The Great Muta Jests About Sharing Injury With Former WWE Champion

By Eric Mutter
Keiji Muto in his final match as The Great Muta Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

By the end of his legendary wrestling career, it was pretty clear that WWE Hall of Famer Keiji Muto, aka The Great Muta, was having trouble getting around, thanks to the wear and tear of his nearly forty years in the business. And while the aches and pains are still there two years since his retirement match, Muta at least seems able to poke fun at his physical state, especially when it comes to comparing himself to another long-time wrestling star.

Taking to X late Saturday evening, Muta posted a photo of himself with former WWE Champion and AEW's Paul Wight at the Big Event NY wrestling convention. Muta also included a message about being reunited with Wight, and pointed out that, like Muta, Wight had artificial knees and hips. He then jokingly pondered just how big Wight's artificial joints were, given his massive size.

Though one wouldn't associate Wight and Muta beyond their similar injury histories, the two go back a fair bit, having both worked for WCW during the mid-90s thanks to the partnership between WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, where Muta worked at the time. The two would twice face off in singles competition, with Wight defeating Muta in two consecutive episodes of "WCW Monday Nitro" in July 1997, with the first match lasting less than a minute before ending in a DQ, while the second was a more competitive six minutes.

While Wight has not yet taken the step Muta made in retiring from wrestling, he has been inactive from in-ring competition for over a year, last wrestling on the Jericho Cruise in 2024. Despite joining AEW with an eye on wrestling every now and then, injuries have largely prevented him from wrestling matches, leaving him to serve as either a commentator or on-screen presence for AEW and Ring of Honor.

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