Considered one of the most beloved Japanese wrestlers ever, Baba was a national hero with a level of popularity in Japan comparable to that of Hulk Hogan in the United States.

Baba was forced to give up baseball when he joined high school as he was continuing to grow at an incredible rate (190 cm at the age of 16) and no cleats could be sourced in his size.

Although Baba joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1955, he did not play in the league at all in his first year with the team by recommendation of director Shigeru Mizuhara.

Baba began suffering eyesight problems in 1957 and was forced to take time off for surgery when it was discovered he had developed a brain tumour.

He wrestled the likes of The Destroyer and Buddy Rogers numerous times, as well as Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden in February 1964.

[11] Baba also held the NWA International Heavyweight Championship on three occasions,[12] and won the World Big League a record six times.

[14] Baba would regain the PWF Heavyweight Championship in America from Abdullah The Butcher in 1979, making another 13 successful defences before dropping the title to Harley Race in 1982.

Between his debut in 1960 and April 1984, Baba wrestled 3,000 consecutive matches and did not miss a single booking, only breaking the cycle after he suffered a minor neck injury.

While continuing to be the promotion's top star, Baba also put a focus on using foreign wrestlers, inviting the likes of Dory Funk, Bruiser Brody, Abdullah The Butcher and Stan Hansen to compete for All Japan from the very beginning.

After losing the PWF Heavyweight Championship for the final time in 1985, Baba stepped back from the main event and instead focused on running the company while competing in lower-level matches, pushing Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta as his successors.

Baba ran his company with a schedule of eight tours a year travelling nationwide, and maintained this the entire time he was in charge.

Baba remained an extremely popular figure among fans, and continued teaming with young wrestlers and veterans in opening matches into the late 1990s, maintaining a full-time schedule until December 1998.

With the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship as the focal point, All Japan sold out more than 250 consecutive shows in Tokyo throughout the early to mid-1990s, routinely drawing houses in the $1,000,000 range eight times a year at Budokan Hall.

In 1998, Baba finally agreed to run the Tokyo Dome on May 1, and despite it being a few years since the company peaked, they still drew 58,300 paying fans.

It became well known that as a promoter, Baba would rather use a handshake agreement than a signed contract, as he had a great reputation for keeping his word when it came to match finishes and payrolls.

Baba was highly respected by foreign wrestlers, as he always made sure that they travelled first class and stayed in the best hotels, and paid for all of their beer and food.

Nine days later on January 31, 1999, Baba died of liver failure from complications of colon cancer at approximately 16:04 local time in the Tokyo Medical University Hospital.

Present at his deathbed were his wife, his older sister, his niece, Yukiko, All Japan ring announcer Ryu Nakada and senior referee Kyohei Wada.