Keiji Muto

Keiji Muto
Muto in 2009
Born (1962-12-23) December 23, 1962 (age 61)[1][2]
Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan[2]
Spouse(s)Hisae Ashida (m. 1992)
Children2
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Bach Mutoh[3]
The Black Ninja[1]
Great Mota[4]
(The) Great Muta[1]
Keiji Muto[1]
Kokushi[1]
Kokushi-Muso[1]
The Space Lone Wolf[1]
The Super Black Ninja[1]
The Super Ninja[1]
Takeda Shingen[5]
Viet Cong Ming[1]
The White Ninja[1]
Billed height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[6]
Billed weight104.5 kg (230 lb)[6]
Billed fromTokyo, Japan
The Land of the Rising Sun (as the Great Muta)
Trained byAntonio Inoki
Hiro Matsuda
Kotetsu Yamamoto
DebutOctober 5, 1984[1][2]
RetiredFebruary 21, 2023

Keiji Muto (武藤 敬司, Mutō Keiji, born December 23, 1962)[1][2] is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego The Great Muta (グレート・ムタ, Gurēto Muta) in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and during the 1980s and 1990s, and from his runs in other Japanese, American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican promotions. He was the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 2002 to 2013 and representative director of Wrestle-1 (W-1) from 2013 until its closure in 2020.

Considered one of the greatest and most influential wrestlers of all time, Muto is one of the first Japanese wrestlers (puroresura) to gain an international fanbase in the 1990s and beyond, thanks in large part to his Great Muta gimmick. The gimmick is one of the most influential in puroresu, emulated by many wrestlers, and seen as the most prevalent of Muto's alter ego's. Many wrestlers copied or modified some of the moves that he popularized or innovated, such as the Shining Wizard, Moonsault (also known as the Rounding Body Press), Muta Lock, and the Dragon-screw leg-whip. He took part in what was generally considered to be one of the bloodiest professional wrestling matches at the time against Hiroshi Hase, leading to the creation of the "Muta scale", which rates the bloodiness of matches relative to this one's 1.0 value.[7]

Muto is one of the five wrestlers to win the three major championships of puroresu (AJPW's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and Pro Wrestling Noah's GHC Heavyweight Championship) with Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshihiro Takayama, Satoshi Kojima, and Yuji Nagata. He also held the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, making him an overall nine-time world champion. He is also a 13-time world tag team champion with five AJPW World Tag Team Championships, six IWGP Tag Team Championships, one GHC Tag Team Championship, and one WCW World Tag Team Championship. In total, he held 32 championships throughout his 38 year career.

In 2013, Muto founded W-1, where he also wrestled semi-regularly. He made special appearances for the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, renamed Impact Wrestling in 2017) from 2014 to 2019, as part of a talent exchange with W-1. In June 2022, Muto announced that he would retire in 2023. His retirement match occurred on February 21, 2023, in the Tokyo Dome during Noah's Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last-Love" event.[8] In April 2023, Muto was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cite error: The named reference OWW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d 武藤 敬司. Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference BachMutoh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MotaDebutMatch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "DDT ProWrestling" Judgement2017～DDT旗揚げ20周年記念大会～ (in Japanese). Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  6. ^ a b "The Great Muta". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
  7. ^ Mancuso, Ryan (September 11, 2006). "Complete Playbook: The Great Muta Vol. 2 Revenge of Muta Commercial Tape". 411mania. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
  8. ^ "Keiji Muto's final match set for Pro Wrestling NOAH's Tokyo Dome return". Won/F4W - Wwe News, Pro Wrestling News, Wwe Results, Aew News, Aew Results. September 7, 2022.