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
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Giant Baba Memorial Cup

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. The event was actually named Kings Road New Century 2001, but had the theme of a memorial event held in memory of AJPW founder Shohei "Giant" Baba following his death in 1999, and was 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 Jyushin 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 Jyushin 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
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References

  1. 1 2 3 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.
  2. 1 2 3 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.
  3. 1 2 "Weekly Puroresu" 2/13/2001 Baseball Magazine
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