crowd of 65,000 and a gate of $5.7 million. On August 17, 1996, Takada defeated Yoji Anjo at Tokyo's Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In December 1996, the UWFI folded after the UWFI–WAR feud, and founded Kingdom Pro Wrestling in its place. Takada only participated in one of its events: an exhibition against Ryushi Kimiyama. He later left professional wrestling for mixed martial arts (MMA). Hustle (2004–2009) In 2004, Takada was made the president of the Hustle promotion in Japan, created by a coproduction between Dream Stage Entertainment and Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE. He firstly appeared in a press conference previous to the first Hustle event along with fellow DSE directive Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who badmouthed professional wrestling to praise MMA, which angered Naoya Ogawa, who flipped the table and confronted them. To solve things, the event featured a battle between Ogawa's professional wrestling loyalists and Takada's MMA allies, who were called the Takada Monster Army. The night ended with Ogawa being pinned by Monster Army member Bill Goldberg, giving the first victory to Takada. The next event, Takada expanded his army and appeared as Generalissimo Takada, a Yasunori Katō-esque character dressed in a military outfit and gifted with supernatural powers. Generalissimo Takada presented himself not as Nobuhiko Takada, but an old friend of his, and proceeded to send his enforcers to beat up Naoya before his match against Matt Ghaffari. This marked the new view of Hustle, in which Takada and his evil forces battled Ogawa and his Hustle Army. Takada returned to the ring in 2006 as The Esperanza, a supernatural wrestling cyborg created by Generalissimo Takada. The Esperanza defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri and pinned him with Takada's trademark kick to the head. At HustleMania 2006, he defeated Masaki Sumitani in what was billed as Sumitani's retirement match, pinning him and giving him his own finisher, the 69 Driver, which caused "erectile dysfunction" in Sumitani. The Esperanza was described as invincible until Hustlemania 2007, when he was defeated by Wataru Sakata thanks to the magical aid of Sakata's wife Eiko Koike. The Esperanza's last match was at Hustle Aid 2009, when he was finally beaten by Magnum Tokyo. The same night, Generalissimo Takada announced his retirement, revealing that his true goal was to leave an eternal mark in professional wrestling, which he had accomplished thanks to Hustle. He appointed Magnum Tokyo as the new director and shook hands with the Hustle Army members. A