(JWA) A disappointing world title fight - Baba's first main event appearance - The history of Japanese wrestlers who have appeared at MSG (After Hours NOW)

Weekly Pro 24th October 2000

(Issue No. 1000)

The first Japanese wrestler to headline a show at MSG was Giant Baba, but his debut was on September 18th (where he defeated Billy Sybysko aka Bill Dromo), and he made seven appearances before challenging Sammartino for the WWF Championship (on February 17th). Even for Baba, it wasn't headlining a show right from the start.

The newspaper article from his first appearance featured a rare photograph of Rikidozan, who was on a US wrestling tour at the time, standing in front of the MSG entrance alongside his manager Fred Atkins and Baba. On that day, Baba, Mammoth Suzuki, and Yoshinosato all appeared at MSG at the same time, so it seems that Rikidozan, as the boss of the group, was visiting MSG to pay his respects to promoter Vince McMahon Sr. and ask him to take good care of the three. It would have been interesting if he had taken off his shirt and stepped into the ring.

Although it wasn't reported in Japan, on September 19th, the following day at Bridgeport Television Studios (for TV recording), he teamed with Yoshinosato to defeat Carlo Milano and Billy Sybysko (he was filling in for Mammoth Suzuki, who had fallen ill that day), so it's certain that his appearance at MSG the day before was not impossible. The truth is probably that he judged it impossible to break into the main event, given that Buddy Rogers was there, and Johnny Valentine and Antonio Rocca were in the semi-main, but this is typical of Rikidozan, who wasn't satisfied unless he was number one in everything*.

Now, regarding the WWWF World Championship match between Baba and Sammartino, which was widely reported in Japan, they actually had a singles match 15 months earlier, on November 13, 1961, in the MSG semi-final. Baba won that match by count-out outside the ring (5 minutes and 3 seconds), making this a revenge match for Sammartino. At the time of the defeat, he wasn't the WWWF champion, so the setting of revenge with the belt was perfect. He was defeated by a Canadian Backbreaker in 13 minutes and 38 seconds, and the 0-1 loss due to the curfew (regulations prohibiting shows after 11 pm) was disappointing for Baba, but this frustration became the root of the legendary wrestling matches in Japan that followed.

Exactly ten years after this match against Sammartino on June 27th 1974 (at the age of 36), Baba defeated Gorilla Monsoon to mark his final appearance at MSG with a victory, but it was scheduled as the fourth match. Considering that New Japan and WWWF began a full fledged partnership at the end of the year, it was symbolic treatment. 

After Baba, there was a ten year gap before any Japanese wrestlers appeared at MSG, with no records until Jumbo Tsuruta's appearance. 

The seismic shift accompanying the end of the Sammartino era will be discussed next week. 

Notes

"But this is typical of Rikidozan, who wasn't satisfied unless he was number one in everything": Compared to the worshipful articles of years past, by the turn of the century people were starting to look upon Rikidozan as a flawed individual, rather than a flawless hero. You would never have seen such a blunt line in the 1950s Weekly Pro magazines where he was often spoken of as the schoolboy hero who roughed up toughs or the selfless patron who looked after his friends.