Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular
| Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Promotion | All-Japan Pro Wrestling New Japan Pro Wrestling | ||
| Date | January 28, 2001 | ||
| City | Tokyo, Japan | ||
| Venue | Tokyo Egg Dome | ||
| Attendance | 30,000 | ||
| chronology | |||
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The Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular was a professional wrestling memorial event produced by the All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion, which took place on January 28, 2001 at the Tokyo Egg Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the first memorial event held in memory of AJPW founder Shohei "Giant" Baba since his death in 1999, and subsequently followed by the Giant Baba Memorial Cup and Giant Baba Memorial Six Man Tag Team Tournament a year later. Ten professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card, with two including championships.[1][2]
The main event was an interpromotional Tag Team "dream match" between IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki and All-Japan's Toshiaki Kawada against Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu and Hiroshi Hase, a one-time star for New Japan Pro Wrestling and then a member of the Japanese parliament. Another featured bout was a "Legends match" which saw Terry Funk team with longtime rival Atsushi Onita to take on Abdullah the Butcher and Giant Kimala, which Funk and Onita won. The event featured two other interpromotional matches on the undercard; New Japan's Jushin Thunder Liger defeating All Japan's Masa Fuchi and Keiji Mutoh beating Taiyō Kea. The team of Johnny Smith, Jim Steele and George Hines defeated Mike Rotunda, Curt Hennig and Barry Windham (substituting for an injured Kendall Windham). The show also included a special in-ring retirement ceremony for Stan Hansen, one of the most dominant "Gaijin heels" in the promotion's history,[1] was honored by several wrestlers including The Destroyer and Mil Máscaras.[2]
The event was highly anticipated according to the professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer, especially the "dream team" featured in the main event,[1] but later reported that it attracted "a disappointing crowd of 30,000 fans". The show was aired on Nippon TV two days later.[2]
Results
January 28, 2001 in Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Egg Dome)
| No. | Results[3] | Stipulations | Times[3] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Kroffat defeated 13 other participants by last eliminating Yuto Aijima | Thirteen-man battle royal | 26:14 | ||
| 2 | Kim Duk and Shigeo Okumura defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Nobutaka Araya | Tag Team match | 14:33 | ||
| 3 | Mil Máscaras and El Hijo del Santo defeated Arkangel de la Muerte and Blue Panther | Lucha libre tag team match | 13:40 | ||
| 4 | Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai defeated Alexander Otsuka and Muhammad Yone | Singles match | 11:39 | ||
| 5 | Johnny Smith, Jim Steele and George Hines defeated Mike Rotunda, Curt Hennig and Barry Windham | Tag Team match | 15:22 | ||
| 6 | Jushin Thunder Liger (NJPW) pinned Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW) | Interpromotional "AJPW vs. NJPW" Singles match | 18:04 | ||
| 7 | Terry Funk and Atsushi Onita defeated Abdullah the Butcher and Giant Kimala | Legends match | 08:26 | ||
| 8 | Stan Hansen retirement ceremony/Guests:The Destroyer, Pete Roberts, Seiji Sakaguchi | — | |||
| 9 | "Dr. Death" Steve Williams pinned Mike Barton | Singles match | 14:47 | ||
| 10 | Keiji Mutoh (NJPW) defeated Taiyō Kea (AJPW) | Singles match | 14:54 | ||
| 11 | Kensuke Sasaki (c) and Toshiaki Kawada defeated Genichiro Tenryu (c) and Hiroshi Hase | Dream match | 23:48 | ||
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References
- ^ a b c Molinaro, John F.; Dan Lovranski (January 26, 2001). "All Japan Pro Wrestling's Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular". SLAM! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ a b c Molinaro, John F.; Zach Arnold (January 28, 2001). "SLAM! Wrestling: 'Dream Team' comes out on top". SLAM! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
- ^ a b "Weekly Puroresu" 2/13/2001 Baseball Magazine