The Giant Baba Memorial Cup was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

memorial event produced by the All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, which took place from January 2 to January 14, 2002, at

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, Hakata Star Lane in

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, the Nagasaki NCC Studio, Sasebo Sports Bunka Hall, Kokura Northern Gymnasium, Kagoshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka Central Gymnasium, and the Bunka Gym in

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Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was the second event held in honor of AJPW founder Shohei "Giant" Baba preceding the

Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular The Giant Baba Memorial Spectacular was a professional wrestling memorial event produced by the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions, which took place on January 28, 2001 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. ...

in 2001 and was followed by the

Giant Baba Memorial Six Man Tag Team Tournament The Giant Baba (Hai Sodatsu) Memorial Six Man Tag Team Tournament, or simply the Giant Baba Six Man Cup, was a professional wrestling memorial event produced by the All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion, which took place from April 13 to May 12 ...

three months later. Thirty-one

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were featured on AJPW's "New Year Giant Series" tour over a three-week period, with the opening rounds, semi-finals and the final match airing on Gaora TV. The Giant Baba Memorial Cup, held as a

round robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

, had a uniquely different point system traditionally used by the

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World's Strongest Tag Determination League __NOTOC__ The , more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually ...

. Winners were awarded points on the duration of the match rather than simply defeating an opponent. *A match under 5:00 min. would receive 5 points. *A match under 10:00 min. would receive 4 points. *A match under 15:00 min. would receive 3 points. *A match under 20:00 min. would receive 2 points. *A match ending in 20:00 min. time-limit draw would receive 1 point. The participants were separated into two separate blocks;

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Nobukazu Hirai Nobukazu Hirai (born December 30, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for competing in All Japan Pro Wrestling. He is the son of former Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance wrestler Mitsu Hirai. Professional wrestling career Super World ...

, Hideki Hosaka,

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and

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were in "Block A" and Nobutaka Araya, Yaz Urano,

Tomoaki Honma is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and a two-time World Tag League winner with Togi Makabe. Professional wrestling career Big Japa ...

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, and

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were in "Block B". The winners of each block, Mitsuya Nagai and Nobutaka Araya, faced each other in the tournament finals at the Yokohama Bunka Gym on January 14, 2002.

Results

The Giant Baba Memorial Cup was a round-robin tournament consisting of two six-man blocks, and running from January 2 to January 14, 2002.

References

{{Reflist Professional wrestling memorial shows 2002 in professional wrestling All Japan Pro Wrestling tournaments