Minus-Star Match Reviews: Giant Baba vs. Raja Lion – AJPW, June 20, 1987

Before there was Satnam Singh, before there was the Great Khali, before there was Giant Gonzalez, there was Raja Lion, a “wrestler” so bad he made Giant Baba look like Kurt Angle.

This match isn’t particularly well-known outside of small circles of the internet wrestling fandom; in fact, most people – myself included – likely know of this match thanks to Maffew’s Botchamania series. But when you look back at this, it’s one of the funniest bad matches in modern times. There’s not much to it but there’s enough for it to fall firmly into the let’s-laugh-at-how-bad-this-is category. Why is that? Read on to find out.

The story

There isn’t much out there about this match since it took place in the kayfabe-heavy 1980s and what little info that survived to the present day is shrouded in rumor and uncertainty. Some have alleged that Raja Lion was just some ludicrously tall dude Baba found in a restaurant and saw dollar signs in a match with him. Others have noted that he was actually a Pakistani actor who was paid a decent amount to face off against the literal biggest wrestler in Japan.

In storyline, however, Raja Lion was introduced as a heavy for Tiger Jeet Singh, who had jumped ship from New Japan to All Japan. Lion was billed as standing 7-foot-2 and weighing 286 pounds. He was also billed as some sort of karate champion, as seen with his bare feet and metallic green baggy pants. But his stature also made him unimposing; his lanky physique made him closer to Gonzalez than to Khali, so much so that he made the almost alien-looking Giant Baba look like he had Hulk Hogan’s physique by comparison.

So here was Baba, the beloved founder and owner of AJPW, taking on some random Pakistani tall man with dubious credentials in front of 14,000 people in the company’s main stomping grounds, Budokan Hall. This seemed like a completely nonsensical direction for Baba, especially since the only impressive things this guy had were his height and his reach. But Baba was determined to get something out of him despite many wrestlers criticizing Baba for his soft and almost delicate offense. even though Baba had slowed down considerably by 1990, there was a time when Baba was actually a gifted wrestler who could pull off believable moves in the ring. So could Baba pull that off again here and actually make this one-time match into something more?

The match

This match took place on June 9, 1987 and was taped for AJPW’s June 20 TV broadcast. The match is contested under European wrestling rules, meaning that the match is divided into three-minute rounds.

Lion slaps Baba’s hand away and lands some slow kicks but then loses his balance ten seconds into the match. Baba blocks a side kick which sends Lion crumpling back to the mat. Lion continues with feints and sweep attempts and hits a chop so bad it makes Eddie Kingston look like Wahoo McDaniel or Kenta Kobashi. Lion gets Baba into a corner with more lazy kicks and chops but then Baba traps Lion’s arm. Lion gets a ropebreak. A few of Lion’s kicks connect with Baba’s head but he no-sells them and then catches Lion’s leg and lands a single-leg takedown. Lion tries again with more kicks but Baba catches his leg again and this time palms his face with enough force to send him falling. Baba goes for a double wristlock but Lion gets a ropebreak to end the first round.

Round two begins and it’s more of the same: slow, light, grazing kicks from Lion to Baba’s general head area with one literally sweeping over top of it. Some thrust kicks and weak chops lead to the unthinkable: Baba losing his trademark grin. Lion lands a few more chops and then Baba decides enough is enough. He catches Lion on a chop, waistlocks him, and locks in a modified rear armbar. Lion taps out after about twenty seconds, bringing this match to a merciful end.

Winner after 4:44 combined time: Giant Baba

Post-match, Tiger Jeet Singh assaults Baba with his sword but Baba brushes him off relatively easily because, Baba. Then he raises Lion’s hand in a show of sportsmanship, also because Baba.

Review

Bret Hart once described Baba as “slow, phony, an uncoordinated”. If he had such a harsh opinion of Baba, one can only imagine what kind of language he’d use to describe Raja Lion if he bothered to.

This was horrible but at the same time hilarious. Raja Lion had no business in a wrestling ring but Baba wanted to pull this off, ostensibly as some enormous act of pettiness towards his erstwhile rival. Kim Justice, a YouTube personality dedicated to interesting stories and feuds in puroresu, had an interesting theory about this match that casts it in a different light. According to him, this match was bad on purpose because it was Baba taking a dig at Antonio Inoki, who constantly promoted fights and contests involving non-wrestlers while Baba himself focused on wrestling and nothing else. The argument posits that Baba was playing the role of Inoki here (complete with submission finish) and Lion was meant to symbolize the various non-wrestlers that Inoki brought in over the decades. That argument makes sense: Lion is an outsider with no experience in puroresu, only knows how to strike, and he’s brought in for a once-and-done appearance against the company owner who wins by making his challenger give up instead of with a pin.

It’s an interesting theory and it helps lighten the impact of how bad this match was. Looking at it in this way it becomes clear that this match was and still should be played for laughs. It shouldn’t be taken seriously as Baba was clearly not worried about this match affecting his credibility.

Still, though, Raja Lion was worse in practice than on paper. He was so uncoordinated and off balance that he fell on his ass ten seconds into the match. His chops and hand strikes looked like they wouldn’t even hurt a child, and this was compared to Baba whom Mick Foley once described as having moves that couldn’t break an egg. Lion was pathetic on offense, didn’t know how to sell on defense, and stumbled around the ring like a drunk performing a field sobriety test. He deserved to be laughed at for the simple reason that his awkwardness in the ring made him look goofy and absurd.

Final Rating: -*

This is a bad match but not the worst one in AJPW history; that distinction goes to a random match between former gaijin legends Abdullah the Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh who, three years after this, would have a nine-minute stinker that drew legitimate boos from the usually respectful and polite AJPW audience. In this match one can clearly hear the audience having something of a good time. They’re cheering Baba and laughing at the absurdity of this giant Pakistani failing to land anything remotely resembling credible offense.

Since this was bad on purpose and had no way of underwhelming, it’s not as bad as a match that’s presented as a big deal and then ends up a huge disappointment.

Thanks for reading.