Hustle (professional wrestling)
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| Acronym | Hustle |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Style | Fighting Opera |
| Founder(s) | Nobuhiko Takada |
| Owner(s) | Hustle Entertainment |
Hustle (ハッスル Hassuru?) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion managed by Nobuhiko Takada. Hustle can be described as an industry experiment to market the sports entertainment style of professional wrestling in Japan.
Booked primarily by Nobuhiko Takada and Yuji Shimada, the promotion’s basic premise pits the babyface, or good guy, Hustle faction whose goal is to “defend the industry”, against Generalissimo Takada’s heel, or bad guy, Monster Faction, whose mission is to destroy the sport. Unlike the traditional puroresu, the company emphasizes melodrama and caricatures over realism and athleticism. The group once maintained a close affiliation with mixed martial arts promoters PRIDE Fighting Championships when both were owned by Dream Stage Entertainment, or DSE.
Fans in the U.S. considered HUSTLE to be an answer to Takada's original wrestling style, the serious shoot style, having lost its popularity in Japan as a result of the UWFi vs. New Japan Pro Wrestling feud and the rise of Pride and K-1.
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