(NOAH) KEIJI MUTOH FINAL COUNTDOWN SERIES


DATES
(Note, Keiji Mutoh's Retirement Road matches have been named after his theme songs. Great Muta matches have not)

ABEMA presents DESTINATION 2022 - July 16th, Nippon Budokan 
PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER. 1～THE FINAL COUNTDOWN～
vs Kaito Kiyomiya
Winner: Kaito Kiyomiya by Figure Four submission (26 minutes, 28 seconds)
Post match interview: Keiji Mutoh gifts Kaito Kiyomiya the "three sacred treasures" of the Figure Four, Dragon Screw and Shining Wizard.

September 3rd 2022, Edion Arena Osaka (Prefectural Gymnasium) 1st Stadium (WrestleUniverse)
The Great Muta, The Great O-Khan & NOSAWA Rongai vs Kongoh (Kenoh, Tadasuke & Manabu Soya
Winner: The-Great-O-Khan with The Eliminator on Tadasuke (22 minutes, 13 seconds)

GRAND SHIP 2022 in NAGOYA PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER.2 ~OUTBREAK~
September 25th, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
Keiji Mutoh & Kazuyuki Fujita vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masakatsu Funaki
Winner: Keiji Mutoh with the Shining Wizard on Katsuhiko Nakajima (20 minutes, 35 seconds) 

PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER .EX FUKUOKA FINAL ~TRANS MAGIC~
October 16th 2022, Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka
Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima & Ninja Mack vs Naomichi Marufuji, Jack Morris & HAYATA
Winner: Ninja Mack with the Ninja Bomb on HAYATA (14 minutes, 57 seconds)

*Keiji Mutoh was originally going to come to the event to sign autographs etc and be on the commentary team, however, due to fan demand a match was made. Ironically, Fukuoka is a place where Mutoh had a singles match against Antonio Inoki, who passed away on the 1st October. Mutoh said he wanted Inoki to see his final match. 

ABEMA presents Ariake Gaisen-THE RETURN-PRO-WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER . 3 ~TRIUMPH~
October 30th 2022, Ariake Arena, Tokyo
Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshiki Inamura vs Keiji Mutoh, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
Winner: Naomichi Marufuji with The Shiranui on Tomoaki Honma (20 minutes, 32 seconds)

ABEMA presents NOAH "THE NEW YEAR" 2023
Special singles match
Sunday, January 1st 2023
Nippon Budokan
Great Muta vs Shinsuke Nakamura

*Keiji Mutoh had planned that he would retire against Shinsuke Nakamura, but the dates could not agree and the match was agreed on The Great Muta versus Nakamura. Mutoh likes it better this way as this is a match that has never been seen before, and will never be seen again. 

KEIJI MUTOH'S LAST NEW JAPAN MATCH
Wednesday, 4th January 2023
Tokyo Dome (WrestleKingdom 17)
Shota Umino, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Keiji Mutoh vs Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI

ABEMA presents GREAT MUTA FINAL "BYE-BYE"
January 22nd 2023, Yokohama Arena
The Great Muta, Darby Allin & Sting vs TBA

KEIJI MUTO GRAND FINAL PRO-WRESTLING “LAST” LOVE～HOLD OUT～
February 21st 2023, Tokyo Dome
Note: Keiji Mutoh said at the New Japan Music festival that this theme music was not his favorite initially as Shinya Hashimoto had written the song as "Mutoh-chan is bald, more and more bald", but since Hashimoto's passing he likes it the most. 

*All matches can be viewed on WrestleUniverse, you must be a subscriber to view*

NEWS
- The Great Muta announced through NOSAWA Rongai that he would be bringing a mystery friend to his last ever show in the place he was born, Osaka in September. 
- Keiji Mutoh was voted 4th in the "Pro Wrestling General Election" (for the most amazing active wrestler) on the 13th August. Mutoh said he hadn't decided who to have his last match against, but suggested it should be the wrestler who came in first place, which was Kazuchika Okada
- The 100,000 yen and the 500,000 yen seats for Keiji Mutoh's retirement at The Tokyo Dome, sold out quickly. The 100,000 yen seats sold out in a matter of hours after the announcement was made, while the 500,000 yen seats sold out the next day.
- Katsuhiko Nakajima used Mutoh's Space Rolling Elbow in Nagoya on September 25th. Mutoh said he was quite touched by this.
- Mutoh spoke about the start of his knee issues in a joint interview with Takeru Segawa for BBM Sports, ""I have had the issue since I was 24. Around that time, I had meniscus surgery, but sports medicine wasn't that advanced at the time, so I was discharged after surgery and I went to Puerto Rico right after for rehabilitation and rest. Then suddenly I was told to come and have a match, and that's when I saw fir the first tine that my knees were ruined, even though I had surgery. If I could go back in time with Dorameon's capsule (time capsule), I would just want to go back to that time and rest a little more to heal""
- Radio Host: February 21st is your retirement match. Who is your opponent? 
Mutoh: It's still a secret. I am not at the stage where I can say anything yet. But, it's going to be difficult because the yen is weak. 
Radio Host: Oh, is it a foreigner? 
Mutoh: Expensive now
(Hochi News, 26th October 2023)
- Noah announced at Ariake Stadium on October 30th that Shinsuke Nakamura would face The Great Muta on 1st January 2023 at The Nippon Budokan. 


- Keiji Mutoh attended the "Sinnichiism Music Festival", which was held on November 17th to commemorate New Japan's 50th anniversary, his theme "HOLD OUT" was played, which he entered the ring to. 
- Great Muta bid farewell to New Japan with, "Bye bye Yano, bye bye Okada, bye bye O-Khan. Goodbye New Japan! Finish!"

ARTICLES

RETIREMENT
KAITO KIYOMIYA

HIROSHI HASE

GREAT-O-KHAN
KENOH
KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA

FUNKY KATO

STAN HANSEN
"He is a great wrestler, and has survived injuries for a long time. He was a real star with he was in WCW, and had a great reputation with the wrestlers around him. I think he is a wrestler who will go down in history with great achievements. I want him to live a good life until retirement"

MASAKATSU FUNAKI

AEW/STING
(There was speculation in the Japanese sports press that Muta's rescue of Sting, may lead to something in the future)
HIROSHI TANAHASHI
SATOSHI KOJIMA
"I am convinced that getting involved with Mutoh, who has announced his retirement, will be a tremendously valuable event. This may be the last time I'm involved with Mutoh, and I don't know if it will happen again, but I'm going to savor the happiness of being able to experience Keiji Mutoh in Fukuoka"

DEATH OF ANTONIO INOKI

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA
RIKI CHOSHU

KAZUCHIKA OKADA
"I have fought with his agent (Keiji) Mutoh this year (in January), and so I think this is a good tag with Muta. I am grateful to be able to experience him, and feel his presence, so I hope I can make use of this in my future pro wrestling" 
Kazuchika Okada (Tokyo Sports, 14th November 2022)

AKIRA MAEDA
OTHER ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF NOAH (NO LINK TO ARTICLES ABOVE)
- Mutoh appeared in DragonGate on the 30th July (KobeWorld) as the mystery opponent of Stalker Ichikawa, who he defeated with The Shining Wizard.
- October 2022: Keiji Mutoh and Riki Choshu appeared in an advert for TikTok Japan


- A four man talk battle took place at Tatsumi Fujinami's 50th anniversary on the 1st December between Keiji Mutoh, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and and Mikiyuki Kitazawa. 

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