Gleat

Gleat (stylized as GLEAT and pronounced as "great") is a Japanese professional wrestling and mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2020 by former Pro Wrestling 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

Founded	August 20, 2020
Style	Puroresu Shoot style Mixed martial arts
Headquarters	Yūrakuchō, Tokyo, Japan
Founder(s)	Hiroyuki Suzuki Kiyoshi Tamura
Owner(s)	Hiroyuki Suzuki
Parent	Lidet Entertainment^[1]
Website	ent.lidet.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, 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 become 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]

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.^[14][15] 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.^[16] The tournament was won by Bulk Orchestra (Kazma Sakamoto and Ryuichi Kawakami).^[17] On December 14, Gleat promoted its first mixed martial arts (MMA) event, "Gleat MMA Ver. 0".^[18]

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.^[19][20]

• 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.^[21]
• M – Wrestlers that have legitimate mixed martial arts (MMA) experience or are affiliated to Gleat MMA, Gleat's sub-brand that promotes MMA fights.

Wrestlers

Contracted

Ring name	Real name	G	U	M	Unit	Notes
Check Shimatani	Nobuhiro Shimatani				Bulk Orchestra
Cima^[22]^[23]^[24]	Nobuhiko Oshima				#StrongHearts	Chief Strategy Officer G-Infinity Champion
El Lindaman^[23]^[22]^[25]	Yuga Hayashi				#StrongHearts
Go Miyake	Go Miyake				GLEAT Main Unit
Hayato Tamura^[26]	Hayato Tamura				Bulk Orchestra	G-Rex Champion
Issei Onitsuka^[23]^[22]^[27]	Issei Onitsuka				Yan's Family
Jun Tonsho	Jun Tonsho				GLEAT Main Unit
Kaz Hayashi^[23]^[22]^[28]	Kazuhiro Hayashi				Home Team	Chief Technical Officer G-Infinity Champion^[3]
Maya Fukuda	Maya Fukuda				GLEAT Main Unit
MICHIKO^[29]	Michiko Miyagi				GLEAT Main Unit
Minoru Tanaka^[23]^[30]^[31]	Minoru Tanaka				GLEAT Main Unit	UWF Rule Technical Officer
Ryuichi Kawakami^[23]^[32]	Ryuichi Kawakami				Bulk Orchestra
Soma Watanabe^[23]^[33]	Soma Watanabe				GLEAT Main Unit
T-Hawk^[23]^[22]^[34]	Takuya Onodera				#StrongHearts
Takanori Ito^[23]^[35]	Takanori Ito				Yan's Family
Takehiro Yamamura	Takehiro Yamamura				#StrongHearts
Tetsuya Izuchi^[23]^[36]	Tetsuya Izuchi				Black Generation International
Yu Iizuka^[23]^[37]	Yu Iizuka				GLEAT Main Unit

Regular outsiders

Ring name	Real name	G	U	M	Unit	Notes
Fujita "Jr." Hayato	Hayato Fujita					Freelancer Lidet UWF Champion
Hideki "Shrek" Sekine	Hideki Sekine				Hard Hit	Freelancer
Hikaru Sato	Hikaru Sato				Hard Hit	Freelancer
Kaito Ishida	Kaito Ishida				Black Generation International	Freelancer
Kazma Sakamoto	Unknown				Bulk Orchestra	Freelancer
Keiichi Sato	Keiichi Sato					Freelancer
Kotaro Suzuki	Kotaro Suzuki				Black Generation International	Freelancer
Masato Kamino	Masato Kamino				Yan's Family	Freelancer
Oji Shiiba	Oji Shiiba					Freelancer
Shigehiro Irie	Shigehiro Irie				#StrongHearts	Freelancer
Quiet Storm	Unknown				Bulk Orchestra	Freelancer
Yusuke Kodama	Yusuke Kodama				Yan's Family	Freelancer
Yutani	Unknown				Black Generation International	Freelancer

Other personnel

Ring name	Real name	Notes
Chiho Tomiyama	Chiho Tomiyama	Ring announcer (G Prowrestling)
Haruo Murata	Haruo Murata	Commentator Freelancer
Hiroyuki Suzuki	Hiroyuki Suzuki	Owner President of Lidet
Katsumi Tamagawa	Katsumi Tamagawa	Referee (G Prowrestling)
Kiyoshi Tamura^[23]	Kiyoshi Tamura	Executive Director^[3] Commentator
Masato Yoshino^[38]	Masato Yoshino	Gleat Championship Belts Manager G Prowrestling Commissioner
Riki Choshu^[23]	Mitsuo Yoshida	Observer^[3]
Ryogaku Wada	Ryogaku Wada	Referee (Lidet UWF)
Soft Imai	Daisuke Imai	Referee (G Prowrestling)
Takahiro Yoshimizu	Takahiro Yoshimizu	Ring announcer (Lidet UWF) Affiliated with Aoni Production
Takehiro Yamamura	Takehiro Yamamura	Ring announcer (G Prowrestling)
Yoshinori Umeki	Yoshinori Umeki	Referee (Lidet UWF) Affiliated with Pancrase
Yoshiro Yabu	Yoshiro Yabu	Ring announcer (G Prowrestling)

Notable alumni/guests

• Abdullah Kobayashi
• Akane Fujita
• Atsuki Aoyagi
• Bandido
• Chihiro Hashimoto
• Daijiro Matsui
• Daisuke Sekimoto
• Drew Parker
• Flamita
• Gringo Loco
• Hartley Jackson
• Jake Lee
• Janai Kai
• Jun Akiyama
• Jun Masaoka
• Kazuyuki Fujita
• Kendo Kashin
• Koji Iwamoto
• Komander
• Kota Sekifuda
• Masakatsu Funaki
• Masato Kamino
• Masato Tanaka
• Mochi Miyagi
• Musashi
• Nosawa Rongai
• Seichi Ikemoto
• Shigehiro Irie
• Shinjiro Otani
• Sho
• Shuhei Taniguchi
• Takashi Sugiura
• Takuya Nomura
• Tomoaki Honma
• Thekla
• Yukari Hosokawa

Championships

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location	Notes	Ref.
G-Rex Championship		Hayato Tamura	1	December 30, 2023	137+	Tokyo, Japan	Defeated T-Hawk at Gleat Ver.7.	^[39]
G-Infinity Championship		Coelacanths (Cima and Kaz Hayashi)	1 (1, 1)	March 13, 2024	63+	Tokyo, Japan	Defeated #StrongHearts (Seiki Yoshioka and T-Hawk) in a tournament final to win the vacant titles at Gleat Ver.10.	^[40]
Lidet UWF Championship		Fujita "Jr." Hayato	1	July 1, 2023	319+	Tokyo, Japan	Defeated Takanori Ito at Gleat Ver.6: 2nd Anniversary Show.

Lidet UWF Championship

As of May 15, 2024.

Lidet UWF Championship
Current design of the title (2023 – present)
Details
Promotion	Gleat
Date established	April 2023
Current champion(s)	Fujita "Jr." Hayato
Date won	July 1, 2023
Statistics First champion(s) Takanori Ito Longest reign Fujita "Jr." Hayato (319+ days) Shortest reign Takanori Ito (24 days) Oldest champion Fujita "Jr." Hayato (36 years, 284 days) Youngest champion Takanori Ito (29 years, 260 days) Heaviest champion Takanori Ito (209 lb (95 kg)) Lightest champion Fujita "Jr." Hayato (172 lb (78 kg))

The Lidet UWF Championship is a professional wrestling championship 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.

There have been a total of two reigns shared between two different champions. The current title holder is Fujita "Jr." Hayato.

Key

No.	Overall reign number
Reign	Reign number for the specific champion
Days	Number of days held
Defenses	Number of successful defenses
+	Current reign is changing daily

No.	Champion	Championship change			Reign statistics			Notes	Ref.
		Date	Event	Location	Reign	Days	Defenses
1	Takanori Ito	June 7, 2023	Gleat Ver.EX "Face-Off" Access 2 TDCH	Tokyo, Japan	1	24	0	Defeated Shinya Aoki in a tournament final to become the inaugural champion.	^[41]
2	Fujita "Jr." Hayato	July 1, 2023	Gleat Ver.6: 2nd Anniversary Show	Tokyo, Japan	1	319+	1		^[42]

Gleat events

Main article: List of 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), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) or Pro Wrestling Freedoms. All events air live on Gleat's YouTube channel.

See also

•  Japan portal

• Professional wrestling in Japan

References

1. "GLEAT". 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. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
4. Lambert, Jeremy (August 20, 2020). "Former Pro Wrestling NOAH Owner Announces New Promotion GLEAT". Fightful. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
5. "GLEAT " History "". Cagematch (in German). Retrieved 21 March 2021.
6. "GLEAT Ver. 0". 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). 28 December 2020. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
14. Gleat [@LIDET_ENT] (December 30, 2021). GLEAT初のベルト"G-REX"初代王者を巡り 12選手が勝ち抜き戦 (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved January 25, 2022 – via Twitter.
15. Gleat [@LIDET_ENT] (January 13, 2022). G-REX初代王座争奪戦 トーナメント表発表 (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved January 25, 2022 – via Twitter.
16. Gleat [@LIDET_ENT] (July 1, 2022). "GLEAT ni taggu beruto "G-INFINITY" shinsetsu" GLEATにタッグベルト「G-INFINITY」新設 [New tag team belt "G-Infinity" established in Gleat] (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved July 2, 2022 – via Twitter.
17. 8月24日 【GLEAT】河上＆KAZMAが初代G-INFINITY王者に 田村＆島谷との同門対決V1戦が浮上. Professional Wrestling Martial Arts DX (in Japanese). August 24, 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
18. "【大会生配信】2022年12月14日 後楽園ホール[GLEAT MMA Ver.0]". Gleat. December 14, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
19. "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.
20. "【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.
21. UWFルール説明動画｜GLEAT公式YouTube, retrieved 2021-07-26
22. Taylor, Oliver (March 12, 2021). "GLEAT ANNOUNCES BIG SIGNING, NJPW, BIG JAPAN AND MORE FROM JAPAN". PWInsider. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
23. "GLEAT". Cagematch. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
24. "CIMA". Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
25. エル・リンダマン. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
26. 田村ハヤト. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
27. 鬼塚一聖. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
28. カズ・ハヤシ. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
29. 宮城倫子. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
30. Thompson, Andrew (February 11, 2021). "Minoru Tanaka joins GLEAT promotion". POST Wrestling. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
31. 田中 稔. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
32. 河上隆一. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
33. 渡辺 壮馬. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
34. "T-Hawk". Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
35. 伊藤 貴則. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
36. 井土徹也. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
37. 飯塚 優. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved January 26, 2022.
38. 吉野正人. Gleat (in Japanese). Retrieved June 8, 2023.
39. "G-REX Senshuken" G-REX選手権 [G-Rex Championship]. Syu-Kaku Kombu (in Japanese). Retrieved July 2, 2022.
40. Kreikenbohm, Philip (March 14, 2024). "GLEAT Ver. 10". cagematch.net. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
41. Daly, Wayne (June 7, 2023). "GLEAT Results: Ver. EX ~ Face-Off: Access 2 TDCH – Tokyo, Japan (6/7)". wrestling-news.net. Retrieved July 1, 2023.
42. Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 1, 2023). "GLEAT Ver. 6 ~ 2nd Anniversary". cagematch.net. Retrieved July 1, 2023.

External links

• Lidet Entertainment official website