.

[5][6] Recruited to the professional game along with fellow Olympian Koji Sugiyama, Saito began his pro wrestling career in 1965 and quickly established himself in both Japan and the United States.

Torture" for his punishing and sadistic style,[7] Saito held numerous titles while wrestling in North America and Japan.

[10] While wrestling in Los Angeles, he also won the NWA Beat the Champ Television Championship twice in 1972.

[13] They lost the belts back to the Brisco Brothers three months later but succeeded in regaining them from Mike Graham and Steve Keirn later in the year.

[15] Wrestling in the United States again in 1981, Saito won the Alabama Heavyweight Championship twice, defeating Bob Armstrong and Ray Candy.

[16] That year, he was also involved in a controversy regarding the Florida version of the North American Tag Team Championship.

[18] They began a feud with tag champions Tony Garea and Rick Martel, whom they defeated on edition of October 17, 1981, of Championship Wrestling to win their first WWF Tag Team Championship, though it was Fuji's fourth individual reign.

[19][22] The feud of these two teams ended after Fuji and Saito lost the titles to Strongbows on the October 30, 1982, edition of Championship Wrestling.

After being released for good behavior, Saito returned to the AWA in 1986 on Christmas night, aligning himself with Larry Zbyszko and Super Ninja.

In February 1990, at 48 years of age, he won the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, defeating Larry Zbyszko at Super Fight in Tokyo Dome.

[25] His last match for the company aired on May 18, 1996, on WCW Pro, teaming with Masahiro Chono, wrestling Harlem Heat to a double disqualification.

[26] Upon retiring in 1999, he stayed in NJPW as a commentator, until leaving the company in January 2003 and joined Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling until its collapse a year later.

[30] During his career, Saito played the stereotypical salt-throwing Japanese heel, a role usually performed by Hawaiians in the 60s.

As a result of the incident, in June 1985, Saito and Patera were convicted of battery of a police officer and sentenced to serve two years in prison.

The lights were on because they were shooting a commercial, so not only Patera but another customer (who he described as a young adult) had arrived, thinking that they were open for business.