June 12, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Pride, ECW One Night Stand

The Pride Fighting Championships, at least at the level we know them, may be no more.

With the belief the Yakuza involvement scandal was about to break with arrests, the Fuji TV Network, which bankrolled a substantial percentage of the events, announced at 5 p.m. on 6/5 it was canceling its contract with the promotion and that Pride would never air on the network again. The announcement came just one day after network cameras and production crews were at the Saitama Arena for the Bushido event. The event was taped and scheduled to be broadcast by Fuji on 6/10 in a late afternoon time slot, but will never air.

Dream Stage Entertainment, which receives millions from the network in rights fees, was blindsided by the news. The network sent out press releases to the Japanese media the day after the show simply stating that Pride had breached its contract. In actuality, the network made the decision secretly at the end of April, but since a major show was taking place on 5/5 at the Osaka Dome, the first round of the Open Weight Grand Prix, a prime time special that was expected to do big numbers (it did a 17.6 rating), they kept the decision from getting out.

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