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On May 16, 1969, during the 11th World Big League, Inoki stopped Giant Baba's fourth consecutive victory and won his first tournament. In July 1969, when NET (currently TV Asahi ) started broadcasting Japanese professional wrestling, Inoki was the ace of NET's Japanese professional wrestling broadcasting because Baba's match was monopolized by ...
e. Shohei Baba (馬場 正平, Baba Shōhei, January 23, 1938 – January 31, 1999), best known by his ring name Giant Baba (ジャイアント馬場, Jaianto Baba), was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 ...
Among those in attendance were Rikidōzan's students, Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba and Kintarō Ōki as well as various other opponents from throughout his career. Katsushi Murata was later found guilty of manslaughter in October 1964, and served eight years in prison before being released in 1972.
Rikidōzan also trained professional wrestling students, notably including Kanji "Antonio" Inoki, Kintarō Ōki, and Shohei "Giant" Baba. His signature move was the karate chop, which was actually based on sumo's harite, rather than actual karate.
With his archrival and another Japanese legend, the late Shohei “Giant” Baba, Inoki made pro-wrestling a hugely popular sport in Japan. Inoki founded the New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1972.
Eventually TV Asahi also gained the right to broadcast JWA, but eventually the two major broadcasters agreed to split the talent, centering about Rikidōzan's top two students: NTV for Giant Baba and his group, and Asahi for Antonio Inoki and his group. This arrangement continued after the JWA split into today's major promotions, New Japan and ...
The JWA's top stars, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions (All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, respectively) in 1972. With its top drawing cards gone, the JWA was therefore out of business the following year. Championships. Japanese Heavyweight Championship
Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh (August 26) Tokyo Sports: 1980 Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta (December 11) All Japan Pro Wrestling 1981 Giant Baba vs. Verne Gagne (January 18) 1982 Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen (February 4) 1983 Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (April 3) New Japan ...