35 Facts About Shohei Baba

Shohei Baba, best known by his ring name Giant Baba, was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player.

Shohei Baba is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling, a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota and Yoshihiro Momota, the sons of his mentor Rikidozan.

Shohei Baba was responsible for recruiting much of the talent for All Japan, and was the public face of the promotion for much of his lifetime.

Shohei Baba was born on January 23,1938, in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, the second son of Kazuo and Mitsu Baba.

Nevertheless, Shohei Baba excelled at baseball, becoming the top player at his local club.

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Shohei Baba was forced to give up baseball when he joined high school as he was continuing to grow at an incredible rate and no cleats could be sourced in his size.

Shohei Baba soon joined the art club instead, but this didn't last long as the school ordered custom cleats and Baba was invited to join the baseball team.

Shohei Baba continued to impress, recording 18 strikeouts during a practice game, which led to tabloids reporting on "Sanjo High School's giant pitcher" and Shohei Baba garnering the attention of Nippon Professional Baseball scouts.

In 1954, Shohei Baba met with Hidetoshi Genkawa of the Yomiuri Giants who invited Shohei Baba to drop out of high school and join the team full time.

Shohei Baba was relegated to the second team for his first year, but eventually debuted in 1956 and performed well, earning 12 wins and 1 loss in his rookie year and 13 wins and 2 losses in 1957.

Shohei Baba underwent craniotomy at the University of Tokyo Hospital on December 23,1957.

The success rate of the technology at that time was very low, and the doctor warned Shohei Baba he was likely to lose his eyesight completely the operation was successful, and Shohei Baba was discharged after a week.

Shohei Baba returned to the camp with a bandage on his head in January 1958.

Shohei Baba played for two more seasons, winning best pitcher for a third time in 1959.

Shohei Baba first met Rikidozan while he was playing baseball, who told him he would do well as a professional wrestler.

Shohei Baba wrestled the likes of The Destroyer and Buddy Rogers numerous times, as well as Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden in February 1964.

Shohei Baba formed a popular tag team known as "B-I Cannon" with Inoki, and the two won the NWA International Tag Team Championship from Tarzan Tyler and Bill Watts in 1968, going on to hold the titles four times in total.

Shohei Baba held the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on three occasions, and won the World Big League a record six times.

Shohei Baba won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship from Jack Brisco ending Brisco's year and a half run as champion on December 2,1974.

Shohei Baba would regain the title in America from Abdullah The Butcher in 1979, making another 13 successful defences before dropping the title to Harley Race in 1982.

Shohei Baba would go on to hold the title four times for a total of 3,847 days, or just over ten years.

Between his debut in 1960 and April 1984, Shohei Baba wrestled 3000 consecutive matches and did not miss a single booking, only breaking the cycle after he suffered a minor neck injury.

Shohei Baba focused heavily on training the next generation of wrestlers, particularly Jumbo Tsuruta, who was his first student after forming AJPW, and Atsushi Onita, with whom Shohei Baba formed an almost parent-like bond.

Shohei Baba ran his company with a schedule of eight tours a year travelling nationwide, and maintained this the entire time he was in charge.

Shohei Baba remained an extremely popular figure among fans, and continued teaming with young wrestlers and veterans in opening matches into the late 1990s, maintaining a full-time schedule until December 1998.

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In 1998, Shohei Baba finally agreed to run the Tokyo Dome on May 1, and despite it being a few years since the company peaked, they still drew 58,300 paying fans.

However, Shohei Baba was highly respected by foreign wrestlers, as he always made sure that they travelled first class, stayed in the best hotels, and had beer and food all pre-paid for by himself.

Shohei Baba smoked heavily, especially cigars, but quit after his friend Gyutsu Matsuyama, another heavy smoker, was hospitalised with stomach cancer.

An urban legend states that, according to Japanese tabloids, Shohei Baba was rumoured to have been bisexual, although this hasn't been confirmed by reputable sources.

Shohei Baba thought of Onita as one of his own children, and seriously thought about adopting Onita at one point.

Motoko Shohei Baba died on April 14,2018, from cirrhosis of the liver; she was 78 years old.

Nine days later on January 31,1999, Shohei Baba died of liver failure from complications of colon cancer at approximately 16:04 local time in the Tokyo Medical University Hospital.

Shohei Baba had known about his cancer diagnosis for at least a year prior to his death but kept it a secret, not wanting to cause worry about his condition.

Shohei Baba's funeral was delayed due to the fact they could not find a casket big enough to fit his body.

Shohei Baba's body was later cremated, and his tomb is located at Honmatsuji in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture.