Akio Sato

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Akio Sato (born February 13, 1953) is a professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in the World Wresting Federation as Sato.

[edit] Career

Sato first attracted attention in the US wrestling for the Central States territory and later for the American Wrestling Association in 1989. Dubbed the "Asian Assassin", he participated in the infamous battle royal for the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Championship, and challenged Greg Gagne for the AWA International Heavyweight Championship. He also participated in a feud between Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond following the breakup of Badd Company.

Eventually, Sato left the AWA for the World Wrestling Federation in early 1990 to form a team with Tanaka, managed by Mr. Fuji, known as The Orient Express. During this run, Sato introduced the sitout powerbomb to mainstream American wrestling for the first time. Paul Diamond soon followed and would eventually replace Sato as part of the team, as Sato decided to retire from wrestling in the US. Diamond donned a mask and wrestled as "Kato" with Tanaka throughout 1991 and early 1992. Sato briefly rejoined the team during the end of their run in the WWF and they wrestled in 6-man tag team competition. Later on in his WWF career, he played Shinja, who was the manager of Japanese wrestler Hakushi.