 | This article needs to be updated.(November 2010) |
Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE) was a Japanese company that promoted various wrestling and mixed martial arts events, most notably mixed martial arts Pride Fighting Championship and Hustle professional wrestling events.
There was speculation in the Japanese press that DSE was a front for Yamaguchi-gumi, a notorious yakuza organization. On June 5, 2006, Fuji Television announced that they were terminating their television contract with DSE effective immediately due to a breach of contract. This left Pride and Hustle without a television outlet in Japan, and the lack of the substantial revenues from the deal threatens its sustainability. Furthermore, Fuji banned anyone connected with DSE on their programs.
On June 12, 2006, SKY PerfecTV!, Japan's leading satellite broadcasting company, announced that they would continue to carry DSE programming, such as Pride and Hustle. Hustle, and the second round of the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix, both scheduled for the Saitama Super Arena, would be broadcast live to millions of homes across Japan. It is important to note that SKY PerfectTV! executives mentioned the decision to carry DSE events was not final and any future problems regarding the alleged connection between DSE and Japanese mafia, as reported by Shukan Gendai , might be reason enough to discontinue the relationship. [1]
On October 21, 2006, Pride held its first MMA event in USA, Pride 32: The Real Deal' took place at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. It was the first Pride event to be held outside Japan, and in front of an audience of 11,727. [2]
A buyout of the company by Zuffa, the operators of UFC, had been rumored since late 2006, but on 26 March 2007, Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta held a press conference in Japan alongside Pride F.C. Executive Nobuyuki Sakakibara, announcing the complete buyout of Pride F.C. and all of its assets by Zuffa (sources close have indicated the buyout to be slightly under $70 million USD). While little official information has been released following the buy-out, it is presumed that DSE will fold and PRIDE F.C. will be operated by the newly created parent company, PRIDE F.C. Worldwide. [3]
In 2008, various executives and on-screen personnel from Dream Stage Entertainment joined FEG latest MMA endeavor, DREAM replaced FEG's previous mixed martial arts fight series, HERO'S. The series retained many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from Pride FC broadcasts, including fight announcer Lenne Hardt and veteran referee Yuji Shimada.
PRIDE Fighting Championships was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide. PRIDE was owned by the holding company Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE).
Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. He has also competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and shoot-style competition for UWFi and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW). He has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Hero's and Dream. He is known as the Gracie Hunter or the Gracie Killer due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family: Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, and Royce Gracie. Sakuraba is famous for beating 13 champions of different top MMA organizations; opponents who were often many weight-classes above him.
Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese former mixed martial artist, retired professional wrestler, actor, and writer. He competed in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) and the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWFI) in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming one of the highest figures of the "shoot-style" movement.
Naoya Ogawa is a Japanese Olympic and world champion judoka, retired professional wrestler, and mixed martial artist. He won a total of seven medals at the All-Japan Judo Championships, and set a record of seven medals at the World Judo Championships. Ogawa won the silver medal in the +95 kg judo weight class at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Hustle 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.
Zuffa, LLC is an American sports promotion company specializing in mixed martial arts. It was founded in January 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Station Casinos executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta to be the parent entity of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after they purchased it from the Semaphore Entertainment Group. The word "Zuffa" is an Italian word, meaning "fight". On July 11, 2016, Zuffa announced that it would be purchased by a group led by WME-IMG including Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and MSD Capital for the price of $4.025 billion.
Deep is a Japan-based mixed martial arts promoting and sanctioning organization. It is promoted by Shigeru Saeki who is also the former Public Relations Director of Pride Fighting Championships. Their inaugural event took place in 2001 and featured Paulo Filho and Royler Gracie. On May 17, 2008, Deep announced a partnership with ZST to share fighters, co-promote shows and eventually unify the promotions.
Lenne Hardt is an American voice actress and ring announcer for Japanese mixed martial arts organizations. Her resume includes PRIDE Fighting Championships, DREAM, ONE Championship and Glory World Series and she currently works in Rizin Fighting Federation. She is also the official announcer for Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, and was the official athlete announcer for the, 2022 ADCC World Championship hosted by Seth Daniels from F2W
Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the K-1 Romanex event and various MMA fights on its regular K-1 kickboxing cards, it held its first show on March 26, 2005. The promotion was handled by former Rings head Akira Maeda. At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment.
Pride 34: Kamikaze was a mixed martial arts event held by Pride Fighting Championships on April 8, 2007 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) was the leading Japanese combat sport promoter founded on September 3, 2003. Its last president was Sadaharu Tanikawa and it was the parent company behind the now-defunct mixed martial arts series Dream and formerly, the largest kickboxing promotion in the world, K-1.
World Victory Road (WVR) is a defunct Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization which promoted the Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) in Japan. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of PRIDE FC by Zuffa. It operated in conjunction with the Japan Mixed Martial Arts Federation (JMM). The Sengoku championship was broadcast on Fuji TV and pay-per-view in Japan, and on HDNet in United States.
Dream was a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization promoted by former PRIDE FC executives and K-1 promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group. Dream replaced FEG's previous-run mixed martial arts fight series, Hero's. The series retained many of the stylistic flourishes and personnel from Pride FC broadcasts, including fight introducer Lenne Hardt. In America, the promotion was aired on HDNet. They promoted over 20 shows highlighting some of the best Japanese and international MMA talent, establishing or enhancing the careers of top ranked fighters such as Shinya Aoki, Gesias Cavalcante, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Ronaldo Jacaré, Eddie Alvarez, Jason Miller, Kazushi Sakuraba, Gegard Mousasi and Alistair Overeem.
Dream.7: Feather Weight Grandprix 2009 1st Round was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group's (FEG) mixed martial arts promotion Dream on March 8, 2009. This event featured six of the opening round fights of the tournament which is contested at a 63 kg (139 lb) weight limit.
Dream.10: Welter Weight Grand Prix 2009 Final Round was a mixed martial arts event promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream on July 20, 2009. Dream's welterweight division has a 76 kilograms (168 lb) weight limit. The event was broadcast live in North America on HDNet.
Rizin Fighting Federation is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara.
The year 2015 was the first year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2015 started with Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015: Part 1 - Iza and ended with Rizin World Grand-Prix 2015: Part 1 - Saraba. It started broadcasting through a television agreement with Fuji Television.
The year 2016 was the second year in the history of the Rizin Fighting Federation, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2016 started with Rizin Fighting Federation 1. It started broadcasting through a television agreement with Fuji Television.
Mixed martial arts has been legal in Japan since at least the 1980s, Pancrase began to be held.
Nobuyuki Sakakibara is a Japanese businessman and mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter. He is known for his executive role in Dream Stage Entertainment, including its promotions Pride Fighting Championships and Fighting Opera Hustle, and works as the current president of Rizin Fighting Federation.