Kazma was trained by
Taka Michinoku at his
Kaientai Dojo wrestling school and made his debut for the promotion on 3 May 2003.[4] In 2005, Kazma took on Michinoku for the
Strongest-K Championship and a few days later took part in the Strongest-K 2005 tournament and would lose both.[5]
In 2005, under the guidance of former Far East Connection manager, 296, Kazma formed a stable along with
Kengo Mashimo called Kinnoutou and started to dominate, eventually taking on Ryota Chikuzen and Kunio Toshima as well.[5] Mashimo and Kazma were very successful as a group, Mashimo and Kazma went on an undefeated streak since the formation of Kinnoutou and did not drop a fall until well after he left the group. Mashimo and Kazma won the first Strongest-K Tag Team tournament and were crowned the first ever
Strongest-K Tag Team Champions.[5] The two began dominating the tag team scene in K-Dojo as they also won the UWA and UWF Intercontinental Tag Team championships, absorbing them into the Strongest-K Tag Team championship. When K-Dojo split its roster into two, Kazma, along with the rest of his Kinnoutou allies were drafted to GET.[5] Early 2006 saw Mashimo and Kazma lose their first ever tag match together, losing the Strongest-K Tag Team titles in February to Makoto Oishi and Shiori Asahi. After losing, signs of friction started to grow in Kinnoutou with Kunio Toshima's sense of justice saving Michinoku from a Kinnoutou attack.[5]
In the beginning of 2007, Kazma began teaming up with Michinoku and together participated in Strongest-K Tag League 2007 and reached the finals before they were eliminated by
Makoto Oishi and
Shiori Asahi.[6] In March, Kazma defeated
Miyawaki to become the number one contender for the Strongest-K Championship and a month later took on former Kinnotou member Kengo Mashimo for the championship and lost.[6] Kazma teamed up with Ryota Chikuzen to take on Miyawaki and Yoshiya for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship and lost. In summer 2007, Kazma participated in Strongest-K Tournament 2007 and reached the semifinals before being knocked out of the competition.[6] On 4 September 2007, Kazma and Chikuzen defeated Miyawaki and
Naoki Tanizaki to become the Strongest-K Tag Team Champions and held the titles for about a month before losing them to Mashimo and
Madoka.[6] Kazma, Kengo Mashimo and Ryota Chikuzen teamed up to defeat Joe, Michinoku and
Taishi Takizawa in Chikuzen's K-Dojo retirement match and with Chikuzen leaving, Kinnotou was no more.[7]
In the beginning of 2008, Kazma teamed up with Takizawa and lost in the first round of the Kaientai Dojo Tag League 2008.[8] With this loss Kazma teamed up with
Yuji Hino to take part in the same tournament and reached the final before being eliminated by Mashimo and Madoka. After the tournament, Kazma joined the stable OMEGA and for most of the first part of 2008 teamed up with members of OMEGA to take part in tag team matches against rivals Handsome and Slum.[6] On 20 June 2008, Kazma and Miyawaki defeated Handsome members, Joe and Michinoku, for the Strongest-K Championship. After winning the championships, Kazma participated in the Strongest-K Tournament 2008 and in the first round, Michinoku would get his revenge by knocking Kazma out of the competition. In August, Kazma and Miyawaki lost the tag team championship to the former champions. He would eventually leave the stable to form a new one with former Kinnotou member, Mashimo.[6]
Along with Kazma and Mashimo, Kaji Yamato, Daigoro Kashiwa and
Hiro Tonai were also part of Monster Plant. For most of 2009, Kazma would take on members of other stables and factions in both singles and tag team match ups.[6] In the Strongest-K Tournament 2009 he would lose to Daigoro Kashiwa in the semifinals. Kazma would take part in two tournaments in quick succession, the first being a one-day three-way tournament, which was won by Hino, and Strongest-K Tournament 2009, where he was eliminated by Kashiwa in the semifinals.[6] On 17 October 2009, Kazma finally defeated Michinoku to become Strongest-K Champion.[6] He went on to team up with Tonai in the Kaientai Dojo Tag League 2010 and earned four points which two other teams in block A had also and therefore took part in a decision three-way won by Asahi and Hino.[9] Throughout 2009 and 2010 Kazma would defend his championship on multiple occasions and always retaining it until 15 August 2010, where he lost it to Hino. With the loss of his title Monster Plant would disintegrate, leaving Kazma on his own.[9]
With no stable or faction Kazma would be alone and his prospects would suffer as a result. Throughout 2011, Kazma had multiple opportunities to become a champion or the number one contender and lost all of them. Kazma and
Harashima would lose to
Hiroki and Mashimo for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. Kazma also lost his rematch for the Strongest-K Championship.[9] In the summer of 2011, he participated in number one contendership for the Strongest-K Championship in battle royals and other types of match ups.[9] In the Strongest-K tournament Kazma would gain a total of six points in block B which was not enough to progress to the semifinals. Kazma's last match for Kaientai Dojo came on 10 September 2011, he teamed with Asahi and lost to Tonai and Takizawa.[9]
WWE (2011–2013)
In the summer of 2011, he went on an excursion to North America and was subsequently signed to a developmental contract by WWE and assigned to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling under the name Sakamoto. Sakamoto made his FCW debut on 4 December 2011 alongside fellow K-Dojo alum
Jiro in a loss against the team of
Big E Langston and Nick Rogers.[10] Sakamoto went on to lose every televised FCW match he participated in, including defeats to
Dean Ambrose and
Mike Dalton.[11]
On 26 March 2012, Sakamoto made his first appearance on WWE television in a vignette for the re-debuting
Lord Tensai.[12] Sakamoto made his debut on the 2 April 2012 episode of Raw as the follower of Tensai.[13] Sakamoto would aid Tensai by interfering in his matches and attacking his adversaries.[14][15] From June, with Tensai losing more frequently, he would often vent his frustrations by abusing and attacking Sakamoto, who would remain loyal to his master.[16][17][18] By September, Tensai stopped appearing with Sakamoto, who disappeared from television.[19][20][21]
Following his disassociation from Tensai, Sakamoto returned to WWE's developmental territory, the former FCW, which had been rebranded into
NXT;[22] he made his NXT debut on the 16 January 2013 episode, losing to
Adrian Neville.[23] While facing
Briley Pierce on the 8 May episode of NXT, both men were attacked by
Conor O'Brian;[24] this led to both men challenging O'Brian to a handicap match during the next episode, which O'Brian won.[25] On 17 May 2013, Sakamoto was released; his last match was a battle royal on the 29 May episode of NXT (which was
taped before his release) to determine the #1 contender for the
NXT Championship where he and Pierce were the first men eliminated from the match courtesy of
Mason Ryan.[26]
Return to Japan (2013–present)
On 11 June 2013, Kazma, billed under the ring name Kazma Sakamoto, returned to Japan at a
Pro Wrestling Zero1 event, where he announced that he would be taking part in the
2013 Fire Festival.[2] On 15 July, Sakamoto wrestled his first match since his WWE release, when he defeated Tank Nagai at a Kaientai Dojo event.[27] Sakamoto finished his Fire Festival on 4 August with a record of two wins, one draw and two losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament.[28] On 15 September, Sakamoto made his debut for
Wrestle-1, teaming with
Ryoji Sai in a tag team match, where they defeated
Ryota Hama and
Yasufumi Nakanoue.[29] Sakamoto replaced an injured
Kohei Sato as a member of a heel stable named Desperado, led by
Masayuki Kono, and later in the event helped Kono defeat
Masakatsu Funaki.[30] Back in Kaientai Dojo the following day, Sakamoto and Kengo Mashimo defeated Daigoro Kashiwa and Ricky Fuji to win the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship.[31] They lost the title in their first defense on 10 November to the team of Kaji Tomato and Taka Michinoku.[32] On 11 January 2014, Sakamoto made his debut for
Wrestling New Classic (WNC), defeating
Masaya Takahashi, after which he challenged and attacked
WNC ChampionTajiri.[33] This led to a title match between the two on 30 January, where Tajiri retained his title.[34] Through Wrestle-1's working relationship with American promotion
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Sakamoto worked TNA's
Bound for Glory event in Tokyo on 12 October, losing to
MVP.[35] On 30 January 2015, Sakamoto received his first title shot in Wrestle-1, when he and Desperado's newest member Koji Doi unsuccessfully challenged
Kaz Hayashi and
Shuji Kondo for the
Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.[36] On 26 June 2015, it was announced that Sakamoto had signed with Wrestle-1, officially ending his days as a freelancer.[37] Shortly afterwards, Sakamoto became the new leader of Desperado, after kicking Kono out of the group.[38] Under the new leadership, the stable was renamed "Real Desperado" on 13 October.[39] On 3 November, Sakamoto, Koji Doi and
Nosawa Rongai defeated Jackets (
Jiro Kuroshio,
Seiki Yoshioka and
Yasufumi Nakanoue) for the
UWA World Trios Championship.[40] They lost the title back to Jackets on 27 November.[41] On 6 March 2016, Sakamoto and Real Desperado's newest member Yuji Hino defeated Masayuki Kono and Shuji Kondo for the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.[42] They lost the title to Yasufumi Nakanoue and
Yuji Okabayashi on 8 June.[43] On 31 August, Sakamoto's contract with Wrestle-1 expired and he became a freelancer once again.[44]
Other media
Sakamoto appeared on the 81st episode of
Zack Ryder's
YouTube show, Z! True Long Island Story, in a segment called "Where's
Trent?".