>>16037624Because he was an extremely personable guy with a load of charisma. Inoki was the only person that I know of that had a personal dislike of Baba, and that was owed almost entirely to the fact Baba was pushed as the next ace in JWA while Inoki was booked as his sidekick at best and personal jobber at worst. Despite that Baba was so chill, charismatic, and professional that Inoki was able to put aside his grievance and work together with Baba several times for cross promotional events.
The only time I have heard about Baba losing his cool was one time when he was golfing with some politicians and yakuza. Jado and Gedo were working for AJPW at the time and had to relay a message to Baba. They showed up at the country club dressed like their gimmicks and started passing the message to Baba using the kayfabe names of the people involved. Baba was so embarrassed over the way Jado and Gedo were dressed, their manners, and discussing wrestling related stuff in such an unprofessional manner in front of these senior politicians and gangsters that he started screaming at Jado and Gedo right there on the greens of the country club.
That is my impression of Baba based on every single thing I have read about him. Funny, personable, but above all else someone that valued professionalism and appearances.
