10 Things You Didn't Know About The Great Muta
9. Modern Wrestling Is Unrecognisable Without Him
Keiji Mutoh was a trailblazer.
If he didn't invent the moonsault - it was created by Mando Guerrero, and Lanny Poffo brought it to the United States before the Great Muta tore up the scene - he certainly popularised and perfected it. Where Poffo's was eye-catching, he often collided knees-first with the mat without looking as though he'd connected with and winded his opponent. There was a staggered quality to the arc, where with Mutoh, he looked like he was shot out of a cannon before crushing the hapless opponent below.
Mutoh later in his career decided to introduce a new finisher, the Shining Wizard: a basement knee strike so effective that half of the wrestling world ripped it off. His imprint is all over two golden eras of New Japan Pro Wrestling; in addition to starring as the Ace of the promotion in its 1990s heyday, he brought back to prominence the dragon screw leg whip with which Hiroshi Tanahashi reversed the dramatic momentum of his resurgence era classics to scintillating dramatic effect.
In addition to bringing those three moves into or back into vogue, Mutoh was one of the first wrestlers to subvert how a wrestler of his stature "should" work; at a billed 6' 2" and 230 lbs, he looked like a heavyweight but moved and worked like a junior, becoming one of the first game-changing hybrids.