Fumi Saito knew Hulk Hogan for over 40 years, going back to the AWA when they both lived in Minnesota.
On this episode of Pacific Rim, Fumi talks about Hulk Hogan before WWE, Hogan’s first tour in NJPW, how Stan Hansen and Andre the Giant mentored and helped Terry Bollea better define the image and wrestling style of Hulk Hogan, which match in Japan earned Hogan nearly $250,000 in today’s money, and Fumi’s stories about his friend Terry away from the ring.
Co-host Fumi Saito gives his thoughts on the Kota Ibushi-NJPW situation and also discusses his new book on the relationship and parallels between Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba.
Fumi also has the line-up for the next Hana Kimura Memorial Show as he and KAIRI will be doing commentary.
Plus, we talk about the AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view, the popularity of AEW in Japan, and more.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
We have a weekend show with Garrett Gonzalez talking all the news of the week up on the site today. Bryan and I will be doing a Wrestling Observer Radio show on the weekend news tonight.
In this week’s things that cracked the top 20 in Google searches relating to wrestling, MMA and boxing:
UFC was No. 3 yesterday with 200,000 searches for the Sean Strickland vs. Jack Hermansson headlined show
Dwayne Johnson was No. 7 yesterday with 200,000 for his no longer backing Joe Rogan after the footage of making remarks including usage of the N word on his podcast came out.
Jackass Forever the movie as No. 2 on Friday with 500,000 searches
Shane McMahon was No. 13 on Wednesday with 100,000 due to his being fired by WWE.
We’re looking for reports from the WWE show last night in Salt Lake City and tonight in Boise, ID to [email protected]
The top ten shows as far as ticket sales over the 24 hour period from Saturday at 9 a.m. to Sunday at 9 a.m were:
WWE tonight in Boise
Raw tomorrow in Denver
AEW Wednesday in Atlantic City
Raw on 2/21 in Columbia, SC
Smackdown 2/18 in Charlotte
Smackdown on 2/25 in Hershey
MSG on 3/5 with Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar
Raw on 2/14 in Indianapolis
AEW on 3/16 in San Antonio
WWE house show on 3/20 in Huntsville, AL
Earlier in the week we talked about Giant Baba on the anniversary of his death and talked about how he had title matches with all three major world champions in the same month. I’m not sure that any other wrestler can make that claim. The matches were:
February 8, 1964 in Detroit where NWA champion Lou Thesz beat Baba before 9,188 fans
February 15, 1964 in Cincinnati saw Thesz beat Baba before 6,124 fans
February 17, 1964 in Madison Square Garden WWWF champion Bruno Sammartino beat Baba before 14,764 fans
February 28, 1964 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles saw WWA world champion Fred Blassie draw with Baba before a sellout 10,400 fans
UFC
Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks has been added to the 4/9 show in Jacksonville.
OTHER NOTES
AR Fox returns to GCW on 3/12 in Atlanta at Center Stage. Jonathan Gresham vs. Blake Christian has been announced for the show.
AAW from Friday night in Merrionette Park, IL: Davey Vega won over Shane Hollister, Storm Grayson and Stephen Wolf, ACH & Jah-C b Camaro Jackson & Mike Outlaw, Ren Jones & Christi Jaynes b Victor Benjamin & Lady Frost, Russ Jones b Jake Something, Josh Alexander b Mike Bennett, Schaff b Fred Yehi in an unsanctioned match, Mat Fitchett b Laredo Kid to keep he AAW title, Silas Young b Manders in a bullrope match. Ron Simmons was the special guest (thanks to Leonard Brand)
Killer Kross returned to the ring on Friday night for Future Stars of wrestling in Las Vegas, beating Jacob Fatu via ref stoppage with a choke to win the MECCA title. Scarlett gave Fatu a low blow and Canadian Destroyer to set up the win. Hammerstone beat TJ Perkins and Brian Cage in a three-way main event.
WrestleMax St. Louis from last night in Affton, MO: Ryu Kendrick NC Eli Rossi, Marko Stunt b Ethan Price, Jake Something won three-way over Xavier Walker and Merc, Edvin Kudic b ATM, Kevin Lee Davidson b Blair Onyx, Moses the Deliverer & Rahim de la Suede b Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett, Tootie Lynn b Lady Frost, ACH b Mike Outlaw to win the River City title (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
New Japan sold 1,610 tickets the first day for its 4/16 show in Chicago.
A horse named Stratusfaction won the third race at Charles Town on Friday. It was the horse’s first win in five races. (thanks to Barry Werner)
On this week’s episode of the TV show “Billions on Showtime, one of the characters was wearing an Austin 3:16 shirt. There was also a reference to a stuffed piledriver without protecting the guy’s neck and another line of “Kayfabe all the way.” (thanks to Joe Puccio)
Ordering Info: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Royal Rumble fallout, Raw, Joe Rogan, PWG and a lot more with Wrestling Observer Radio. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected]
Just to clear up a few things. Shane McMahon was a producer of the men’s Royal Rumble. He is not a regular producer for WWE, but Vince gave him the assignment for the match. He helped produce the Royal Rumble in both 2020 and 2021 but was way more hands on and taking control this year than in the prior two years. Both matches were constantly changed. Those on the inside knew who the winners were all along even if there were apparently many in the company told differently, but as far as what would happen in both matches, they were constantly changing. The stories about negativity toward McMahon regarding the men’s match are pretty accurate. As noted here, he is booked for both the Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania shows.
Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins won’t be at WrestleMania. The winner of the Elimination Chamber match on 2/19 will defend most likely in an angle set up on the show.
WWE has said that as of right now, the plan is for the 2/14 Raw and 2/15 NXT show to be on Syfy. We had reported that initially but there was some confusion regarding the second week of the Olympics and the idea the NXT big show set for 2/15 would be on USA. So either they change the date or they are going to peak for a show and not draw nearly as well as they otherwise would have.
Raw tonight is from Cincinnati. Both Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey are booked for tonight’s show and coming off the Rumble, the expectation is that tonight’s show will be among the highest rated of the year. There was more interest in Rumble, even if the feedback wasn’t the most positive, than any WWE show in a long time, even beating the last two WrestleManias in google searches. There will be matches for Elimination Chamber qualifications with Austin Theory vs. Kevin Owens and AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio. Raw moves to Syfy for two weeks starting next Monday. Last year’s show did 1.89 million viewers and 0.58 in 18-49.
We’re looking for reports from Raw in Cincinnati tonight with any Main Event or dark matches or any other live notes, plus reports from both nights of PWG BOLA and Saturday’s RevPro show at York Hall to [email protected]. We are also looking for your thoughts on the Royal Rumble and the Stardom PPV show from Saturday, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Kevin Mieche of TSN has a story on what made Bret Hart an all-time great.
The American Prospect has a story on the MLW lawsuit against WWE.
Balloting for the 2021 Wrestling Observer Awards closes on Thursday. There is a ballot in the January 24th issue of the Observer.
New Japan has said it will announce a major U.S. event at 10 p.m. Eastern time tonight.
Today is the 23rd anniversary of the death of Shohei “Giant”Baba, who was a giant in the industry. He is one of the three biggest Japanese stars in history along with Rikidozan and Antonio Inoki. He was also the most respected promoter and maybe the most respected booker in the history of the Japanese industry and very much a cultural icon. When we went to Japan a few years back there was a Baba exhibit with a lot of his artifacts that we did a show on. He also was the only Japanese pro wrestler to play major league baseball, although he was not noteworthy in baseball past the fact he was the tallest player ever in the Japanese major leagues. I’m not sure if he is the tallest to this day but he was still the tallest at the time of his death. He made both the International and PWF titles famous and had three brief reigns as NWA world champion when that was the No. 1 belt in the world.
Saturday’s Stardom PPV will go up on the Stardom World site Wednesday. Not sure when the RevPro show from Saturday goes up but people live were just raving about Will Ospreay vs. Michael Oku as a potential match of the year and Gabriel Kidd vs. Francesco Akira had a New Japan vs. All Japan are match that saw them just blister each other up.
As of this morning more than 5,300 tickets were out for Wednesday’s show in Chicago so they were 1,700 shy of capacity at the Wintrust Arena. With a bad snowstorm predicted to be coming this week to Chicago, it may hurt late sales and right now doesn’t look like it will sell out. The prediction is that it will be the biggest snowstorm of the season coming tomorrow night through Thursday morning. The C.M. Punk vs. MJF match did move 600 tickets from Thursday through Sunday which is good, but it’s nothing like the late movement for Ronda Rousey once the word got out she was in the Rumble, nor for Raw tonight (about 1,100 tickets moved with the Rousey announcement) (thanks to Eric Krol and William Zdon/Wrestle Tix)
Yesterday when we noted the parking prices for the NFC championship game at SoFi Stadium ($600 near the stadium), KCAL in Los Angeles reported that parking prices at the stadium will range from $700 to $1,000. When we talk about the secondary market get-in price at SoFi Stadium for the Super Bowl, it was $6,500 last night but has dropped to $5,450 for the fifth deck to $9,395 for the first deck. The average price sold is $8,498,the highest priced ticket sold so far is $24,363. Bayley and Sasha Banks were at the 49ers-Ramos game at SoFi Stadium yesterday. (thanks to Will Norris)
Kurt Angle said on his podcast that WWE called him to return to television for the next month to help build up WrestleMania. Angle was at the Royal Rumble on Saturday but did not appear in the match.
WWE
Brie Bella will be one of the contestants in “The Real Dirty Dancing” show on FOX which starts its season tomorrow night. It will be a four week competition.
AEW
The company announced the 4/6 Dynamite/Rampage taping will be in Boston at the Agganis Arena.
There will be a Dark taping at Universal in Orlando on Saturday with sessions from 2-5 p.m.and 7-10- p.m.
AEW will be making an announcement of a major health organization tie-in that would be starting for the month of February.
UFC
Jeremy Stephens, who let his UFC contract expire, has signed with the PFL. He noted he’s getting slightly more per fight than he did in the UFC, but he will fight more frequently, and has a shot at $1 million. He will compete at 155 rather than 145 like had been doing of late in UFC.
OTHER NOTES
Jeff Jarrett talks about getting back in the ring, Effy, and his minor league baseball team.
Warrior Wrestling said that they will announce Thunder Rosa’s opponent for her women’s title for the 2/12 show in Cicero, IL on Wednesday. They said it’s the earliest they can announce it. I don’t know if it will be the former Ember Moon, but Moon’s non-compete ends this week. The belief is she will go back to her prior ring name Athena.
AAW Legacy on Friday night on FITE at 8:30 p.m.Easrn with Mat Fitchett defending the AAW title against Laredo Kid, Ace Austin defending the Heritage title against Davey Vega, plus Lio Rush vs. Josh Alexa.
Dave Meltzer’s Giant Baba obituary from the February 8th, 1999, Wrestling Observer Newsletter may be one of his most massive obituaries in his history.
The size of a small book, the story of Baba is woven into many of the most important stories of pro wrestling history, especially that of Japan. We all know Dave is a huge fan of Japanese pro wrestling, so it’s no surprise that this was one of his most well researched and informative stories.
From his time as a student of Rikidozan to his final match and secret sickness, the story of Giant Baba is an incredible one so let’s discuss that on this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show.
The most detailed look at the life and career of Pat Patterson, from his childhood in Montreal, through his being Vince McMahon’s assistant, and everything in between, is the lead story in the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
This will likely go down as one of the best issues in history, with the stories on Patterson and Bobby Lee, the guy you never heard of who set box office records in the summer of 1978.
We look at Patterson’s career highlights, comments from some of the biggest names in the history of the business, where he got the name from, finding out he wa gay, his start in Boston, how Mad Dog Vachon made his career, the days in San Francisco, the greatest tag team of the era, being in the middle of the Cow Palace vs. HIC feud, his first encounter with Mae Young, Pretty Boy Patrick Patterson, the different stages that led to the Texas Battle Royal, the Cow Palace Battle Royal and the Royal Rumble.
We look at the character of Roy Shire, matches with the likes of Ray Stevens, Bob Backund and Sgt.Slaughter, the birth of the Intercontinental title, tours of Japan, the Quebec Dream, and WWE honoring him in Montreal.
Also in this issue:
Kenny Omega winning the AEW title, Sting coming, Don Callis and Impact Wrestling, and full coverage of AEW’s Winter is Coming.
The life and career of Bobby Lee, who made himself a legend in two months, and then how it all ended.
Agovernmental rule now protecting talent from having to adhere to the rules the rest of us go by, notes on Tribute to the Troops, notes on new WWE signings including one of the highest level athletes they’ve ever signed, update on a lawsuit against the company and how they are trying to get out of it, Talking mack, Slammy Awards, foreign ratings, how WWE & AEW are doing in the sports ratings, Broken Skull Sessions, Undertaker talks about ling to Shawn Michaels, top Exec makes more than $1 million in stock sale, and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
A feature on Jimmy Rave as his career comes to an end.
This year’s TripleMania show as well as a look back at the main events of every show to date.
Saturday’s UFC show with match-by-match coverage, business notes and ramifications of the key matches.
Television business, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Drew McIntyre, Goldberg, Johnny Gargano, Mojo Rawley, and actor Joe Manganiello were on The Bump this week. Kevin Owens and Ric Flair will be on next week’s show.
Reigns responded on Twitter after Goldberg called him out on The Bump: “I never wait in line. I am the attraction and I choose who’s next. And that’s Kevin Owens.“
A NXT TakeOver dark match, pitting Legado del Fantasma vs. Curt Stallion, Ashante ‘Thee’ Adonis, and August Grey has been uploaded to NXT’s Facebook account.
PWInsider reported that a “all hands on deck” meeting was held this past Tuesday. The meeting was mostly to introduce new President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan. Employees were also told that the new WWE HQ was moving along slowly, but surely.
Renee Paquette on The Bella Twins’ podcast talked about her leaving WWE (h/t WrestlingNews.Co): “It’s good now. I think as soon as I came to terms, I realized it is time to go. I’ve done everything that I could possibly do here. I had a great run. It was awesome. But for the other things I wanted to do in my career, I didn’t really see it happening there. Just with everything the way it lined up with the Covid stuff happening, me getting sick, not that had to do anything with my decision, but it was just like everything was weird for a while.”
Thecubsfan has translated a Mas Lucha interview with Dorian Roldan where he talked about leaving Twitch. He said that their deal with Twitch ended at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and feels they will reach more people with YouTube. He also said he expected to talk to the heads of AEW soon, and when asked about the AEW/Impact deal, he said to ask him again in a month.
Killer Khan has been accused of a hit and run on a bicycle. Khan has been accused of striking a woman in her twenties on his bike and fleeing the scene. The woman suffered a broken tooth among other injuries.
PWInsider is reporting that Joseph R. Meehan’s (Joey Ryan) attorneys have been given until December 29 to file pleadings to convince the court as to why the lawsuits, which have had little movement since being filed, should continue.
The main event for the Giant Baba Memorial show has been set.
IWGP Heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi will team with Yoshitatsu (who has been regularly wrestling for All Japan) to take on the team of Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara and Big Japan’s Daisuke Sekimoto. It will be the first time that Tanahashi and Miyahara will be in the same ring.
The event marks the 20th anniversary of Giant Baba’s death, as he passed away from liver failure on January 31, 1999. It will also have the official retirement ceremony for Abdullah the Butcher, who wrestled regularly for All Japan for a number of decades.
Here is the full, likely final card for the memorial show which will take place on February 19 at Sumo Hall. Broadcasting information is currently unknown:
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yoshitatsu vs. Kento Miyahara and Daisuke Sekimoto
Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs. NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi
Naomichi Marufuji and Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Shun Skywalker
Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata and Omasu Nishimura vs. Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori and Taiyo Kea
Atsushi Onita, Kendo Kashin, Hideki Suzuki and Hideki Hosaka vs. Great Kojika, Mitsuya Nagai, Shuji Ishikawa and Hikaru Sato in a street fight tornado bunkhouse deathmatch
SANADA and BUSHI vs. Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino in a three way match
Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yuma Aoyagi
Kazushi Miyamoto, Tomohiko Hashimoto, Daichi Hashimoto and Takuya Nomura vs. Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Okabayashi, Naoya Nomura and Ren Narita
Giant Baba Memorial battle royal featuring Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, Joel Deaton, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryuji Hijikata, Yuto Aijima, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Masahito Kakihara, Masao Inoue, Tamon Honda and Yasu Urano
Motoko Baba, the wife of Shohei “Giant” Baba and arguably the most important and influential woman in the history of pro wrestling, passed away on April 14th.
She was 78.
The news of her death was kept quiet until today and other details are not available. Her funeral was on Friday.
Motoko Baba and Shohei Baba were together at a young age but for a number of reasons, their relationship was kept secret from the public, as Shohei Baba was one of the most famous sports celebrities in the country and even in recent years was listed as one of the ten most famous athletes in Japanese sports history. The two ran All Japan Pro Wrestling together from its inception in 1972 until Giant Baba’s death in 1999. It wasn’t until 1982 when their relationship and marriage went public and she was publicly acknowledged as the number two person in the company. It was probably the most successful “mom and pop” pro wrestling company in history.
They had a “good cop” “bad cop” role in the company. Shohei Baba had a tremendously favorable image because all of the bad news fell on her to deliver, to keep his reputation with everyone clean. Because of that, she was often not well liked.
But she, every bit as much as he, ran the business and company in every aspect. The couple had no children, so wrestlers like Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, and others became like their kids. The company was very successful on television in the 70s and 80s, and then had their best box office period in the 90s, peaking in he early part of the decade when they sold out more than 200 consecutive events in Tokyo.
After his death from cancer, she became the majority owner of the company, and Misawa became company president and booker. Misawa wanted to change and expand the business but she was much more conservative about it, and it led to a falling out where Misawa and almost all of the top wrestlers with the exception of Toshiaki Kawada, Maunukea Mossman (Taiyo Kea), and Masa Fuchi left the promotion and formed Pro Wrestling NOAH.
The company did remain profitable, working with New Japan, until she sold it to a group backed by Keiji Muto in 2002. The company faded from popularity over the last 16 years, and most considered NOAH as the surviving branch of All Japan. Her name at times was attached to an attempt at reviving the company in recent years.
The final chapter in the career and life of Shohei Baba took place on the biggest show he ever main evented and the biggest show he ever promoted–some three months after his death.
The public reaction to the death of Shohei Baba over the past week stunned even the most ardent Japanese followers of pro wrestling. The reaction, for someone described in almost every form of medium as a national hero, went far beyond any recent sports deaths in recent U.S. culture such as a Mickey Mantle, and was more comparable to the reaction to entertainment legends such as Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Frank Sinatra.
The death of any major pro wrestling figure makes one reflect upon the past. But the death of Shohei Baba will likely have repercussions far more telling about the future, and in ways that nobody at this point can predict.
More than the death of a wrestling superstar or a legendary promoter, of which he was both and a lot more, his death spells the end of the major chapter in Japanese wrestling history, of which he was one of the two main participants. And his death leaves in question the future of the old style of wrestling, with lengthy main events, clean winners and losers, finishing moves that work against the top stars, of which his company was the lone holdover, and the beginning of a new chapter in the Japanese wrestling world. What it will turn into and how it will get there is far more difficult to examine than what it was and will probably never be again.
