10 Wrestlers Who Became Successful Bookers
3. Giant Baba
Shohei 'Giant' Baba is that rare example of somebody who had just as significant an impact on the business as a promoter as he did as a wrestler.
It must have been fate when Baba was assigned a young Kanji Inoki as his sparring partner by Japanese Wrestling Association honcho Rikidozan. Six months later, the trainees made their professional debuts together. They would both go on to reshape the Japanese wrestling landscape - from within and without the ring.
Baba, who at 6'11" literally lived up to his nickname, became a beloved household name around his homeland on a similar to footing to Hulk Hogan in the USA. Only Inoki matched his popularity.
By 1972, still suffering from the sudden death of Rikidozan, JWA was in decline and its two biggest stars - for conflicting reasons - decided to embark on their own ventures. Baba left to found All Japan Pro Wrestling, and though he only had a small roster, by leveraging his own prestige and leaning on his industry contacts, it soon surpassed the crumbling JWA as Japan's number one promotion. After being invited to replace the defunct company in the NWA, Baba - under his own auspices - became the first Japanese wrestler to lift the governing body's coveted top prize.
Though Baba himself was at the forefront of AJPW's early success, it was his dedication to telling long-term narratives which emphasised deep and meaningful rivals - the so called 'Kings' Road' - which pushed his promotion into the stratosphere. Supported by his 'Four Pillars of Heaven' - Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi - AJPW sold out over 250 consecutive shows in Tokyo during the '90s, including eight yearly Budokan Hall supershows.
When Baba passed away in 1999 of colon cancer, AJPW collapsed almost immediately afterwards. The biggest wrestling promotion in Japan hadn't just lost an incredible businessman - it had lost its soul.