Opponent Revealed For The Final Match Of The Legendary Keiji Mutoh's Career

The iconic Keiji Mutoh's retirement match will take place on 21 February.

by Andrew Pollard
Tetsuya Naito Keiji Mutoh NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17
NJPW

With the legendary Keiji Mutoh hanging up his boots next month, it's been revealed that the final opponent of Mutoh's iconic career will be Tetsuya Naito.

This bout came together following the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17's second leg this weekend, with Mutoh challenging Naito to face him at the Tokyo Dome on 21 February. As previously announced, that Tokyo Dome date will be Keiji's retirement match.

At WK17, Naito defeated Kenoh to close out a stacked card that saw NJPW and NOAH do battle. With Keiji Mutoh on commentary for that main event, the 60-year-old entered the ring once the contest was over. There, Mutoh laid down the challenge to the LIJ man; a challenge that was accepted.

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Elsewhere, today will see Mutoh wrestle his final ever match under his Great Muta persona. Taking place from the same Yokohama Arena that housed Wrestle Kingdom yesterday, the swansong for the Muta mantle will see the Pearl of the Orient teaming with AEW's Sting - who he rescued from a House of Black attack on AEW Rampage in September - and Darby Allin to face Hakushi, AKIRA and Naomichi Marufuji at the aptly-titled The Great Muta's Final Bye-Bye event.

Of course, as part of Keiji Mutoh's retirement tour, he took on - and lost to - WWE's Shinsuka Nakamura at NOAH: The New Year 2023 at the turn of 2023. That Nakamura bout was followed three days later by Mutoh's final New Japan match on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 17, with Keiji teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino to defeat SANADA, BUSHI and the aforementioned Tetsuya Naito.

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One of the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots, Keiji Mutoh is a true revolutionary and one of the most influential talents in the history of the industry, with him having amassed huge 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 a career that dates all the way back to 1984.

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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.