All Japan Pro Wrestling has been home to some of the greatest matches ever, but none quite like the Giant Baba vs Raja Lion match on June 9th, 1987.
The promotion has featured incredible matches involving talents like Genichiro Tenryu, Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaka Kawada and was the top promotion in New Japan for nearly three decades.
From its creation in 1972 to the infamous exodus of 2000, AJPW was the biggest wrestling company in Japan. Founded and led by Shohei Baba, better known as Giant Baba, it featured the top stars in Japan as well as the best talent from all around the globe.
Usually, this meant Americans like Stan Hansen and Terry Funk or British stars like Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid. However, one man from Pakistan broke the mould when he battled Giant Baba in maybe the worst wrestling match ever.
If you could even call it a wrestling match, that is.
Giant Baba Found Raja Lion And Brought Him Into AJPW For A Match
If anybody had seen Raja Lion before Giant Baba, there is no doubt they’d have brought him in for a match first.
The Pakistani Muhammad Malik Khan was discovered by the AJPW owner, although the circumstances are unknown. It was claimed he was an undefeated karate or judo masker in Pakistan, winning 100 bouts without defeat.
If you saw him, this made sense. Khan was 7 foot 2 and 286lb, a mountain of a man that towered over even the 6 foot 10 Giant Baba – who looked decidedly Regular Baba next to this giant man.
Thus, the name Raja Lion was bestowed upon him. Raja means a King or a Prince, whereas a lion is one of the deadliest, yet most regal, creatures in the animal kingdom. It conveyed a certain image onto this giant Pakistani which immediately smelled like money to Baba.
Now, of course, he wasn’t a martial arts wizard and had little training in fighting. Raja Lion was an actor first and foremost, appeared in the 1989 film Bloodfight. His only real asset was his height, which was lucky as he was so tall.
Wrestling always has room for a giant. Fans love to see these larger-than-life (literally) wrestlers stomping around the ring, no matter how unathletic and gangly they are.
And be warned – there are few as unathletic and gangly as Raja Lion, as he showed in his match against Giant Baba.
Giant Baba vs Raja Lion Took Place At AJPW Super Power Series 1987
Raja Lion was introduced to All Japan Pro Wrestling by Tiger Jeet Singh, a legendary villain who specialized in chaos. He was known as Antonio Inoki’s ultimate enemy in NJPW and was now set to bring even more misery onto Giant Baba too.
Singh, known for bringing swords into the ring and inciting brawls, presented Lion as an unbeatable giant ready to crush Baba. They both laid out a challenge to Baba on the microphone in the lead-up the show, with a video showing Raja Lion training on a dummy broadcast on TV.
He looked, and I don’t want to put this lightly, absolutely dreadful. His incredibly long legs gave out the weakest kicks you can imagine as he stumbled around the ring with as much grace as Bambi on ice with roller skates on.
Still, fans were intrigued by the match. Giant Baba could do no wrong in the eyes of the fans nor the wrestlers. He was beloved by all, mainly due to the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine he had with his wife, which ultimately caused the AJPW Exodus of 2000.
The match was promoted as a “Super Fight” with a special ruleset: 10 rounds of 3 minutes each. It promised martial arts action, but the execution would be anything but thrilling.
The rounds format seemed to be to cover up for Raja Lion’s lack of conditioning, talent and experience. That was clear as the match went on, with wild kicks being all he could muster, outside of a few lame chops.
The storylines leading up to the match painted Lion as Baba’s ultimate challenge. Fans were excited—or at least curious—about how their beloved hero would fare against this towering mystery man.
It Was One Of The Worst Matches Ever
From the moment Raja Lion walked into the ring at AJPW Super Power Series 1987 , things started to unravel. His entrance was grand, but his coordination was not.
Raja Lion stumbled through basic movements, relying on wild kicks that mostly hit the air. He fell several times trying to attack Baba, who effortlessly dodged or blocked his strikes.
He did look the part when he first got in the ring. Compared to the atrophying arms of Giant Baba, Raja Lion looked like a top-class wrestler until he actually had to do anything.
Had he had any talent, his seven-foot plus frame and enthusiasm could have taken him to the very top, under the watchful eye of Baba.
However, his performance which mainly consisted of throwing wild kicks at an impressive height to whiff the top of AJPW’s head was laughable.
As in, the fans actively laughed at the match.
Baba, ever the professional, kept the match moving with his signature arm locks and chops. The first round was a showcase of Lion’s incompetence. In the second round, Baba took control, securing an arm bar that forced Lion to submit.
Tiger Jeet Singh, never one to miss a dramatic moment, rushed the ring and attacked Baba with a sword, adding a theatrical flourish to the mess. Despite everything, Baba raised Lion’s hand in a show of respect—one of the oddest moments in an already strange encounter.
The Match Was Raja Lion’s First And Only Match
According to various sources, this match was one-and-done for Raja Lion. The Pakistani wrestler hung up his boots following the match at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
This is confusing as, immediately following the match and having his hand raised by Baba, Raja Lion declared his intention to join All Japan Pro Wrestling as a wrestler.
The bout was vilified by fans and mocked by people all over Japan and even found new fame in the internet age.
It has become arguably Giant Baba’s most famous match, thanks to channels like Botchamania popularising it for a modern audience.
It is similar to Antonio Inoki’s famous match against The Great Antonio, which found huge fame with Bill Burr’s succinct but hilarious review.
Giant Baba didn’t give up after this laughingstock and continued wrestling up until his death in 1999. He had his final match at the end of 1998, wrestling in a tag team match at the Real World Tag League 1998 final.
He sadly died just one month after his last match, although he got the chance to watch Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada putting on an absolute classic from his hospital bed, just days before hie death.
Sadly, the demise of Giant Baba put an end to AJPW’s dominance in Japan and saw the mutiny and exodus of Mitsuharu Misawa and the rest of the roster, which brought the rise of NOAH.
Little is known to what happened to Raja Lion after his defeat to Giant Baba. We can assume he returned home to Pakistan to live out his days, although that is just an assumption.
Wherever he is, he can rest assured that Giant Baba vs Raja Lion is one of the worst wrestling matches ever and will struggle ever to be beaten.
