
Story time boys and girls. Once there was a company known for it's great great wrestling, that set attendance records that have yet to be matched and reshaped the way pro wrestling is looked at forever. That company, boys and girls, is All Japan or at least it was. Fallowing the death of it's founder Giant Baba, All Japan found itself in some turbulent times. Their once fantastic mainevent scene was now unstable and in need of a new star, their roster was filled with aging veterans who were promised jobs for life by Baba, and worst of all there was a major power struggle going on behind the scenes. The feud between Mitsuharu Misawa and Motoko Baba (Giant Baba's widow) is one that will be discussed way beyond the lives of the two people involved in it. The main conflict between the two was a difference in philosophy's. Whereas Misawa wanted to expand All Japan's reach by building a stronger junior heavyweight division, establishing foreign and domestic partnerships, as well as running shows at better venues. (besides the Budokan All Japan ran some pretty shabby looking places.) Mrs. Baba wanted to leave the company as is, after all if something isn't broke why fix it. Needless to say the two never got along and at the height of the feud Mrs. Baba made some decisions that would forever change the face of her company. The Year was 2000 and Mrs. Baba and Misawa were about to let off some serious shots at one another. Becoming more and more frustrated with Misawa's handling of the promotion Mrs. Baba set out a successful power play to remove Misawa, painting him as an irresponsible man who never took his duties seriously. In response Misawa Took over half of the roster along with him and formed a little promotion called Pro Wrestling Noah. Looking to save her late husbands promotion made a series of decisions that would of never occurred under her husband's rule. A partnership and inter promotional feud with rival New Japan, the return of former ace Genichiro Tenryu (who Baba had publicly banned from the company in 1990) and worst of all she would turn the company over to an outsider, New Japan ace Keiji Mutoh. Mutoh's handling of All Japan is very controversial both to Japanese and western puro fans alike. He did away with many of the company's traditions and focused the product more so on entertainment than on wrestling. It goes without saying this plan wasn't all that successful and the company would go into even harsher times in the following years. Facing bankruptcy Mutoh sold the company to a group called Speed Partners. When selling the company one of the agreements between the two sides was that Mutoh would regain the role of company president (a position he resigned from after a lockeroom scandal) however the president of Speed Partners (Nobuo Shiraishi) would double cross Mutoh and appoint himself the new company president. This move offended Mutoh and many wrestlers alike and in a move reminiscent of Misawa, Mutoh left all Japan and formed his own promotion WRESTLE-1. Whom's roster we'll be discussing today.