Wrestling Legend The Great Muta made his AEW debut at AEW Grand Slam 2022, shocking fans during a run-in during a tag team match. He helped Sting and Darby Allin during their match against Buddy Matthews and Brody King, in a fight that will be shown on AEW Rampage on Friday.
The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion helped Sting, a former foe in WCW, and Darby Allin win their match against the House of Black, before celebrating with the duo after the match. This was his second appearance in AEW, with his first being as a judge during the Cody Rhodes vs Chris Jericho match at Full Gear 2019.
The Great Muta, who also goes by his real name Keiji Mutoh, is a legend of the wrestling ring and has been a constant presence for nearly 40 years. He has a long history with Sting, both in WCW and in Japan. The pair were both rivals and tag team partners in the 1980s and 1990s, with The Great Muta winning the WCW Television title off Sting in September of 1989.
Muta made history last year when he won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in Pro-Wrestling NOAH, aged 58. He became one of the oldest world champions in history and held the title until June 2021, where he lost to the belt to Naomichi Marufuji.
However, earlier this year Keiji Muto announced that he would be retiring from the wrestling ring. He revealed his final match would take place in 2023 and proceeded to compete on a farewell tour, wrestling his final matches as both Keiji Muto and The Great Muta.
With only a select few matches and with his recent appearance in AEW, fans will be wondering if The Great Muta or Keiji Muto will wrestle for AEW before his well earned retirement.
His final match will take place on February 21, 2023 at the Tokyo Dome, giving him 5 extra months to squeeze in a bout at All Elite Wrestling. Whether it be The Great Muta persona or as himself, Keiji Mutoh would be adding another feather to his cap if he would wrestle just once for AEW.
The obvious idea would be to have Muta teaming up with Sting. The pair were previously a tag team in the 1990s and it would be a fun call-back to fans if they could team together one more time. Muta has shown he can still go in the ring if needed, although due to the combined age of the pair, Darby Allin would probably be needed to do the heavy lifting gin the match. A six-man tag team match seems the most sensible thing for The Great Muta’s AEW debut
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