10 Biggest Promotion Killers In Wrestling History

10. Motoko Baba

The death of Shohei 'Giant' Baba had earth-shaking ramifications on the puroresu landscape. The company he co-founded, All Japan Pro Wrestling, the most acclaimed in the history of the sport, was bequeathed to his widow Motoko. Motoko's nickname was Dragon Lady - an oddly polite burial, if there ever was one.

The promotion's top star, Mitsuharu Misawa, had been handpicked by Baba, in the year prior to his death, as his booking successor. Motoko, however, despite herself grooming Misawa, elected to hand the presidential reins over to Mitsuo Momota. It was a decision which didn't so much polarise the locker room, of which Misawa was its leader, as alienate it altogether.

Motoko eventually relented, at the behest of the man Misawa had supplanted as company Ace - Jumbo Tsuruta. Misawa was installed as president, but the masking tape plastered over the relationship frayed. Misawa's ambitions were greater than Motoko's, who, wary that the company's television presence had been scaled back, wished to preserve the status quo.

Her lack of ambition would become drenched in irony. That status quo was destroyed forever when Misawa struck a clandestine agreement with NTV, the televised home of Japanese wrestling. All Japan's TV show was no more. Of the 28 full-time AJPW stars, 26 followed Misawa to his new Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion (surely the best-named wrestling league ever).

All Japan remains in existence today, but in a depressing state. If not dead, it has been moribund for years.