Trivia / All Japan Pro Wrestling

• Career Resurrection: Giant Bernard, high profile hairy eyesore to legit over star.
• Executive Meddling: The part-time run of aging ex-judoka Anton Geesink was a network ploy for ratings.
  • A more extreme example of this was the network-mandated restructuring in 1981. Giant Baba was replaced by Nippon TV president Mitsuo Mitsune as AJPW president, and a three-year plan was put in place to phase out Baba as a singles star, groom Jumbo Tsuruta to take his place, and establish Genichiro Tenryu as the #2 star of the new generation. Baba's leash as a singles star was somewhat loosened because of how big a draw his feud with Stan Hansen turned out to be, but sure enough, he never challenged the traveling NWA champion again after the ouster. (Akio Sato was instated as booker as part of this division of power, and he introduced major backstage reforms.) However, in agreeing to step down Baba did get the promise from Nippon TV that they would give All Japan a television slot for the rest of his life.
• Fake Nationality: The Mexico Amigos. They were all Japanese.
• Follow the Leader: All Japan is generally credited with popularizing the streamers fans throw at pro wrestling events. Previously such things would be reserved only for the promotion's very top star, if they were even seen at all. It was here that pretty much any moderately popular baby face could make them rain on the ring.
• Real Song Theme Tune:
  • Abdullah the Butcher used Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days".
  • Gary Albright used Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile".
  • Bruiser Brody used Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song".
  • Terry Gordy used Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird".
  • The Road Warriors used Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" from Paranoid (Album).
  • Yoshihiro Takayama used Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy".
  • Steve Williams used KISS's "I Love It Loud".
  • Yoshiaki Yatsu used Deep Purple's "Comin' Home", then Europe's "Love Chaser".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Wrestlers and journalists alike consider the early death of head trainer Masio Koma to have had a significant effect on the company's direction. While Koma's methods were rooted in the old style of the JWA, he also remained good friends with NJPW head trainer Kotetsu Yamamoto after the schism, and the two would talk shop about their ideas through the mid-70s. (It is also likely that Koma had received some training under Karl Gotch during his one-year tenure as a JWA trainer.) The Great Kabuki has gone so far as to say that his death ruined the company, not only because they struggled to successfully produce a homegrown talent for much of the late 70s, but also because the training that the Funks did for top prospects (such as Tenryu and Takashi Ishikawa, both of whom were sent abroad to train and debut) resulted in a more Americanized, "passive" house style.
  • Despite its general attitude towards shoot-style, Giant Baba and the AJPW management did try to secure some of its stars through the years. Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada were offered big money to wrestle for them after they left NJPW, Kiyoshi Tamura was also contacted when they heard he was returning to pro wrestling, and even Volk Han was in talks until he declined out of loyalty for Maeda. Only Masakatsu Funaki accepted one of their offers (Minoru Suzuki did come before him, but he had returned earlier for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH and was not working shoot-style anymore).
  • In July 2014, YASSHI proposed to bring Voodoo Murders again to AJPW after he wrestled a few matches for them, but executives vetoed the idea fearing it would also bring back the controversy of the TARU-Hate incident. YASSHI had already cut a promo about it when he received the no.

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