Huge Surprise Name To Appear On This Week's AEW Rampage (Spoilers)

Those at Arthur Ashe for last night's Rampage taping were left in shock...

by Andrew Pollard
The Great Muta
IMPACT Wrestling

With this week's AEW Rampage taped directly after last night's Dynamite from Arthur Ashe Stadium, those in attendance were left shocked by an appearance from the legendary Great Muta.

Muta came to the ring during the Sting and Darby Allin vs. Buddy Matthews and Brody King match, with the Stinger handcuffed to a chair and about to be decimated by a baseball bat-wielding Matthews. From there, the Pearl of the Orient made his way out, initially stared at Sting, then turned his attention to Buddy and ultimately hit the Australian with his patented mist.

Sting would pick up the win for his team, and he and Muta shared an embrace during the post-match celebrations.

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Of course, Sting and the Great Muta have a storied history both as rivals and as partners.

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The pair would first cross paths in 1989 when Gary Hart brought Muta into the NWA's WCW territory, and the Japanese star would even topple the Stinger to embark on a 121-day reign as the NWA World Television Champion. As alluded to, these two icons would eventually form an alliance, and one particularly notable bout saw Sting and Muta team up to battle the Steiner Brothers at 1992's NJPW Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome event.

Skipping ahead a couple of years, these two face-painted superstars would find themselves donning nWo colours at various points, and they'd also once again butt heads during the Great Muta's return to WCW in 2000.

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For those maybe not familiar with the Great Muta, Keiji Mutoh is a true great of the industry and one of the most influential talents of all time, with him having amassed major success in the likes of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah, Jim Crockett Promotions/WCW, Championship Wrestling from Florida, and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council across his 38-year (and counting) career.

Currently signed with Pro Wrestling Noah, the 59-year-old Mutoh is in the midst of a retirement tour right now, with the final match of his stunning career scheduled to take place from Yokohama Arena on 22 January 2023.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.