Pride 1 - 1997

[The Rocketmen]

The first ever Pride show took place in Japan, featuring the long-awaited Nobuhiko Takada vs. Rickson Gracie fight. Takada, former star of UWFI, had been wanting a legit shootfight against Gracie for years and he finally got it. It didn't go well for him, as Gracie destroyed him in less than 5 minutes. For years in UWFI, Takada was the top star, winning worked shoot matches and turning the promotion into one of the hottest groups in the wrestling business. He built up a rep for himself as the best fighter in the world and a lot of people bought it. But this wasn't a worked fight and the crowd (99% wrestling fans) were let down after watching Takada get exposed and get basically no offense against Gracie. And finally, Dan Severn was indeed injured in his fight for Pride in Japan and now has to pull out of UFC's PPV 6 days before the show. He will be replaced by Tank Abbott. As for UFC, they're pretty pissed at Severn about this whole thing so it's unlikely he ever gets another shot at fighting for them.

Here is the fight of Takada vs. Gracie

www.dailymotion.com/video/x6l1zm

Here's the wikipedia if you want to see who all fought on it, some other notable names for sure:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_in_Pride_FC#Pride_1