10 Wrestlers Who Inflicted The Most Damage To Their Bodies
6. Keiji Mutoh
The originator of the Muta Scale - as the Great Muta, he bled so many buckets in an infamous 1992 match opposite Hiroshi Hase that it is considered the benchmark - Keiji Mutoh does not make this list for scarring his forehead.
This was an aberration in a career in which he suffered exponentially more damage to his knees.
Mutoh enjoyed an incredibly distinguished career, in which he both starred throughout the 1990s puro boom and generated very good business during a down period. He was adept at playing theatrical sensation and stripped-back gatekeeper veteran alike. The moves for which he was most famous, the Shining Wizard and the moonsault, all but destroyed his ability to walk.
He's still working, and in a bizarre development, he was awarded the GHC Heavyweight Title in 2021. His matches ranged from drab to embarrassing to soul-destroying. Mutoh was a legend whose longevity yielded a lifetime of memories. Watching him shuffle across the ring and practically collapse on his a*se, unable to lift his leg, was excruciating.
He formally retired the moonsault that year. Sadly, this felt more like bargaining than a reconciliation of reality.