 | |
| Type | Private |
| Founder(s) | Nobuhiko Takada Nobuyuki Sakakibara |
| Owner(s) | Hustle Entertainment |
| Defunct | 2011 |
| Style | Fighting Opera puroresu |
| Headquarters | 6-1, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan |
Hustle, also known as (ハッスル, Hassuru) Fighting Opera Hustle (ファイティングオペラハッスル, Faitinguoperahassuru) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion that was formed in 2004 by Dream Stage Entertainment and Pro Wrestling Zero-1 with Pride Fighting Championships executive Nobuhiko Takada as its founding president, Nobuyuki Sakakibara as its founding CEO, and one of its main bookers along with former pro wrestler and Pride Fighting Championships referee Yuji Shimada taking on the majority of creative.
History[]
Formation[]
Hustle was launched in 2004 by Dream Stage Entertainment which was the parent company of the mixed martial arts promotion Pride Fighting Championships which maintained a close affiliation during the time when they were owned by Dream Stage. In contrast to traditional puroresu, the promotion centers around the sports entertainment style or "fighting opera" style of pro wrestling made popular in western promotions.
Hustle made its debut on January 1, 2004 with their Hustle 1 pay-per-view at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with the show's main storyline centered around a conflict between a babyface alliance dubbed the Hustle Army against a heel faction led by Generalissimo Takada dubbed the Monster Army which usually consisted of mostly mixed martial arts fighters.
Decline[]
Fuji TV, Pride FC's broadcaster, was initially going to air highlights of Hustle's inaugural Hustle Aid pay-per-view on the network, however, on June 5, 2006, Fuji TV had ended their television contract with DSE effective immediately due to a "breach of contract" which left DSE's promotions Pride FC and Hustle without a television broadcaster in Japan.
Shūkan Gendai, a general-interest weekly magazine in Japan had published a series of articles detailing the alleged connections between Hustle's parent company DSE and the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza faction. In April 2007, Hustle was spun off from DSE and its ownership group became Hustle Entertainment with former Kami no Puroresu magazine editor Noboru Yamaguchi becoming the president of the new organization.
On October 28, 2009, Hustle had announced that four out of the five shows that were scheduled for 2009 were cancelled including a show at Korakuen Hall the following day in which the organization cited that they intended to focus on Hustle Mania 2009 the following month however that show was cancelled.
In 2010, some of Hustle's biggest names announced that they would be leaving the promotion to form a new wrestling promotion intended to replace Hustle called SMASH and held its first show on March 26, 2010 at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan. After a six-month absence, Hustle held two shows on April 30 and May 30 at Korakuen Hall titled Sakata HUSTLE Wataru ~Judgement Day~ and Sakata HUSTLE Wataru ~Chapter II~. Hustle later held three more shows on October 9, October 27, and December 2 under the Hustle Man's World branding at Shinjuku FACE and Korakuen Hall respectively.
Championships[]
| No. | Championship | Date of entry | First champion(s) | Date retired | Final champion(s) | Years active | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hustle Hardcore Hero Championship | March 18, 2005 | Masato Tanaka | October 10, 2009 | Tadao Yasuda | 4 years, 206 days | Title abandoned on October 10, 2009, when promotion shuts down. |
| 2 | Hustle Super Tag Team Championship | November 3, 2005 | Genichiro Tenryu and Tadao Yasuda | Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) |
3 years, 341 days |