AEW Star Added To The Great Muta's Retirement Match

This AEW talent will be a part of the Great Muta's final ever match on 22 January.

by Andrew Pollard
Darby Allin The Great Muta
AEW/NJPW

While it's long been known that Sting will be a part of the Great Muta's final ever match, the Stinger's AEW cohort Darby Allin has now been added to that bout.

Pro Wrestling NOAH revealed this news, taking to Twitter to announce that Darby will be teaming with Sting and Muta in six-man action for the Japanese legend's final outing.

This match will take place on 22 January from Yokohama Arena for The Great Muta's Final Bye-Bye event, although it's yet to be confirmed who this trio will be teaming up to face in the Muta's final contest.

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It's worth noting that this six-man tag bout will be the final match for the Great Muta character, not the man behind the paint, Keiji Mutoh.

Mutoh is currently scheduled to completely wrap up his in-ring career at February 21's Keiji Mutoh Final Pro-Wrestling 'Last' Love Hold Out event from the Tokyo Dome. Of course, as part of Mutoh's ongoing retirement tour, he'll also - as his Great Muta persona - wrestle WWE's Shinsuke Nakamura at NOAH: The New Year 2023 on 1 January.

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The Great Muta shocked the wrestling world earlier this year when he came to the aid of Sting during a September edition of AEW Rampage. After the Stinger and Darby Allin had picked up a win over House of Black's Buddy Matthews and Brody King, Matthews was ready to attack the handcuffed WCW Icon post-match... until Muta's music hit and the Pearl of the Orient made his way to the ring to spit his patented mist in the Australian's eyes.

The history between Great Muta and Sting dates all the way back to 1989, when Gary Hart brought Muta into the NWA's WCW territory. Over the years, the two face-painted superstars would do battle and become partners at times, with particular highlights being Muta defeating the Stinger to embark on a 121-day reign as the NWA World Television Champion, and the pair teaming up to memorably face the Steiner Brothers at 1992's NJPW Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome special.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.