Keiji Mutoh announces retirement at CyberFight Festival 2022

Keiji Mutoh announced his retirement today at Cyberfest Festival 2022.

Mutoh, 59, came to the ring today at the NOAH, DDT, and Tokyo Joshi Pro joint event CyberFest Festival and announced that he will retire next spring. He said that he will have five more matches before his retirement.

Mutoh only recently returned to action in Pro Wrestling NOAH after recovering from a left hip injury. He, Naomichi Marufuji, and Satoshi Kojima faced Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, and Masato Tanaka in a losing effort.

Beginning his career in 1984 in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Mutoh quickly became a star both in Japan and in the United States. In the US, he wrestled in World Championship Wrestling under his alter ego, The Great Muta, in the late eighties and early nineties. Throughout his career in NJPW, he held the IWGP Heavyweight title on four occasions.

In 2002, Mutoh jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he held the Triple Crown title three times. He eventually became the president of the company before departing in 2013, forming a new company called Wrestle-1. When that folded in 2020, he went to Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he won the GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2021, eventually losing the title to Marufuji at last year’s CyberfFght Festival.