Gleat

Gleat (stylized as GLEAT) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2020 by former Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH) parent company Lidet Entertainment after the acquisition of NOAH and DDT Pro-Wrestling by CyberAgent. The promotion is overseen by Hiroyuki Suzuki and former mixed martial artist and professional wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura. The promotion emphasizes the use of the UWFi combat sports-based wrestling style.[2][3][4]

Gleat
FoundedAugust 20, 2020
StylePuroresu
Shoot style
HeadquartersYūrakuchō, Tokyo, Japan
Founder(s)Hiroyuki Suzuki
Kiyoshi Tamura
Owner(s)Hiroyuki Suzuki
ParentLidet Entertainment[1]
WebsiteLindet.co.jp/gleat/

History

In November 2018, Japanese advertising company Lidet Entertainment began investing in various business ventures in the professional wrestling industry including Riki Choshu's Power Hall show in December 2018. On January 29, 2019, Lidet Entertainment bought 75% shares of Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH), with the goal of transforming the promotion into the second largest promotion in Japan after New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). A year later due to NOAH's financial struggles, Lidet Entertainment sold all shares of Pro Wrestling Noah to internet advertising company CyberAgent. 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.[5] Suzuki later announced the formation of a new promotion, Gleat – it was additionally revealed that Kaz Hayashi and Nosawa Rongai would became the Gleat Chief Technical Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, respectively. Gleat promotes shows via its two sub-brands – G Prowrestling, a traditional puroresu brand, and Lidet UWF, a UWFi-inspired shoot style 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 and Kendo Kashin) against Jun Akiyama, Shuhei Taniguchi, and Daisuke Sekimoto.[6] 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.[7][8] 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 and Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1.

In February 2021, shoot style veterans Minoru Tanaka and Daijiro Matsui were signed by the company, shortly after Tanaka was given the UWF Rule Technical Officer executive role.[9][10] In May, it was announced that Cima, El Lindaman, T-Hawk, and Issei Onitsuka would be leaving Oriental Wrestling Entertainment and Ryuichi Kawakami would be leaving Big Japan Pro Wrestling to join Gleat.[11][12] Gleat also operates a developmental division, with Yu Iizuka, Soma Watanabe, and Takanori Ito being the promotion's inaugural trainees.[13]

Personnel

Background

Gleat divides their roster based on its two sub-brands, G Prowrestling and Lidet UWF. Gleat also recognizes a third roster division, "M" – these wrestlers have legitimate mixed martial arts experience and may wrestle on either G Prowrestling or Lidet UWF events.[14][15]

  • G – Wrestlers affiliated to G Prowrestling, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes matches using regular professional wrestling rules.
  • U – Wrestlers affiliated to Lidet UWF, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes matches using UWFi-inspired shoot style rules.[16]
  • M – Wrestlers that have mixed martial arts experience; these wrestlers may be affiliated with either Gleat sub-brand.

Contracted
Ring name Real name G U M Unit Notes
Cima[17][18] Nobuhiko Oshima #Stronghearts Chief Strategy Officer
Daijiro Matsui[18] Daijiro Matsui Home Team
El Lindaman[18][17] Yuga Hayashi #Stronghearts
Hayato Tamura Hayato Tamura BULK Orchestra
Issei Onizuka[18][17] Issei Onizuka #Stronghearts
Kaz Hayashi[18] Kazuhiro Hayashi Home Team Chief Technical Officer[3]
Commentator
Michiko Miyagi Michiko Miyagi Home Team
Minoru Tanaka[18][19] Minoru Tanaka Home Team UWF Rule Technical Officer
Ryuichi Kawakami[18] Ryuichi Kawakami BULK Orchestra
Soma Watanabe[18] Soma Watanabe Home Team Commentator
T-Hawk[18][17] Takuya Onodera #Stronghearts
Takanori Ito[18] Takanori Ito Home Team Commentator
Yu Iizuka[18] Yu Iizuka Home Team

Regular outsiders
Ring name Real name G U M Unit Notes
Atsuki Aoyagi Atsuki Aoyagi N/A Signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling
Hideki "Shrek" Sekine Hideki Sekine Hard Hit Freelancer
Hikaru Sato Hikaru Sato Hard Hit Freelancer
Jun Masaoka Jun Masaoka N/A Freelancer
Jun Tonsho Jun Tonsho N/A Freelancer
Kazma Sakamoto Unknown BULK Orchestra Freelancer
Koji Iwamoto Koji Iwamoto N/A Signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling
Nobuhiro Shimatani Nobuhiro Shimatani BULK Orchestra Freelancer
Shigehiro Irie Shigehiro Irie #Stronghearts Freelancer
Quiet Storm Unknown BULK Orchestra Freelancer

Other personnel
Ring name Real name Notes
Haruo Murata Haruo Murata Commentator
Freelancer
Hiroyuki Suzuki Hiroyuki Suzuki Owner
President of Lidet
Kiyoshi Tamura[18] Kiyoshi Tamura Executive Director[3]
Commentator
Riki Choshu[18] Mitsuo Yoshida Observer[3]

Notable alumni/guests

See also

References
  1. "GLEAT". Cagematch. Cagematch. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  2. Blanchard, Matthew (August 21, 2020). "Former Pro Wrestling NOAH Owners LIDET To Debut New Promotion, GLEAT". Overtimer. The Overtime. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  3. Daly, Wayne (August 20, 2020). "Former Pro Wrestling NOAH Owner Announces Launch Of New Promotion GLEAT". Wrestling News. Wrestling News. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  4. Lambert, Jeremy (August 20, 2020). "Former Pro Wrestling NOAH Owner Announces New Promotion GLEAT". Fightful. FIGHTFUL. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  5. "GLEAT " History "". Cagematch (in German). Cagematch. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  6. "GLEAT Ver. 0". Cagematch. Cagematch. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  7. 【試合後バックステージ】10.15「GLEAT Ver.0 」NOSAWA論外 vs カズ・ハヤシ｜GLEAT公式YouTube, retrieved 2021-05-10
  8. "NOSAWA論外｜PROFILE｜LIDET ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS｜国内外のプロレスとコラボして企画・運営するイベント会社". ent.lidet.co.jp. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  9. "【GLEAT】田中稔の入団を発表、UWF Technical Officerに就任！「もう一回、UWFスタイルのプロレスですごい熱狂的な時代を作りたい」 | プロレスTODAY" (in Japanese). 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  10. "田中 稔｜PROFILE｜LIDET ENTERTAINMENT｜国内外のプロレスとコラボして企画・運営するイベント会社". ent.lidet.co.jp. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  11. #STRONGHEARTS GLEAT入団インタビュー｜GLEAT公式YouTube, retrieved 2021-05-10
  12. GLEAT緊急記者会見 生配信 2021年3月17日(水)14:00｜GLEAT公式YouTube, retrieved 2021-05-10
  13. "【HEAT-UP！】の生え抜き #飯塚優 電撃退団から急転直下GLEAT入団を発表！緊急会見をYouTube(ヒートアップ公式)生配信‼️ #heatuppw #GLEAT #プロレス #prowrestling". Togetter (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  14. "G PROWRESTLING (G PRO / #GPRO) GLEATの純プロレス部門 LIDET UWF (#LIDETUWF) GLEATの格闘プロレス部門 7.1(木)18:30開始 TOKYO DOME CITY HALL「GLEAT Ver.1」". Twitter. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  15. "【GLEAT実験マッチ 第6弾】第3試合 配信開始！｜LIDET ENTERTAINMENT". LIDET ENTERTAINMENT (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  16. UWFルール説明動画｜GLEAT公式YouTube, retrieved 2021-07-26
  17. Taylor, Oliver (March 12, 2021). "GLEAT ANNOUNCES BIG SIGNING, NJPW, BIG JAPAN AND MORE FROM JAPAN". PWInsider. PWinsider. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  18. "GLEAT". Cagematch. Cagematch. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  19. Thompson, Andrew (February 11, 2021). "Minoru Tanaka joins GLEAT promotion". POST Wrestling. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
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