NJPW: 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time

credit: wwe.com

7. The Great Muta/Keiji Mutoh

The Great Muta took a somewhat different path to NJPW stardom as opposed to the rest of this list.  He began his career working for the company but didn’t find a ton of success.  In 1989 he took his talents state-side to Jim Crockett’s NWA promotion and almost instantly caught on as a top heel.  With his silent yet vicious demeanor, coupled with spewing green mist into the faces of his opponents, Muta was a scary dude.  He used that gimmick to enter one of the best NWA Television title feuds ever with Sting that same year while also engaging in story lines with Ric Flair, Lex Luger, and Arn Anderson.

In 1990, Muta went back to Japan and his stock was through the roof.  Over the course of the next 2 decades, he would win 4 IWGP Heavyweight Championships with reigns that lasted over a combined 1200 days, while also capturing the 1995 G1 Climax.  His tag team work was on another level during this time as won 5 more IWGP tag titles and 3 G1 Tag Leagues.  With nearly 900 wins to his NJPW credit, it’s obvious that this guy is a lock for the top 10.

Muta always had a way of ramping up feuds and making things personal.  Through his years in NJPW, his feuds with Masahiro Chono, Kensuke Sasaki, Shinya Hashimoto, and Hiroshi Hase were massive draws for the company.  His feud with Hase alone left the world with “The Muta Scale” when it comes to assessing how much blood could pour from one’s head.  And the whole time he was dominating NJPW, he was keeping up with his work in the states as he would win a WCW tag title and an NWA Heavyweight Championship, becoming only the second person to hold that belt and the IWGP Heayweight Championship at the same time.  Muta will be remembered well by American wrestling but will forever be revered by the Japanese where he will always be a legend.