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Giant Baba

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Wrestler

The Resume

    (January 23, 1938-January 31, 1999)
    Birth name is Shohei Baba
    Wrestled, owned and booked for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)
    Former NWA Heavyweight Champion

Why he might be annoying:

    He was a big cigar smoker.
    When he wrestled in the United States, he was booked as being 7'3 and 300 pounds, but in reality he wasn't even 7 feet and he weighed around 260.
    His baseball career didn't last long, as his first season ended with a 0-1 record and he was sent down to the minors.
    His baseball career ended when he slipped and fell in a bathtub and destroyed the nerves in his arm.
    His longtime friendship with Antonio Inoki (who he trained with when he got his start in wrestling) ended when the two started their own promotions companies.
    To compete with Inoki's rising popularity, Baba would purchase the NWA and AWA Heavyweight title for one-week periods and give the belts to his top stars to give them and his promotion credibility.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was a national star in the far east for nearly four decades, far more popular than the top Japanese ball players.
    He's known as being the biggest Japanese wrestler ever in the United States and was a huge draw wherever he went.
    The fans went wild after every move he did, no matter how good or bad it looked.
    After his mentor, Rikidozan, died in a gangland style stabbing, wrestling's reputation was at an all-time low and he's credited as the man who brought the business back with his quiet, clean reputation.
    He made his teenage students do things like tie and untie his shoes and carry messages and carry his belongings so that when they got a top position in his company, they realized how hard they worked to get it.
    His young boys turned out to be the best workers in the business due to his mentoring.
    Since 1990, none of the matches in his promotion ended in a DQ or count-out and every match has had a clean finish.
    He was the first to have his promotion merchandise T-shirts and souvenirs, an innovation that McMahon saw and copied.
    He's in the Wrestling-Observer Hall of Fame.
    He died of bowel cancer.

Credit: Reo Rogerz


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 19 Votes: 63.16% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 99 Votes: 65.66% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 33 Votes: 69.70% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 47 Votes: 72.34% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 69 Votes: 71.01% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 176 Votes: 67.05% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 344 Votes: 67.44% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 261 Votes: 62.45% Annoying