Ryan Keiji Sakoda (December 31, 1972 – September 2, 2021) was a Japanese American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

. He was best known for his appearances in

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

and later Ultimate Pro Wrestling as a part-time trainer for the wrestlers, as well as working in the independents as Ryan Sakoda.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1998–2003)

Before coming to WWE, Sakoda had a successful stint in the NWA Zero-One promotion in Japan, stemming from his appearances for

Ultimate Pro Wrestling Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) was a California-based independent pro wrestling company owned and operated by Rick Bassman, that operated from 1999 to 2007. The company had working relationships with Pro Wrestling Zero1 and World Wrestling Entertai ...

. During this time Sakoda often filled in as an instructor at UPW's Ultimate University, while wrestling as part of the

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

Team Emblem with Japanese superstars Masato Tanaka and

Shinjiro Otani is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury substained in April 2022. A product of the ...

World Wrestling Entertainment (2003–2004)

On January 6, 2003, Sakoda made his first onscreen appearance for WWE on

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

as a judge for

World Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969), better known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive, actor, and retired professional wrestler currently serving as the chief content officer for WWE. He is widely regarded as ...

and

Scott Steiner Scott Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962), better known by the ring name Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Steiner is perhaps best known for his time in World Championshi ...

's pose down under the name Charlie Chan. In September 2003, Sakoda was signed to a developmental contract, it wouldn't be long before Sakoda was brought up to SmackDown!'s main roster. He along with Akio made their WWE debuts on October 19, 2003, at No Mercy. Sakoda aligned himself with Akio, forming the heel

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

Kyo Dai, the

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...

-style henchmen of Tajiri. In August 2004, Sakoda was released from his WWE contract.

Return to Independent Circuit (2005–2007)

After WWE, Sakoda returned to UPW in March 2005 as a part-time trainer and part-time auto sales executive at Worthington Ford. He made his return to full-time in-ring competition in 2007 with MTV's

Wrestling Society X Wrestling Society X (WSX) is a short-lived American professional wrestling promotion and professional wrestling-based television series created in 2006 by Big Vision Entertainment. The weekly television series formerly aired on MTV, MTV2, MTV Tr3 ...

. Wrestling as an independent in the local mall circuit until his death, Sakoda had been working as a server for Disney at one of their Grand California Hotel restaurants.

Personal life

Sakoda filed a

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit against WWE, alleging that wrestlers sustained traumatic brain injuries while wrestling for them and that the company tried to conceal that information. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. In March 2016, the suit was dismissed as frivolous by Judge

Vanessa Lynne Bryant Vanessa Lynne Bryant (born January 27, 1954) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Early life Bryant was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Howard University wit ...

Death

Sakoda died on September 2, 2021, at the age of 48. His death was not announced until September 27.

Championships and accomplishments

Empire Wrestling Federation The Empire Wrestling Federation (EWF) is an independent wrestling promotion based in Covina, California. It is owned and operated by Jesse Hernandez. The EWF is also tied to Hernandez's wrestling school, ''The School Of Hard Knocks''. The EWF is ...

EWF Heavyweight Championship The EWF Heavyweight Championship is the top professional wrestling title in the Southern California-based Empire Wrestling Federation independent promotion. It was established in 1996, with Bobby Bradley as the first champion, who defeated Zuma t ...

( 1 time) *

Pro Wrestling Zero-One (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. I ...

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship The Intercontinental Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promoting Pro Wrestling Zero1, typically reserved for (but not exclusive to) heavyweight (>) wrestlers. It was created on June 14, 2001, three month ...

( 1 time) – with

Samoa Joe Nuufolau Joel Seanoa (born March 17, 1979), is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Samoa Joe who is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Joe is currently a double champion - in his first reign both as AE ...

Notes

References

External links

TV.com ProfileObituary at Fukui Mortuary, Inc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakoda, Ryan 1972 births 2021 deaths Japanese male professional wrestlers People from Hacienda Heights, California Sportspeople from Tokyo