Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
‘The Japanese Buzzsaw’ Yoshihiro Tajiri was a very integral part of WWE’s cruiserweight division in the early 2000’s, holding the title three times. It was on his third and final reign in 2003, where Tajiri was given a very specific gimmick that quickly fizzled out, just as quickly as it came. This is the story of Kyo Dai.
It all began at the No Mercy pay per view in October of 2003, when a heel cruiserweight champion Tajiri defended his title against archrival Rey Mysterio. When it appeared that Tajiri would lose the title to Rey, two mysterious men dressed all in black came in from the stands and distracted Mysterio. The distraction allowed Tajiri to “buzzkick” Rey and get the pinfall victory, retaining the title in the process. After the match, the two men seemed to be at the command of Tajiri.
As it was later revealed, the two individuals were indeed henchmen for the cruiserweight champion. They were known simply by the names of Sakoda and Akio. Sakoda was Ryan Sakoda a developmental wrestler and Akio was James Yun…a former WCW wrestler who would be more known under the gimmick of Jimmy Wang Yang. Together, the group was called ‘Kyo Dai.’
Translated, Kyo Dai means “Brothers”, it also refers to the hierarchy of the Yakuza or Japanese mafia. The Kyo Dai in WWE helped protect Tajiri’s cruiserweight title reign and did all of his bidding. Before the gimmick could gain any sort of significant traction it was abruptly stopped. No real storylines to wrap up the gimmick or explanation as to why the Kyo Dai was suddenly put on ice.
While WWE suddenly dropping angles and gimmicks has been nothing new, it was usually attributed to Vince McMahon “not getting it” or changing his mind on something after it aired. In this case, it was none of that, but reportedly none other than Tajiri himself. The reports were that Tajiri requested WWE drop the gimmick for fear of putting the real life Yakuza in a negative light. Tajiri still lived in Japan and feared that the Kyo Dai gimmick could potentially cause problems for him whenever he returned to Japan.
So with that, Kyo Dai was dropped and Tajiri went his own way. Akio would later get repackaged as the southern Asian cowboy character of Jimmy Wang Yang and Ryan Sakoda never really found his footing in WWE after the angle was dropped. Sakoda was ultimately released. He sadly passed away on September 2nd, 2021.