Gleat (stylized as GLEAT and pronounced as "great") is a Japanese professional wrestling and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

promotion founded in 2020 by former Pro Wrestling Noah parent company Lidet Entertainment after the acquisition of Noah and DDT Pro-Wrestling by

CyberAgent is a Japanese digital advertising company, which was founded in 1998 by Susumu Fujita and headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is owned by Susumu Fujita with 20.50% interest; Fujita is the representative director, while Yusuke Hidaka is the execut ...

. The promotion is overseen by Hiroyuki Suzuki and former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and professional wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura. The promotion emphasizes the use of the UWFi

combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opponent (''knock ...

s-based wrestling style.

History

In November 2018, Japanese advertising company Lidet Entertainment began investing in various business ventures in the professional wrestling industry including

Riki Choshu , better known by his ring name , is a South Korean-Japanese retirement, retired Puroresu, professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a Booker (professional wrestling), bo ...

's Power Hall show in December 2018. On January 29, 2019, Lidet Entertainment bought 75% shares of Pro Wrestling Noah, with the goal of transforming the promotion into the second largest promotion in Japan after

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

(NJPW). A year later due to Noah's financial struggles, Lidet Entertainment sold all shares of Pro Wrestling Noah to internet advertising company

. Lidet's President Hiroyuki Suzuki wanting to continue to be involved with professional wrestling met with Kiyoshi Tamura several days after the sale of Noah. Suzuki later announced the formation of a new promotion, Gleat – it was additionally revealed that Kaz Hayashi and

Nosawa Rongai , better known by his ring names Nosawa and , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling and various independent promotions. Career Early career (19952004) Nosawa spent most of his ea ...

would become the Gleat Chief Technical Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively. Gleat promotes shows via its two sub-brands – G Prowrestling, a traditional

puroresu is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestling in and outside of Japan. The term comes from the Gairaigo, Japanese pronunciation of , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” ( - “pro”) & “resu” ...

brand, and Lidet UWF, a UWFi-inspired

shoot style Shoot wrestling is a Japanese hybrid grappling style and combat sport. Shoot wrestling incorporates techniques from various wrestling, submission grappling, kickboxing and karate styles. It was particularly inspired and influenced by catch wrest ...

brand. Gleat held its inaugural event, "Gleat Ver. 0", on October 15, 2020, which aired on Fighting TV Samurai on October 22, with the main event pitting Noah's Sugiura-gun ( Takashi Sugiura,

Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestling, freestyle wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one-time GHC Heavyweight Championship ...

and Kendo Kashin) against Jun Akiyama, Shuhei Taniguchi, and

Daisuke Sekimoto (born February 9, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Hea ...

. The participation of Noah wrestlers on Gleat events would cease after Nosawa Rongai resigned from his positions at Gleat to focus on his role as Noah booker. Following the end of the Noah partnership, Gleat would see the participation of wrestlers from other Japan-based wrestling promotions, such as Sho from

NJPW (NJPW) is a Japanese professional-wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV Asahi and Amuse Inc. owning minority shar ...

and Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka from

Pro Wrestling Zero1 , often referred to simply as Zero1 and sometimes referred to as Pro Wrestling Zero1 Catch as Catch Can (stylized as ZERO1 and PRO WRESTLING ZERO1 CATCH AS CATCH CAN, respectively), is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wre ...

. In February 2021, shoot style veterans Minoru Tanaka and

Daijiro Matsui is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor since 1998, he has competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, DEEP, Pancrase, and King of the Cage. As a professional wrestler, Matsui ...

were signed by the company, shortly after Tanaka was given the UWF Rule Technical Officer executive role. In May, it was announced that Cima,

El Lindaman , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently working for Gleat, where he was the inaugural G-Rex Champion. He also makes appearances for American Promotions All Elite Wrestling, DEFY Wrestling and Japanes ...

, T-Hawk, and Issei Onitsuka would be leaving Oriental Wrestling Entertainment and Ryuichi Kawakami would be leaving Big Japan Pro Wrestling to join Gleat. Gleat also operates a developmental division, with Yu Iizuka, Soma Watanabe, and Takanori Ito being the promotion's inaugural trainees. In December 2021, Gleat announced a 12-man tournament would be held from January 26 to February 22, 2022 to crown the inaugural G-Rex Champion. The tournament and championship were won by El Lindaman. In July 2022, Gleat announced the creation of the G-Infinity Championship for its G Prowrestling brand. A four-team tournament was held from August 20, 2022, to August 24 to crown the inaugural champions. The tournament was won by Bulk Orchestra ( Kazma Sakamoto and Ryuichi Kawakami). On December 14, Gleat promoted its first

(MMA) event, Gleat MMA Ver. 0.

Personnel

Background

Gleat divides their roster based on its two wrestling sub-brands, G Prowrestling and Lidet UWF. Gleat also recognizes a third roster division, Gleat MMA – wrestlers affiliated to Gleat MMA have legitimate martial arts experience and may wrestle on either G Prowrestling or Lidet UWF events. * G – Wrestlers affiliated to G Prowrestling, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes matches using traditional professional wrestling rules. * U – Wrestlers affiliated to Lidet UWF, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes matches using UWFi-inspired shoot style rules. * M – Wrestlers that have legitimate

(MMA) experience or are affiliated to Gleat MMA, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes MMA fights.

Wrestlers

Contracted

Regular outsiders

Other personnel

Notable alumni/guests

* Abdullah Kobayashi * Akane Fujita * Ami Miura * Atsuki Aoyagi * Bandido * Chihiro Hashimoto *

* Daisuke Nakamura *

* Drew Parker * Flamita * Gringo Loco * Hartley Jackson * Jake Lee * Janai Kai * Josh Barnett * Jun Akiyama *Jun Masaoka *

* Kendo Kashin * Koji Iwamoto * Komander * Kota Ibushi * Kota Sekifuda *

Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF) ...

* Masato Kamino * Masato Tanaka * Maya Fukuda * Mochi Miyagi * Musashi *

* Seichi Ikemoto * Shigehiro Irie * Shinjiro Otani * Sho * Shuhei Taniguchi * So Daimonji * Syuri * Takashi Sugiura * Takuya Nomura * Tomoaki Honma * Thekla * Tyson Maeguchi *Yukari Hosokawa * Yutaka Yoshie

Championships

G-Rush Championship

The is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

owned and created by the Japanese company Lidet Entertainment and is currently disputed in the Gleat promotion. There have been a total of two reigns shared between two different champions. The current titleholder is Issei Onitsuka.

Lidet UWF World Championship

The is a

owned and created by the Japanese company Lidet Entertainment and is currently disputed in the Gleat promotion. The main characteristic of the championship is that it can be defended and won only under UWF rules matches and in combat sports-based wrestling style bouts. As of , , there have been a total of three reigns shared between three different champions and one vacancy. The current champion is Katsuhiko Nakajima who is in his first reign.

Gleat events

Most Gleat events are separated into the three brands G Prowrestling, Lidet UWF and Gleat MMA. Numbered "Gleat Ver." events air bigger cards featuring a mix of the three brands. Specials events such as "Gleat Ver.EX", "Gleat Ver.Mega" and "Gleat Ver.&" are held in larger venues and usually feature wrestlers from other wrestling promotions such as

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

(AJPW), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) or Pro Wrestling Freedoms. All events air live on Gleat's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel.

References

External links

Lidet Entertainment official website
{{MMA organizations Entertainment companies established in 2020 Sports organizations established in 2020 2020 establishments in Japan Japanese professional wrestling promotions Mixed martial arts in Japan Mixed martial arts promotions Sports organizations of Japan