10 Early WWE Hall Of Fame 2018 Predictions
4. The Great Muta
The Great Muta is the clear favourite to follow in the footsteps of Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami as the next major Japanese name to receive Hall of Fame recognition.
His presence in North America was major. His legendary 1989 extended introduction was a notable factor in the NWA enjoying its greatest ever critical year. His work in the midcard was sensational. His workrate was so crisp, advanced and innovative that he opened western eyes to the concept of the Japanese workhorse on a national scale.
He is known by the majority of western fans for that sensational run, but he recovered from a succession of knee injuries, compounded by his invention of the Shining Wizard, to become one of wrestling's great renaissance men as both Muta and Keiji Mutoh - coming back time and again to enjoy critical and commercial reigns with New Japan's IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Mutoh is an undisputed legend of wrestling, not that that matters.
Beyond his self-evident accomplishments, Muta is one of few deserving Japanese performers of whom WWE owns the rights to considerable video footage, so his is a more convenient - and perhaps therefore more likely - induction than most.