The long time owner of All Japan Pro Wrestling for many years was also its biggest star Shohei Baba. He was a man who was spoken well of by all as a man of his word. I never had the pleasure of meeting the Giant Baba but many men I know well did know him. I have spoken with Bruno Sammartino many times about Baba. He has many stories to tell of their in ring battles. It is clear that Giant Baba was a huge star in Japan. As he got older he also was smart enough not to continue to book himself into main events and be the focus of the evening. He was also smart enough not to try and draw the house any longer. He looked for other talent to be able to draw the house. What Baba did that I found was impressive was book himself on the card but somewhere in the middle and many times in tag team matches. In the ninety’s my old tag team partner Carolina’s Own David Isley was booked in Japan by Stan Hansen. We had worked with Stan before in Charleston and I believe the Junkyard Dog was instrumental in getting this worked out as well. On the first night David was booked into a six man tag match his partners were Abdullah the Butcher and Joel Deaton. At some point in the match Baba backed David into the ropes he was getting ready to shoot him off for a big chop. In knowing how bad Baba’s chop would look Abdullah walked down the ring apron and said to David “Please go off your feet kid” of course David did and we still laugh about that story today. In another incident years earlier Gorgeous Gary Royal was working in a tag team match in Charlotte with Baba. It was a situation where Gary wasn’t aware of the legend that was Giant Baba. Since Baba was already at a point where his skills were starting to erode Gary didn’t sell very much at all. When he got to the back the head of talent relations James J. Dillon gave him a hard time about it. All Gary said was in a very innocent way, I didn’t think you would want me to sell that stuff it looked so horrible. There is a point to this story the legend of Giant Baba is a great one. It is a great story because it was lived by a man who understood himself and understood his industry.
If anyone reading this is a Jerry Lawler fan or a fan of Memphis wrestling you may not want to continue reading. It appears to me that many people blindly support Jerry Lawler and or Memphis Wrestling. There was recently a show run by Corey Maclin under the Memphis Wrestling banner. I am told this show drew less than a hundred people. If that number is not accurate it’s close enough to be considered accurate. It is time for Jerry Lawler to stop putting himself in main events. I looked forward to working with Hulk and Jerry on the Fed Ex Forum show. It is a crying shame that match never took place and at this point I am sorry that Hulk even kept his word and still appeared. In retrospect he should have backed out once Lawler backed out and lied to everyone. I hope there isn’t anyone naïve enough to believe that Lawler told the truth about the incident. If I was Jerry Lawler and for years and years I drew thousands of people to come see me, their hero how could I possibly continue to perform in front of a couple of hundred people. If Corey Maclin had any sort of control over his own company he would insist that a change be made. It is time to make someone else the future of Memphis Wrestling. If Jerry Lawler wanted what was best for Memphis Wrestling he would do what ever he could to help establish that new talent. In November Lawler will be fifty eight he has made nothing but money for thirty years. I can not imagine that there is a money need driving him, this is strictly an ego thing for Lawler. How much does his ego need to be fed. He is a commentator on a top rated wrestling program. He gets to do color commentary with the best play by play guy in the business. He has a young beautiful girlfriend. What more does one need to be happy? He has real wealth he could walk away from everything and never have a worry in the world. In a territory where the smart fans that read this site by a strong majority think that the price of a ticket should be five dollars is there even a chance of adding on to the legacy of Jerry Lawler. I say that as pathetic as the Memphis Wrestling program can be. As out of control as Corey Maclin has let his company become. It is outrageous that anyone could think that a fair price for a live event is five dollars. As long as the mentality of the people running shows is stuck in one position and the people aren’t willing to pay for a decent product Wrestling in Memphis will stay exactly as is. A very poor product with a lot of good young talent that is being wasted and mislead into believing they have a chance of actually making some money in the business. Please Jerry if not for your own good, for the city of Memphis and the surrounding areas start to transition your self out of an in ring role. Stay in the background or do what you do best become a manager just talk. Can’t you use your skills and knowledge to give some else a boost. Didn’t anyone do that for you at one time?
If anyone remembers Tiger Jackson he was a midget wrestler who spoke very little English. His biggest claim to fame was that he became the partner of Doink, his name was Dink. Well I went overseas with him as part of a tour one time. He was just such a unique looking individual. He had no hair on his body that anyone could see including no eyebrows. He was very close to his mother so when we arrived I figured that he would call his mom to say that we arrived ok. Well he was very frugal and when I asked him if he was going to call his mother he said “Me is tell my mother to watcha the TV if the plane is no crash is ok”. This was by far the funniest midget I have ever seen just being him not trying to do anything funny at all. I was very glad he got that break to be Dink, I haven’t heard about him in years. It’s a shame because he was truly an entertainer.
This picture was taken on Rob Russen’s IWA tour of Australia. The photo consists of me as Friday, Kamala, Paul Orndorff and a young girl that worked with us on the tour her name was Debbie Levy. She was a big help and beautiful girl. The show we were to appear on was Australia’s version of Wide World of Sports on Ch 9 in Sydney. We went over a week before the rest of the talent to promote the tour. I can tell you this Paul Orndorff was over big time as a babyface.
This has been a piece of my mind
“The Big Cheese” Sal Corrente
If you have any feedback you can write to me at salcorrente929@hotmail.com
