September 11, 2006 Observer Newsletter: Pride Grand Prix, WWE
No matter what the future holds for the Pride Fighting Championships, on paper, the finals of the Open Weight Grand Prix tournament on 9/10 from the Saitama Super Arena is the most impressive four-man final in history.
If you were to pick the four greatest fighters in the history of Pride, they would be Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva. They wouldn’t be the four biggest stars, although they would be among the four biggest stars. But they are the four best proven fighters. Emelianenko didn’t participate in the tournament due to surgery on his finger, but will almost surely be defending his heavyweight championship against the winner. The other three not only are in the tournament, but made it all the way to the finals, where they are joined by Josh Barnett.
What makes this final four so intriguing is that any one of the four could win, and it is almost impossible to favor anyone definitively in any match-up.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.