Some interesting stories about Baba

[Jason]

I correspond with someone who lives in Osaka and occassionally trade tapes with him. I asked him some questions about why Misawa and co. left All Japan and he told me some pretty interesting stories about Baba being cheap with money that I thought I would pass along.

The first story was about The Great Kabuki's retirement ceremony. Apparently, Baba had his retirement ceremony in the ring as is usual. Baba gave him a letter of appreciation and a paper bag including a roll of notes (I assume he meant yen notes). When Kabuki came back to the dressing room and checked the paper bag, he found there was no money, but rather a bunch of broken up pieces of newspaper.

The other story he told me was about a wrestler named Haru Sonoda (The Magic Dragon) who died in a plane crash with his wife on their honeymoon. Apparently, Baba, rather than Sonoda's family, was the beneficiary on his life insurance policy. I guess there were some suspicions that Baba being the beneficiary was somehow dirty.

Hisa, have you ever heard these stories before or any other similar stories about Baba?

[Muiyan]

Man, i hope to gawd this ain't real. The described actions are revolting.

[Mutoh-Mania]

Originally posted by Muiyan
Man, i hope to gawd this ain't real. The described actions are revolting.

But I have to admire Muiyan for merely using the word revolting and not words which immediately popped into my head.

[Hisaharu Tanabe]

Originally posted by Jason
The first story was about The Great Kabuki's retirement ceremony. Apparently, Baba had his retirement ceremony in the ring as is usual. Baba gave him a letter of appreciation and a paper bag including a roll of notes (I assume he meant yen notes). When Kabuki came back to the dressing room and checked the paper bag, he found there was no money, but rather a bunch of broken up pieces of newspaper.

Kabuki left All Japan to join SWS. After SWS closed, he went along with Tenryu and joined WAR. I wonder how he could have a retirement ceremony in All Japan. I was already living in the US when Tenryu, Kabuki, and a bunch of others left All Japan for SWS, so I might have missed something. However, at the time Kabuki left, he and Tsuruta were the World Tag Team champs, so I believe he didn't do any retirement ceremony while he was in All Japan.

Hisa, have you ever heard these stories before or any other similar stories about Baba?

Never heard any of these stories. However, I heard that all the money Giant Service (a company that sells All Japan merchandises such as wrestler figure, t-shirts, etc.) directly went to Baba. That sounds very unfair to me.

Dory Funk Jr.'s web site used to have an article by Marti Funk that exposes what kind of people the Babas were. I can't find it anymore for some reason. She told me the same stories that she wrote in the article when we had a dinner together several years ago. If her stories are true, I wouldn't be surprised by the Sonoda story.

[bannabop]

Sorry to pull this up.. But how did you meet Mrs.Funk, and have you found that article?

[Pheonix_Chi25]

Kabuki left All Japan to join SWS. After SWS closed, he went along with Tenryu and joined WAR. I wonder how he could have a retirement ceremony in All Japan. I was already living in the US when Tenryu, Kabuki, and a bunch of others left All Japan for SWS, so I might have missed something. However, at the time Kabuki left, he and Tsuruta were the World Tag Team champs, so I believe he didn't do any retirement ceremony while he was in All Japan.

Never heard any of these stories. However, I heard that all the money Giant Service (a company that sells All Japan merchandises such as wrestler figure, t-shirts, etc.) directly went to Baba. That sounds very unfair to me.

Dory Funk Jr.'s web site used to have an article by Marti Funk that exposes what kind of people the Babas were. I can't find it anymore for some reason. She told me the same stories that she wrote in the article when we had a dinner together several years ago. If her stories are true, I wouldn't be surprised by the Sonoda story.

>>

I only got one word for that Hisa......WOW!

[The Crowbar King]

While I'm not that smart to puro, I would like to know some of Baba's stories. While I didn't get that great of a feeling about the old lady, I have always heard Baba talked about in high esteem.

[bannabop]

Sorry... Hisa do you have the info/interview?

[Haiku Warrior]

The other story he told me was about a wrestler named Haru Sonoda (The Magic Dragon) who died in a plane crash with his wife on their honeymoon. Apparently, Baba, rather than Sonoda's family, was the beneficiary on his life insurance policy. I guess there were some suspicions that Baba being the beneficiary was somehow dirty.

It is not uncommon (in the U.S. granted) for big companies to sign out life insurance policies on their employees. Sometimes the action is taken without the employees' knowledge. I believe Wal-Mart and a couple of other American companies got in legal trouble for this. I don't know how similar this could relate to a Japanese company though.

[naterob2003]

It's only smart for a company to put a life insurance on one of its employees when they are in a job like this. Say that wwe didnt have a life insurance policy on owen hart.... how would they pay his family any money except for being out of their pocket. Freak accidents happen and i dont think that there is any problem with having life insurance on your employees.

[BadNews]

its not like wal-mart employees cant get killed. just imagine if one of those mega-size orange juice cans falls on some guys head

[naterob2003]

nots not really true... what if a forklift spilled over and the crate they were carrying, fell off and broke someone's neck and they die of complications. It isnt dumb by any stretch of the imagination. I think that if a company provides health care or insurance for you, they deserve to have life insurance on you as well. It helps save their rear.

[Haiku Warrior]

But what is illegal about it is that it is done without the employees' knowledge and the family doesn't see one penny, yen, peso, pound, space-credit, whatever... This isn't "providing" health care for a hardworking empoyee. This is stealing from the berieved families.