Shooto ARTS is Reika Matsuda’s second brainchild. It was originally an annual event (hosted by Yugen Wrestling) that showcased the art of shootfighting. Even though Yugen matches were usually hard-hitting, those bouts amped up the volume ten fold. Their violent and raw nature made them two of the most successful events the company ever produced.

Reika contemplated her place in the world of professional wrestling after Yugen’s closure. She’d been attached to the company so long that its absence made her a bit anxious. “Who was she? Was she a terrible owner? And who was she in the ring?” Those inquiries and thoughts flooded her mind for months and months. Well, that is until she had a dream one evening. In that dream she witnessed a shoot wrestling promotion that specialized in smaller venues and intimate crowds.

A trademark and gōdō gaisha (a Japanese LLC) for the name Shooto ARTS was filed prior to Yugen’s end of operations. However, it would take Reika a number of months to get the new company set up. Funding? Not a problem. The issue? Structure and composition. How could one blend shoot wrestling and traditional Shooto martial arts principles? That was the most difficult task.

The answer (in practice) would actually turn out to be fairly intuitive: separate matches into two categories. The nature of traditional matches would be brutal and punishing. And the MMA infused matches? They would add an additional layer of barbarism. The original two Yugen events had specific rule-set for each contested match. Reika fine-tuned those rules and got them approved by the Intercontinental Shooto Associate Alliance (ISAA). They’d be known as the YPWi Rules.

With most of the glaring issues getting resolved, all that was really left to do was to get to work.