It's Fighting Opera."

Hustle originated in December of 2003 as part of a joint venture between Dream Stage Entertainment and Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE.

The first show was held on January 04, 2004. The same day as New Japan's annual WRESTLING WORLD Tokyo Dome show. The show was built around an angle involving PRIDE Director Nobuhiko Takada and Naoya Ogawa. During a press conference held prior to the first show, Takada made some disparaging remarks towards pro-wrestling, inciting Naoya Ogawa. Their problems continued as Takada eventually recruited American pro-wrestling superstar Bill Goldberg to be his personal assassin. The main event of Hustle 1 was made, as Naoya Ogawa would face Goldberg.

The show drew 23,327 fans to the Saitama Super Arena. The card was unique, but far from successful. The show had two big marquee matches. Ogawa's match with Goldberg, along with Shinya Hashimoto facing one of the most feared gaijins in history, Vader. Unfortunately, the match was a huge let down, with Vader being counted out. In the semi final, All Japan's Toshiaki Kawada faced PRIDE Fighter Mark Coleman, beating Coleman via referee stoppage. In the main event, Ogawa and Goldberg clashed. It was a better match than people would have expected, but the finish was mangled with ref bumps and interference. Ogawa scored a false pinfall over Goldberg as referee Yuji Shimada was "down". However, Goldberg recovered, and speared Ogawa, leading to the Jackhammer, just in time for Shimada to miraculously spring up to his feet to count the pin.

Fans did not understand how to react to something like this, as heel refs were not really common place in mainstream groups such as New Japan and All Japan, and almost outright rejected the concept.

Hustle 2 was held in March of 2004, and saw the arrival of President Takada. who brought his Monster Army with him at the request of Takada's "good friend", PRIDE Director Nobuhiko Takada (No relation...) Hustle at this point decided that if they were going to try something different, they would go to an absolute extreme. Hustle began adding the "Fighting Opera" tag line from this point forward. They pushed it so hard that in an attempt to distance themselves from pro-wrestling, Director Yoshiyuki Nakamura actually sent the script for Hustle 3 to various magazines in Japan.

Hustle had a distinct formula from this point on. The entire basis of Hustle was Naoya Ogawa's Hustle-gun vs. President Takada and his Monster-gun. Takada was hell bent on destroying pro-wrestling, with Ogawa, along with some of the pillars of pro-wrestling including Shinya Hashimoto, Riki Choshu and Toshiaki Kawada defending the honor of pro-wrestling.

Most wrestlers within Hustle were given radical character changes to reflect the "Fighting Opera" style. the shoot style Naoya Ogawa became "Captain Hustle", clad with a white and red leotard, ridiculously over sized star belt and painted on side burns. Shinya Hashimoto became the afro wearing, gyrating "Hustle King". Toshiaki Kawada eventually became the Bruce Lee inspired "Hustle K". Things became even more abstract for the Monster Army, as new monsters were seemingly unveiled every event. The ideas for the monsters are actually rather unique, with most coming from some sort of pre-existing mythology.

In early 2005, Hustle briefly moved away from Hustle vs. Monster to focus on Hustle vs. Hustle, as Naoya Ogawa became involved in a feud with Toshiaki Kawada over the right of being "Captain Hustle", after Ogawa had been previously pinned by softcore model Yinling-sama. At Hustle 8, both men faced off. The match had a contrived set of rules that were ultimately set in place so Ogawa could lose the match without being pinned... The fans were allowed to "judge" the winner of the match, regardless of who took the fall. So of course, Ogawa pinned Kawada. And despite this, the fans voted Kawada as the true winner. But due to being pinned, Kawada refused the Captain Hustle title, and Ogawa continued on with it. However, later that year, Kawada turned on Ogawa and the Hustle army to join Takada, being the first major player to jump sides. Hustle K became Monster K.

Later that year, popular entertainer Razor Ramon Hard Gay began appearing in Hustle, before ultimately making his debut at Hustle Mania 2005 as "HG". HG's debut was a remarkable success, garnering much press and praise for his work, eventually earning him the "Best Newcomer" prize in the Tokyo Sports Grand Prix awards. HG's debut was so successful, that the decision was made to prominently feature him in Hustle, with him even becoming the "Hustle-gun Ace". From this point, the focus of Hustle was slowly moving from Naoya Ogawa to HG.

Hustle continued to use other celebrities, hoping to capitalize on the crossover success of HG. Celebrities to appear in Hustle include Caiya, Kaori Manabe, Hitomi Kaikawa, Motoya Izumi and Warren Cromartie. The results so far have been mixed.

In 2007, playing off of parent company Dream Stage Entertainment's financial problems, President Takada purchased Hustle from DSE for One-hundred million Monster Dollars, becoming the sole owner of Hustle. Takada made use of his new power, dismissing the Hustle Army once and for all. The fact was cemented when "Captain Hustle" himself betrayed the Hustle Army to join Takada's side, becoming "Monster Celeb(rity)" Naoya Ogawa. Takada forced what was left the Hustle Army to face each other. The fuse that ignited the powder keg came when Takada forced Shinjiro Otani to face lone-wolf Wataru Sakata in a match where the loser had to lick Nitouhei Shimada's dirt soiled boot. Sakata lost, but refused to lick the boot. After having Shimada rub it in his face, Sakata snapped, and quit Hustle, refusing to work under Takada.

This lasted all of four days, as Sakata returned at Hustle 21 to save HG from Tiger Jeet Singh and Anjo. After helping HG get the win, Sakata proposed forming the New Hustle Army to fight Takada and the Monster Army.

More to be added...

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question pertaining to Hustle, let me know!

Q. Where can I find Hustle shows?
A. DVD's and tapes are hard to come by, due to DSE cracking down on illegal distribution of their property (Including Hustle, PRIDE and even ZERO-ONE.) You're best bet is to e-mail somebody who sells puroresu DVD's and ask them, as some sellers don't openly advertise the fact that they have Hustle.

Q. President Takada? I thought it was Generalissimo?
A. It's both, technically. The Japanese name for Takada is "Takada-soto", with soto meaning "president" or "generalissimo". So, Generalissimo is technically correct, and is used most commonly online. However, whenever Hustle has displayed Takada's name in English, it's always been "President Takada", and thus is the translation I use.

Q. Why are some names in Japanese, and others in English? (Hustle General/Anjo Shireichoukan)
A. It's personal preference, and basically what I'm comfortable with. I tend to go back and fourth over whether I want to keep the romanized spellings over the translated spellings. Usually, to avoid possible mistranslations, I use the romanized spelling of the names.

Q. Speaking of names, a lot of the names seem weird...
A. I do my best to translate the names correctly. A lot of the names, especially on the Monster side are very obscure, and make little to no sense to non-Japanese speaking people no matter how you break it down. There are some names I simply cannot translate, and when I encounter one of those names, I just do what I can, and give the most literal translation possible.

Q. Obviously Takada doesn't really own Hustle. So who does?
A. Hustle is owned by Hustle Entertainment, which was formed out of the collapse of Dream Stage Entertainment. The group is made up of mostly former DSE employees, and retains essentially the same infrastructure.

Q. What is the general fan opinion in Japan on Hustle?
A. It's mixed, from people I talk to. Die-hard fans of groups like New Japan and NOAH naturally despise Hustle, which is natural. New Japan and NOAH stress realism and pro-wrestling as a sport, while Hustle stresses fantasy and pro-wrestling as theater. It's tradition vs. progression. One of the few times Hustle has involved itself with a mainstream group was when Naoya Ogawa and Kawada worked New Japan's 2004 Osaka Dome show as representatives of Hustle. Both were veraciously booed by the New Japan crowd. Ogawa in particularly played off of it, and did the Hustle pose after sweeping Hiroshi Tanahashi with a Judo throw, eliciting huge heat from the crowd. However, Hustle has gained fans over the years, mostly casual fans who are more into dramas and television programs rather that serious straight-laced pro-wrestling.

A. Who were the Hustle Kamens/Devil Pierrots/Insert Masked Wrestler
Q. I only know a handful.

Hustle Kamen Red: Takuya Sugi (Shanao/Yoshitsune/El Blazer/Little Dragon/AHII/The*Zest/etc)
Hustle Kamen Blue: Masaki Okimoto (Rasse/JKO)
Hustle Kamen Yellow: Takayasu Fukuda (Mango/Bear Fukuda)
Hustle Kamen Green: Lil' Nate (UPW Wrestler)
Monster Kamen Black: Fumiyuki Hashimoto (SUWAcito/KAGETORA)
Monster Kamen Purple: Yoshito Sugamoto (Gamma)
Monster Kamen White: Takuya Sugawara
Himalayan Big Foot/The Samu: CW Anderson