Inoki was influential in his MMA vision and his work over Baba. But Baba's disciples get talked about more I feel: Tenryu, Misawa, Kobashi, Akiyama. And with Misawa's NOAH being an offshoot of the old King's Road style, you could say Baba's legacy has lived on stronger.
This is worth debating. NOAH has been reduced to a 2nd tier promotion essentially. NJPW has been the top promotion in the East for the last 10 years. It is very arguable that Baba's influence has significantly waned since Misawa's death.
Inoki is way more influential no doubt. Risk taker and innovator. Baba always played it safe and basically carried on the NWA style of wrestling both in ring and committee wise in Japan once NWA kinda fizzled out
The Great Muta is my all time favorite Japanese Wrestler, but Antonio Inoki is the most Influental Japanese Wrestler for sure, with Giant Baba being a close second...
This host seems to insinuate that Inoki was at best a mediocre shooter, so I'll share what's been well documented over the years: the wrestling organization Inoki first joined, the JWA, had top talent in amateur wrestling, Kosen Judo (which was quite different from the Olympic-style sports judo) and other arts. Being a national high school shot put champ in Brazil, Inoki was surrounded by great talent and quickly established himself as the most dedicated of them all and shortly afterwards the best competitor and shooter. Masa Saito (later known as Mr. Saito) was Japan's Olympic team member in freestyle wrestling, and he was shocked when facing Inoki in the JWA - he would later admit that he was lucky not to compete with Inoki to make the Olympic team. So Inoki was already a solid shooter before he ever met Karl Gotch, and too many have this misconception that all his shoot knowledge came from Gotch. Of course, Inoki also spent time training with Lou Thesz. With respect to Pakistan, Inoki had no choice but to end the match that way against Akram because the latter suddenly insisted on a shoot match, and the referee didn't call it when he submitted multiple times. When Inoki was later invited to face the younger guy, he had no intention to humiliate the clan nor the Pakistani people again, and he chose to give them some dignity back by only responding with defensive moves the entire match. The referee called the match a draw, and Inoki chose to do what he did for the fans in the packed arena. Inoki considered Pakistan as a potential market, and he had no intention to engage in another shoot with a national figure. He returned to that country to do a favor, and he didn't even invite the Japanese press to cover he match.
Not really. Roland Bock was also the promoter who invited Inoki to a grueling tour of West Europe, and he definitely had ulterior motives. He was known to injure opponents, but Inoki was still prepared and nothing really serious happened. Shoots took place when Inoki faced national figures in Pakistan, S. Korea, when their status forced them to act silly.
It's Roland Bock not "Roland Back" or "Bach" or "Buck" or whatever Meltzer is trying to say there. Why be so ignorant? You can pronounce Inoki's name properly and not like "eye-nook-eye" or whatever so why are you so lazy with Roland Bock's name? Also Inoki converted to Islam, why did Dave leave that out?
Just doesn't sound like he knows much about Inoki. The 1970s was his prime years and perhaps the best years for NJWP. As for Inoki converting to Islam, that never happened. The Shias gave him a name, but he never officially embraced the religion.
@@thevoice6961 well Inoki mentioned somewhat following it in interviews from what I've read. And even if it's not a real conversion it still should've been mentioned.
