It has been reported by PWInsider.com that former WWE wrestler Ryan Sakoda has sadly passed away. He was aged just 48 and had and had been working for Disney at their Grand California Hotel. The cause of death is unknown, and according to his official obituary, he tragically died on September 2. He is survived by his parents Ronney and Colleen, and brothers Kelley and Brett.
Sakoda’s wrestling career began on the Californian indie circuit, and in his early days, he would share a ring with names such as Frankie Kazarian, Mike Knox, and John Cena, who was going by the name Prototype at the time. His first match for WWE came on Jakked when he teamed with Kazarian to put over Funaki & Taka Michinoku. Two years on, he would return to the promotion and appear on Velocity wrestling Chuck Palumbo and Kanyon. These appearances earned him a WWE deal, and he soon became part of SmackDown as one of Tajiri henchmen in 2003. During this time, he formed a team with Akio, who later became Jimmy Wang Yang.
Unfortunately for him, by mid-2004, he was deemed surplus to requirements and was let go by the company. Despite this, he would continue to wrestle on the indies as well as Japan before becoming part of MTV’s Wrestling Society X. However, he would decide to retire in 2007, later claiming he had suffered brain injuries while wrestling for WWE and became part of a failed civil lawsuit against the company.
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