History Characters / UniversalWrestlingFederationRINGS

* UnrelatedBrothers: Despite his surname, he is not a member of the Machado jiu-jitsu family. This is why some sites list him as Gustavo Ximu.

* TheApprentice: To Hironobu Yamashita.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] UsefulNotes/{{Taekwondo}}: Competed in the world championships before coming to RINGS.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] UsefulNotes/{{Sambo}}: Was the first Bulgarian to win a World Championship in 1982 and also won bronze in the 1979 world championships, with another bronze at the 1982 European championships. He is also a national UsefulNotes/{{Judo}} champion and trained in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.

* ActionSurvivor: Even if you see RINGS representatives losing MMA fights, you will be hard-pressed to find any of them getting actually finished (unless you are watching Valentijn Overeem or Yoshihisa Yamamoto, that is). The most technical, like Kohsaka, Han and Kopylov, were almost impossible to submit or KO.

* HeroKiller: Beat Mikhail Ilyukhin, Yoshihisa Yamamoto, and Alexander Fedorov.

* HeroKiller: Has defeated names like Mikhail Ilyukhin, Wrestling/HiromitsuKanehara, Chris Haseman in the ADCC championships, and Yoshihisa Yamamoto.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: He faced Brazilian giant Ricardo Morais in a vale tudo fight and won the decision and avenged Mikhail Ilyukhin and Yoshihisa Yamamoto’s losses to Morais (as well as Yuri Kochkine’s brutal draw against him).

!!!Yoshihisa Yamamoto
-->''"This time I am willing to do it. This time I will win, at any price."''

* ADayInTheLimelight: After he did exceptionally well against Rickson Gracie, Yamamoto was looked to be pushed as the company's next main eventer. After he did exceptionally bad against Ricardo Morais, it was all forgotten and he was given back to the low/midcard. Plus Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura came over from UWFI and stole what was left of his thunder by beating him in a shoot.
* AbortedArc: His pro wrestling career outside of RINGS. He appeared in Wrestling/ProWrestlingZero1 in 2001, attacking Wrestling/NaoyaOgawa and demanding a match to settle the score between them from their cancelled RINGS bout a few years earlier, but he never appeared again. He later appeared in Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling in similar manner in 2005, getting into a brawl with Wrestling/YujiNagata, but once again left right after. It should be noted that he is the only RINGS native (aside from the pretty much forgotten Yukihiro Takenami above) that has never done pro wrestling outside of RINGS.
* AlliterativeName
* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/AkiraMaeda, and later to Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada at Takada Dojo when he left RINGS.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Of the boastful variety.
* BadassOnPaper: If ever was one. Most of his fame came from lasting three rounds against the mighty Rickson, but it was due not to fighting skill, [[CombatPragmatist but merely to capitalizing in the legality of grabbing the ropes and holding for dear life to them not to be taken down]]. Yamamoto's soon potential, or rather lack thereof, was soon exposed in his next shoots, although it is up to debate whether he could have become legitimately good in mixed martial arts had he really tried.
* BigEater: According to training partners.
* TheBigGuy: The physically strongest of the RINGS Japan team and was for a long time the only heavyweight on the team before Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka came along.
* BoisterousWeakling: He was brave, plucky and big, and often carried himself in interviews as if he was among the best fighters in Japan, but he was one of the worst Japanese fighters ever came out of the U-system.
* BrilliantButLazy: Had a strong judo background and could have been a solid fighter with the proper training, but it is a known fact that he wasn't interested at all in fighting. When in the gym, he rarely sparred, and instead just lifted weights, slacked around and ate the food sent by his fans.
* BullyingADragon:
** Mixed with TooDumbToLive in his PRIDE fight with Mirko Cro Cop, where he taunted Cro Cop by [[PunchPunchPunchUhOh offering "free shots"]] throughout the fight and naturally got destroyed and the crowd even turned against him when he claimed that he suffered an eye poke.
** While it is not known if its a work or shoot, in one match with Hans Nijman, he seemed to have tried to shoot on Nijman, as instead of starting out by feeling him out with a striking exchange like he usually begins matches, he immediately tries to take him down and submit him. It takes about 6 attempts before Nijman and his corner figure out what’s going on and a pissed off Nijman proceeds to knock him out shortly afterwards for his trouble.
** Surprisingly, he was the dragon for once in a match against Herman Renting, after Renting busted him open with an elbow strike on the ground, Yoshihisa locked in a rear naked choke to tap out Renting. He didn’t even celebrate his victory and just quickly went to the back.
* ButtMonkey: From his shoot fight with Ricardo Morais onwards and it only got worse for him as time went on.
* CatchPhrase: "Futou Fukutu" ("unyielding and indomitable").
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: White tights and boots. Before the Rickson fight, he wore different colored gear usually twice before switching to another color.
* CombatPragmatist / TheUnfettered: Was notably dirty and willingly to use underhanded tactics to win compared to his fellow stablemates, such as his shoot fight with Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura in 1996 where he dug his fingers in Tamura’s face and eyes to try and get a choke, and actually cut Tamura's face and drew blood and not to mention his fight with Rickson Gracie.
* CoolTeacher: Was briefly a trainer at Takada Dojo.
* DavidVersusGoliath: His MMA fights with Ricardo Morais (who KO'ed him), Semmy Schilt (who also KO'ed him), Jan Nortje ([[ThrowTheDogABone who Yamamoto submitted with an armbar]]), and Wrestling/BobSapp ([[RunningGag who as expected KO'ed him]]).
* {{Determinator}}: Between 2003 to 2004, he suffered a series of medical problems like appendicitis, ileus, early colon cancer, and hematochezia and underwent surgery to correct them. He also got into a traffic accident in 2005. He still came back to fight after all that.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Would sometimes fight with only shinguards and knee pads to cover his feet and legs.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training with Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki. After cornering Wrestling/MasayukiNaruse in his fight with Yuki Kondo in 2014, Yoshihisa remarked that he would like to fight Funaki due to said incident, [[UnknownRival but Funaki never responded]].
* EmbarrassingNickname: His training partners called him "Georgie", for some unknown reason.
* {{Expy}}: Career-wise, he was one to Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada. Both were great workers despite their lack of technical fighting skills who failed to live up to expectations in shoots, both rarely sparred for real, was sent food by their female fans, and both faced and lost to Rickson Gracie and Mirko Cro Cop. This makes his transfer to Takada Dojo after he left RINGS actually make a lot more sense.
* FakeUltimateHero: Downplayed as he didn’t win against Rickson Gracie, but lasted a lot longer against him than any of Rickson’s other Vale Tudo Japan opponents and was the first to actually be able to mount any sort of meaningful offense against him. His performance in that fight made people believe he was a better fighter than he actually was and it was only until his fight with Ricardo Morais that got people to see he wasn’t a great fighter.
* FearlessFool: Say what you will about his fighting ability or attitude towards fighting in general, he still fought some of the greatest names in the sport without backing down.
* {{Foil}}: To Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka, as both were former judokas that were recruited to RINGS by Maeda as the only heavyweights of the team and were expected to be the stars of the promotion at one point or another. They both failed in their own ways, Yoshihisa due to disinterest and poor performances in shoots, while Kohsaka had to share the spotlight with Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura and despite his hard work and great grappling skills, still couldn’t take out world-class opponents.
* GlassCannon: Arguably his AchillesHeel in shoots was that he really didn’t know how to defend himself against closed-fist punches and ground-and-pound, he was however a decent grappler when he actually tried.
* HighHopesZeroTalent: Was a good worker and his fight with Rickson Gracie got him pushed by Maeda and even placed second in 1995 Mega Battle Tournament (behind Maeda of course). Unfortunately he didn’t have the skills nor the mindset for real fighting and often lost to guys that he should have had no problem with like his last MMA opponent Jong Wang Kim, who was a longtime Pancrase {{Jobber}}. In fact his only legitimate win outside of RINGS was against Jan Nortje, who despite his size and background in boxing and UsefulNotes/{{Kickboxing}} was a notable MMA {{Jobber}}. The rest of his wins were by pure luck, the Mark Kerr fight mentioned below and his win over Wrestling/AlexanderOtsuka was by Otsuka injuring himself by attempting a jumping knee drop.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Once broken his own arm on the ring while posting it on the mat to attempt a kani basami.
* [[IKnowKarate I Know]] UsefulNotes/{{Judo}}: A 1st dan black belt. How did he get it is a RiddleForTheAges.
* ImprovFu: Managed to turn a ill-performed double leg by Mark Kerr into a DDT of all things to knock him out, although the pundits were skeptical about whether it had been an intentional technique or he had been simply lucky enough that Kerr drove his own head against the mat.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After the mentioned DDT, Yamamoto boasted in the post-match interview about how he had trained all along to perform it on the ring and such. PRIDE's general manager Takada, who was also Yamamoto's trainer and knew it was all BlatantLies, proclaimed that if it wasn't pure luck, he had to repeat it in the match he was going to put him against Mirko Cro Cop.
* LetsGetDangerous: Despite his bad performances overall, he could be a tough opponent if he wanted: he beat Maurice Smith in a mixed rules fight (technically twice, he won on points in one of them, after being beaten up for 30 minutes and left with a broken and bleeding nose. The other fight was when he tapped him out by rear naked choke in about 6 minutes), knocked out the always technical Chris Haseman in the second King of Kings, and even tapped out the notoriously hard-to-submit Daijiro Matsui in a grappling match in the Takada Dojo, not to mention his famous three-round Rickson match.
* PaperTiger: Before his fight with Ricardo Morais exposed him, he was built up to be the next star of the promotion due to being a consistently good worker, popular among female fans, and his surprisingly long fight with Rickson Gracie.
* RealSongThemeTune: Used Gary Moore's "Speak For Yourself" in his early appearances in RINGS. He also used
* RedBaron: "The Outlaw", "Yamayoshi", "Maedaism Keishosha" ("The Inheritor of the Maeda-ism"), "Rickson O Oitsumeta Otoko" ("The Man Who Chased Rickson").
* SincerestFormOfFlattery: After his fight against Rickson, Yamamoto adopted his attire (though he actually also wore white trunks when he faced Rickson), techniques and even facial mannerisms to an almost [[AffectionateParody parodic degree]]. It was soon phased out, although the attire part remained among his traits.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: During the mentioned 30 minute fight with Smith, Yamamoto kept breaking late his holds, which normally would have granted him a yellow card, but as he was the native and Smith the foreigner from Pancrase, well, you can guess.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Went by the name of Norihisa during his PRIDE run for some reason.
* StoneWall: Got his aura (and its subsequent push) after stalling Rickson Gracie for three rounds via the LoopholeAbuse of holding the ropes for all the match.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: A performer and was arguably RINGS Japan’s most consistently good worker as he put on constantly good matches in non-shoots. He unfortunately didn’t have anything to make up for his lack of technical fighting skills in actual shoots.
* ThreeAmigos: Was part of the Japanese "A" team along with Wrestling/HiromitsuKanehara and Wrestling/WataruSakata for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.
* UnskilledButStrong: His style was based around powering out of holds when possible and opting for eat any punishment instead of trying to outstrike as he was the least skilled striker on the team.

* RealSongThemeTune: Used Gary Moore's "Speak For Yourself" in his early appearances in RINGS.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training with Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki. After cornering Wrestling/MasayukiNaruse in his fight with Yuki Kondo in 2014, Yoshihisa remarked that he would like to fight Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki due to said incident, [[UnknownRival but Funaki never responded]].

* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training with Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki. After cornering Wrestling/MasayukiNaruse in his fight with Yuki Kondo in 2014, Yoshihisa remarked that he would like to fight Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki due to said incident.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training with Wrestling/MasakatsuFunaki.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but didn’t debut there due to suffering a broken jaw while training.

* AuthorAppeal / BadassOnPaper: As stated by Dave Meltzer above, RINGS brought in a lot of real world class elite athletes which gave them a lot of credibility as a combat sport. Their success in the ring was a mixed bag, with some like RINGS Russia's Fedor Emelianenko (who was a world medalist in combat sambo) dominated the promotion in his short time there, while others like RINGS Russia's Suren Balachinsky (who actually beat Fedor in sambo competition twice) had one fight in RINGS, lost it and left right after.

* BadassOnPaper: As stated by Dave Meltzer above, RINGS brought in a lot of real world class elite athletes which gave them a lot of credibility as a combat sport. Their success in the ring was a mixed bag, with some like RINGS Russia's Fedor Emelianenko (who was a world medalist in combat sambo) dominated the promotion in his short time there, while others like RINGS Russia's Suren Balachinsky (who actually beat Fedor in sambo competition twice) had one fight in RINGS, lost it and left right after.

** They also once allowed elbow pads to be worn, for some reason.

** The first four RINGS stables had colour coded tracksuits, blue for the Japanese, green for the Dutch, orange for the Russians, and purple for the Georgians.

* ICouldaBeenAContender: He was strong enough to throw Nagai around, had ineffective but spirited striking and was a decent grappler though he needed more polish to be successful. Unfortunately he only had one match in RINGS, so we will never know how far he could have gone.

* {{Jobber}}: Had only one match in RINGS against Mitsuya Nagai, which he lost.
* SpectacularSpinning: Threw spinning backfists and kicks in his fight with Mitsuya Nagai.

* StoutStrength: 5ft 10, heavy build, and threw Nagai around like a rag doll.

* BoxingBattler: Fought in RINGS with boxing gloves when possible. Surprisingly, he did try to get submissions despite the difficulty in his match with Mitsuya Nagai.

!!!Masayuki Naruse
-->''"Whatever it is, I'll do it."''

* ADayInTheLimeLight: Won an eight man tournament to become the first RINGS Little Heavyweight Champion.
* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/AkiraMaeda.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: In Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling, he developed an attitude problem and on one occasion broke Yujiro’s jaw.
* BarbarianLongHair: Which got him the nickname "[[TheBerserker Berserker]]", after the character from VisualNovel/FateStayNight.
* ChallengeSeeker: He challenged Seidokaikan karateka and K-1 fighter Nobuaki Kakuda to a fight, but it didn't take place.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Mostly wore blue in his early days in RINGS, then he switched to black with with white streaks.
* CoolTeacher: Is now a personal trainer and has his own gym. He was also a MMA trainer for the New Japan Dojo and cornered their wrestlers in MMA fights.
* DavidVersusGoliath: His MMA fight with Jan "The Giant" Nortje, who towered over him and outweighed him by 50kg, which he won by rear naked choke.
** In New Japan at 5’8, 193 lbs., Naruse was a IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion who often mixed it up with people twice his size.
* FearlessFool: He was one of the worst mixed martial artists in the native team of RINGS (along with Yoshihisa Yamamoto, though Yoshihisa had the excuse of fighting some of the best ever and had more fights), but as the quote above says, he gladly threw himself to any opponent they wanted to put against him.
* FinishingMove: Naruse Lock and Crazy Cyclone.
* TheHeart: Charismatic and brave, a symbol of RINGS undercard.
* HeAlsoDid: Was involved in the creation of the rules for Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling's Ultimate Crush event.
* IKnowKarate: A black belt from the Shotokan school.
* KickTheDog: Brutally attacked Yujiro and almost Osamu Nishimura to prove Wrestling/RikiChoshu that he wanted to stay in New Japan. Ironically, he ended leaving.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy: Unusually long hair? Check. Good looks? Check. Style? Check.
* MoralityPet: Mitsuya Nagai in New Japan. Naruse had wanted to pull him out from the evil Black New Japan army, but when he failed in this purpose (Nagai turned on him and left NJPW shortly after), Naruse became the arrogant fighter he would come to be known as.
* NiceGuy: Even after Egan Inoue disqualified himself in order to beat down Naruse as a revenge to a fortuitous eye gouge, Naruse still tried to plead reason with him.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: A small but valiant guy.
* RealSongThemeTune: His entrance theme, "Ultra Soul" by B'z. In fact most of his themes were songs by B'z. He also used Warrant's "We Will Rock You" in his early RINGS appearances.
* RedBaron: "Ultra Soul", "Kyosenshi" ("Mad Soldier"), "Jiyujin" ("The Free Man"), "Jikken Rīgu Otoko" ("Experimental League Man"), "Berserker", "Phantom".
* SpectacularSpinning: He loved the spinning backfist and used it whenever he could (and, in case of shoot fights, even whenever he could not).
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: He was the wise guy to Ryogaku Wada (former UWF-i referee)'s straight man during the press conference in which they explained together the ruleset of NJPW Ultimate Crash.
* ThreeAmigos: Was part of the Japanese "B" team along with Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.
* TheUnfavourite: He was pushed at the end because he had charisma and good working skills, which the promotion needed in its final years, but before that the stardom had been kept away from Naruse for years, especially due to his little success in legit shoots.
* UrExample: The first RINGS Little Heavyweight Champion.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rings_japan_5.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Building Fighter's Network Throughout the World]]

!!!Mitsuya Nagai
* ADayInTheLimelight: Won the Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling 2002 Wrestling/GiantBaba Memorial Cup.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Arguably to Kazuo Yamazaki, both were Wrestling/SatoruSayama trainees with chips on their shoulders, were never really pushed in their respective promotions despite their experience compared to most of their peers and left on bad terms with them. Nagai has even grown to resemble Yamazaki in appearance over time.
* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/SatoruSayama, Naoyuki Taira, and Wrestling/AkiraMaeda.
* BaldOfAwesome: When he joined Wrestling/ProWrestlingNoah.
* BashBrothers: With Wrestling/MasahitoKakihara, Yoji Anjo, and Wrestling/ToshiakiKawada in All Japan, Wrestling/KatsuyoriShibata and Masayuki Naruse in New Japan.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: After months of work disagreements with Maeda, not only Nagai got de-pushed and belittled, but also slapped in the face by Maeda for no reason after an important match. At that point Nagai snapped, told RINGS to screw themselves and left the promotion.
* BrattyHalfPint: He originally wanted to go into pro wrestling before finishing high school and needed Wrestling/GiantBaba to remind him his duties. Actually inverted in RINGS itself - he was the oldest member of the first generation native team, not counting Maeda.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Often wore neon green tights or shorts.
* CoolMask: Wore one as Makai #5.
* DefeatMeansRespect: In All Japan, he earned Wrestling/ToshiakiKawada’s respect despite losing a match to him and was selected to be his new tag partner in 2001.
* DoNotCallMePaul: His real first name is Hirokazu.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Was a trainee for UWF Newborn, but was injured before he could debut. He was also briefly a trainee for UWF International before he switched to RINGS.
* EmbarrassingNickname: Naomichi Marufuji once called him "Bald Octopus" when he worked in Wrestling/ProWrestlingNoah.
* FakeRussian: In Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam he sometimes wrestled as Vladimir Nagai.
* [[IKnowKarate I Know Shootboxing]]: And later competed in K-1. He also trained in Wrestling/SatoruSayama's Super Tiger Gym, and was a part of his Seikendo school in 1999.
* LightningBruiser: Arguably the best striker of the RINGS Japan team as well as the fastest.
* ManlyTears: Cried tears of joy after he beat Valentijn Overeem in a match.
* MoralityPet: Was one to Masayuki Naruse in New Japan.
* NerdGlasses: Wears them when he is not fighting.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Could work well and wasn't a bad shooter, but he unfortunately shared the ring with guys who were either way better workers and/or way better fighters. He ended up being one of the least notable people in the team despite having been the first RINGS trainee.
* RedBaron: "Shippūdotō" ("Storm and Stress" a reference to Sturm und Drang) "Shippu Ikaru" ("Hurricane Fury"), "Gogatana" ("The Little Sword"), "Great Tiger".
* RedOniBlueOni: The red to Wrestling/MasahitoKakihara’s blue when they tagged together in All Japan.
* TheSixthRanger: Became an official wrestler for Battlarts between 1999 to 2001.
* SoreLoser: Once blew off Mikhail Ilyukhin’s handshake after Mikhail beat him by armbar.
* SpectacularSpinning: Threw jumping spinning kicks on occasion.

* HeroKiller: Beat Yoji Anjo, Willie Peeters, and Wataru Sakata.

* HeroKiller: Has defeated guys like Oleg Taktarov, Sanae Kikuta, Wrestling/AlexanderOtsuka, Wataru Sakata, Maurice Smith and Carlos Newton. His win over Frank Shamrock was fortuitous because Frank got disqualified by kneeing Renzo on the ground.

* HeroKiller: He has beaten guys like Wataru Sakata, Chris Haseman, KEI Yamamiya, Allan Goes and Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura.

* ADayInTheLimelight: TKO’ed Wataru Sakata during the RINGS Mega Battle Tournament Semi Finals.

* {{Expy}}: Shares a lot with Wataru Sakata, RINGS career-wise. Both were Animal Hamaguchi trainees before their RINGS careers, were Wrestling/AkiraMaeda fans, had rivals in RINGS in the form of Willie Peeters for Sakata and Lee Hasdell for Namekawa (both of their opponents were also considered the GateGuardian during certain periods in RINGS, Willie in the first half and Lee in the second half), and were two of the most improved shooters by the end of RINGS.

* TookALevelInBadass: Like Wataru Sakata, he was one of the most improved shooters by the end of RINGS.

* ThreeAmigos: Was part of the Japanese "A" team along with Wrestling/HiromitsuKanehara and Wataru Sakata for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.

* {{Jobber}}: In RINGS, Shooto and Pancrase. He was also notably the debut opponent of Wataru Sakata and Wrestling/TsuyoshiKohsaka.

-->''"[[DeclarationOfProtection Maeda-sama, I will protect you!]]"''

!!!Wataru Sakata

* TheApprentice: To Wrestling/AkiraMaeda. He also started his pro wrestling training under Animal Hamaguchi and trained at Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura’s U-File Camp.
* ArchEnemy: Willie Peeters.
* AscendedExtra: And how. He went from a lowly MMA fighter in RINGS to the junior ace of ZERO-ONE and later the main hero in HUSTLE.
* BoringButPractical: His style of wrestling and fighting was pretty generic, but he was pretty efficient.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Light yellow tights and boots.
* CoolTeacher: Had his own dojo called Evolution.
* {{Determinator}}: Especially against Peeters, who usually had the upper hand in their matches.
* {{Expy}}: Somewhat to Wrestling/MinoruSuzuki, as both had feuds against legit guys in which they were screwed by the rules at first but won at the end, and also because they were quite lookalike when younger. In fact, they had some confrontation in Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE about the matter.
* FlippingTheBird: Did this once to Herman Renting after Sakata submitted him.
* HenpeckedHusband: Like Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada he has this reputation in Japanese pop culture towards his wife, Eiko Koike a Japanese actress, gravure idol, former ring side commentator and spokesperson for PRIDE, which has made his friends and Japanese media jokingly refer to him mainly as "Koike no Dan'na" ("Koike's Husband").
* HiddenDepths: Once owned a restaurant that he started in 2006, it closed in 2010. He currently owns a salad bar.
* IKnowKarate: Practised Kyokushin while in high school.
* JackOfAllStats: His finishing moves in pro wrestling were kicks, suplexes and aerial moves.
* {{Keet}} / [[PluckyGirl Plucky Guy]]: Characteristically.
* KidAppealCharacter: Young, handsome, recklessly brave and often clad in yellow.
* TheLancer: Was one for Wrestling/KiyoshiTamura for a brief time, during the beginnings of Tamura’s U-FILE Camp and was often in his corner for his RINGS matches.
* LoonyFan: He was the self-proclaimed "world's best Wrestling/AkiraMaeda fan", and often wrote about him in his blog.
* ManlyTears: After besting Chris Haseman in a shoot.
* OddFriendship: With Wrestling/NobuhikoTakada as they became friends while Sakata was still with RINGS. This is one of the reasons Sakata got into Wrestling/FightingOperaHustle.
* RealSongThemeTune: "Welcome to the Gorky Park" by Gorky Park.
* RedBaron: "Hangyaku no Ippikiōkami" ("Rebellious Lone Wolf"), "HUSTLE Aniki" ("HUSTLE Big Brother"), "LOVE & HUSTLE".
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: After being beaten by Willie Peeters in a particularly wild shootfight in 1995, Sakata went SuperPersistentPredator for him and literally chase him to the other side of the world. His efforts were harsh, as he went to lose their rematch and rubber match by KO and north/south choke respectively, and even came short by decision in a fourth fight in RINGS Holland by an amazingly irregular refereeing. Sakata got finally his revenge in 1998 after submitting Peeters with a leglock in one minute. Wataru really wanted that tap out.
* SmugSnake: Made the "get smart" head tap gesture to a defeated Willie Peeters.
* SpectacularSpinning: Not as much as Naruse, he threw jumping spinning kicks on occasion.
* StartMyOwn: Founded a SpinOff wrestling promotion to Wrestling/FightingOperaHustle; Hustle Man's World.
* ThreeAmigos: Was part of the Japanese "A" team along with Wrestling/HiromitsuKanehara and Yoshihisa Yamamoto for the World Mega Battle Tournament of 1998.
* TookALevelInBadass: One of the most improved native shooters at the end of his career in RINGS.

-->-- '''Dave Meltzer''' about RINGS at Wrestling Observer Newsletter, February 17, 1997.

->''"RINGS rules takes some getting used to. You have to look at things differently… you can’t just go out, look for the takedown, pass the guard and get the mount… that doesn’t mean as much as in NHB. You have to control the opponent throughout and hold your own on your feet."''
-->-- '''Jeremy Horn'''

->''"I am the champion! I rule all the rings! I am high... the king of the universe! I am I who conquers all. If you mess with me, hey it’s you who’s gonna get slayed. Because I'm the king of all kings, I mean what I mean, let me tell ya, lets step into the ring!... Ankle hold, armlock, a front suplex, and that ain't all. High kick, middle kick, and low kick, I let you know who is the best. I got a German suplex hold, a front suplex. And if you really get nasty dude, I got something in store for you, my special Captured!"''
-->-- '''The Original RINGS theme''', when it had "rap" lyrics.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Won the Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling 2002 Giant Baba Memorial Cup.

* BrattyHalfPint: He originally wanted to go into pro wrestling before finishing high school and needed Giant Baba to remind him his duties. Actually inverted in RINGS itself - he was the oldest member of the first generation native team, not counting Maeda.