Sometimes, a wrestler lasts a lot longer than most expect. This is the case with the now legendary Keiji Mutoh (aka The Great Muta). Having made his debut back in 1984, Mutoh has done just about wrestling in professional wrestling and is considered to be one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots. Even now, at 58 years old he became GHC Heavyweight Champion, and became just the third man to ever win all major championships in Japan. However, his age has impacted his style, and now he’s officially retiring a move he helped popularize, the moonsault.
Keiji Mutoh Helped Make The Moonsault A Staple Move
A moonsault has become a crucial part to most high flying wrestlers arsenal, often not being enough to simply do the traditional version. We’ll see corkscrew variants, springboards, standing, or even double moonsaults, but with Mutoh, the original has always been enough. It was invented by Mando Guerrero in the 1970’s, and Mutoh simply helped popularize the move throughout his career, much to the detriment of his knees.
Because of that damage to the knees, he would start to use the move less and less, instead innovating the Shining Wizard knee strike as a finisher in addition to the Figure Four Leg Lock. These moves allowed him to extend his career to where it is today, while remaining a popular star and claiming more championships. He most recently used it in a match against Naomichi Marufuji, where Marufuji won the GHC Championship from Mutoh. This will be the last time Mutoh will have used the move.
Officially Retiring The Move To Stop Fan Worry
In a recent article from Tokyo Sports, we learned that Mutoh has decided to stop using the move. “I won’t do it anymore. That’s the end.” Mutoh said, after getting concerned messages from fans after he recently used the move against Marufuji. He would quote one fan as saying “Please don’t do it again because I want to keep watching your fights.”
This is a pretty smart move from Mutoh. He doesn’t need the moonsault at this point, and while it is exciting when he pulls it out, the risk simply isn’t worth the reward. Sealing this move away will get him good will from his fans for listening to their concerns, and help add some more time to his career in the event that something goes wrong.
Do you think Mutoh will stay true to his promise to not use this move again? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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