All Japan Pro Wrestling! RIP Giant Baba

 It has been a while since I wrote about pro wrestling, and today I thought about writing about All Japan Pro Wrestling. But even more so, its founder Giant Baba who the wrestling world lost back in 1999 (Rest In Peace).

What made me decide to write about this blog post, was a youtube channel called Kim Justice's Wrestling Road who had done a little documentary about Baba and it really inspired me. To be honest, from what I hear about him from varies of wrestlers who worked with Baba, all of which say the same thing, he was a very honorable man and I would have loved to have met him and see him wrestle back in his heyday. 

All Japan was formed back in 1972 after the fall of the JWA and it quickly formed a rivalry New Japan Pro Wrestling which also debuted in 1972 by rival and former tag partner Antonio Inoki.

From 1972 all the way to his death in 1999, All Japan was one of the top wrestling promotions in the whole world. Some of my personal favorite wrestlers came out of that promotion. Wrestlers like Jumbo Tsuruta who in my humble opinion, is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the history of the business and I highly suggest you all go and look him up and watch some of his matches.

Also when it comes to Tsuruta, if it wasn't for him we would never have the Four Pillars of Heaven, some of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Guys like Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue Toshiaki Kawada and of course Mitsuharu Misawa (Rest In Peace). These guys a long with foreign talent like Dr. Death Steve Williams, Vader and Stan Hanson, help lead All Japan in their greatest and most profitable years throughout the 1990s.

The biggest reason why I fall in love with watching All Japan especially because of watching Pro Wrestling Noah which a lot of the style they used was formed in All Japan and it was called King' Road. For those of you who don't know what I mean by that is basically what they called it in Japan and it involves physical storylines instead gimmicks like here in American style of wrestling, the matches themselves were more intense with hard striking and moves that honestly I think would cripple me if I ever tried it.

It felt like the wrestlers were really fighting and were trying to make it look as legitimate contest. And leading that charge was Misawa and the rest of the Four Pillars who's matches still hold up even to this very day.

But back to Giant Baba for a moment because it features honestly such a feel good story. Hearing his story about being born with Gigantism and having to deal with that. But hear how he was such an honorable man really is inspiring to me because I myself deal with birth defects (Cerebral Palsy and Scoliosis) and despite that I try my best to be good person in this world. Baba also believed in honoring his word, he never used a contract and always did handshake deals and many wrestlers call him the most honest promoter in the wrestling business.

It a feel good moment in wrestling, I was watching an old video of Giant Baba  which aired in 1998 where he was featured in a six-man tag team match teaming up with Hayabusa and Kentaro Shiga against Kimala, Jinsei Shinzaki and Jun Izumida in the Tokyo Dome. Prior to the match starting, the wrestlers were being introduced by the ring announcer and when he announced Baba, fans threw red streamers into the ring. Seeing his reaction to it as he smiled just brought a smile to my face. He looked so happy and it was really cool to see. 😊

It really is ashamed that Giant Baba isn't around anymore. The world is truly lesser without him, but maybe we should all learn from his example.

Rest In Peace Giant Baba🙏🙏🙏

Until Next Time!

God Bless and Be Safe Everyone!🙏🙏🙏