WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023: The Great Muta
One of the many reasons I am starting to enjoy the WWE Hall of Fame more is that they are starting to include wrestlers who had many accomplishments outside of WWE. There is no denying that The Great Muta is very deserving of this honor. He began his career in 1984 and finished his career earlier this year. Even with his retirement, legends and stars of the business wanted to be a part in the final chapter of his career. He teamed with Sting and Darby Allin. He wrestled Shinsuke Nakamura and Tetsuya Naito. The Great Muta is universally loved in the world of professional wrestling despite never appearing on WWE programming.
The first exposure America had to The Great Muta was in 1988 when he came over to Texas. He had a very short feud with Kevin Von Erich before moving over to World Championship Wrestling, which was still under the NWA banner at the time. While in NWA, he worked with Ric Flair, Terry Funk, Sting, and Lex Luger. He also won the WCW Television Championship during his time there. He may have departed WCW in 1990, but he made sporadic appearances there over the next decade. He worked with Vader, Scott Steiner, Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham, 2 Cold Scorpio, Brian Pillman, Steve Austin, and Larry Zbyszko. He made a huge impact during his time at WCW, but Japan was his home where he achieved legendary status.
The Great Muta’s accomplishments are legendary. Don’t believe it? Here are just some of them:
-AJPW Triple Crown Champion
-AJPW Tag Team Champion
-NWA World Heavyweight Champion
-NWA Television Champion
-WCW Tag Team Champion
-Won WCW BattleBowl in 1992
-IWGP Heavyweight Champion
-IWGP Tag Team Champion
-Won G1 Climax in 1995
-GHC Heavyweight Champion
-GHC Tag Team Champion
-WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Champion
-WWC Tag Team Champion
While in Japan he wrestled against Hulk Hogan, Antonio Inoki, Steiner Brothers, Scott Norton, Bam Bam Bigelow, and so many more. He was also a part of nWo Japan when the nWo was on top of the pro wrestling world. Even though Japan was his home and he frequently visited WCW, that wasn’t the only promotion he worked for in the states. Later in his career, he worked for Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA Wrestling). He worked against Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, James Storm, Mr. Anderson, Michael Elgin, and Johnny Impact. He’s bridged the gap in professional wrestling with the amount of talent he’s faced.
The Great Muta joins a list of elite pro wrestlers who spent very limited or no time in WWE to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Some of those include Stan Hansen, Jushin Thunder Liger, Carlos Colon, Mil Mascaras, Abdullah the Butcher, Bill Watts, Gordon Solie, Nick Bockwinkel, and Verne Gagne. Adding The Great Muta to this list makes the WWE Hall of Fame even more legitimate. It shows that you can be a successful professional wrestler without ever having set foot in a WWE ring. Congratulations to The Great Muta on being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
