10 Things You Didn't Know About The Great Muta
7. His Comeback Story Is Better Than Anybody's
Mutoh was considered finished very early in his career; in addition to working an intense and futuristic style, in a scene that demanded the utmost effort in accordance with its approach to crowd psychology, Mutoh's knees were all but gone after just a few years as a result of the moonsault's curse.
He truly broke through in New Japan in 1990, but as the decade drew to a close, he was already hamming it up as a heel Great Muta in nWo Japan. The stable never reached the transformative heights reached by the original group, but it was a bigger hit than its knock-off energy might indicate. Mutoh tweaked his in-ring style, and, through cult of personality, he remained over.
This run was thought to have brought to and end Mutoh's days as a workrate phenom, but he soon changed his look and ring style to emphasise the brutal, wholly unique Shining Wizard knee strike. Born with an arresting presence and mystique, in 2001, he was able to blend his disparate characters to outstanding effect. Previously, as Muta, he indulged in schlock where, as Mutoh, he at times relied on flash. As the reborn, shaven-headed Keiji Mutoh, he pared everything back.
It was as if he was better when he was less self-conscious; that much is certainly true of his appalling, egotistical work since 2021.
To use a comparison you might be more familiar with: Keiji Mutoh, who was superb in 2008, too, went on two separate Shawn Michaels-adjacent comeback runs.
He might well have been the very best in the world in 2001 - something that, owing to the unprecedented standard set by the Four Pillars of AJPW, had always eluded him.