The Great Muta

Roster
 3-Getting Jushin Liger's respect at Starrcade 1995

## United States Champion(1989-1990)

The Great Muta's first canon match was at Saturday Night 2 where he defeated The Iron Sheik to qualify for the WCW Heaviweight Championship tournament, he was eliminated in the first round by Ric Flair.

He entered the US title series at Wrestlewar as he defeated Kevin Sullivan to qualify for the fatal 4 way and then defeated Lex Luger, Tom Zenk and Terry Gordy to become the first United States champion. Luger called it a disgrace that a japanese man was holding a US belt but Muta defeated him in 30 seconds with a rollup. At Great American Bash they faced each other in a no DQ match with Muta retaining

At Starrcade, Muta defeated Barry Windham, Sting and Ricky Steamboat in a fatal 4 way to retain the title, a new concept was made which was "run the gauntlet": a champion would be in a gauntlet match against 5 men, if he wins the first 4 he's the NO1 contender to the world title but he has to win the 5th match to retain his championship, Muta stepped up to the challenge, he defeated Barry Windham, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner and Larry Zbyszko to become NO1 contender but in his fifth match he lost the US title to Sting

## Championship pursuits and first feud with Jushin Liger(1990-1991)

Muta got his rematch against Sting in an episode of Saturday Night but lost, he started trash talking WCW heaviweight champion Ric Flair but at Great American Bash Flair defeated him to retain the title.

He didn't do much until Starrcade 1990 where Masa Saito introduced his new group of new japan legends consisting of Masahiro Chono, Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki and The Great Muta but these 4 men turned heel as they beat up Masa Saito, Jushin Liger made his debut and immediatly challenged Muta to an IWGP Junior title match which Liger won

Muta would win the TV Championship in the april 27th episode of Saturday Night and continued his feud against Liger, at the first ever superbrawl Muta put his TV title on the line against Liger and Liger beat him yet again, Muta was tired of feuding with Liger and wanted to go back to the US title, he entered the havoc battle royal and was eliminated by Liger who was literally just there to take out Muta. He managed to win back the TV title from Ricky Steamboat and challenged Liger to a loser leaves WCW at Starrcade 1991 which Muta won, Liger unmasked to reveal Kushin Liger as he tried to stab Muta but was thrown out by security. After the match, Muta and Sasaki kicked out Chono and Hase from NJL

## Cruiserweight Championship hunt(1992-1993)

At Superbrawl 2, Muta and Sasaki defeated Hase and Chono in a tag team match. Muta lost the TV Championship in the may 23rd episode of Saturday Night to Shane Douglas and started acting as a babyface again as he hyped up Sasaki for his world title match

In september, Muta announced he had dropped a few pounds and wanted Ricky Steamboat's cruiserweight championship. At Halloween Havoc, Steamboat defeated Muta to retain the CW title and after the match the rest of the CW's beat them both up being tired of former heaviweight contenders entering their division.

At Superbrawl 3 Steamboat and Muta were defeated by Johnny B.Badd, Shane Douglas and Tom Zenk in a handicap match and that CW stable revealed they have a higher up, a leader who's calling the shots. At Slamboree, Muta faced Steamboat for the title in a ladder match when Jushin Liger made his return and dropped Muta from the ladder as he revealed himself as the leader of the cruiserweights, he felt disrespected about these heaviweights coming into the division acting like it's easier, this split the division into 2 as there were people who supported heaviweights coming in and people who didn't.

At Beach Blast, Liger, Badd, Zenk and Douglas ended up defeating Steamboat, Muta, 2 Cold Scorpio and Stan Lane in a war games match with Badd getting the pin and therefore becoming cruiserweight champion. At Halloween Havoc, Jushin Liger vs The Great Muta main evented to determine the NO1 contender to the CW title but the match ended in a no contest as every CW came out to beat each other up. At Starrcade, Muta defeated Badd, Steamboat, Scorpio, Stan Lane, Shane Douglas, Jushin Liger and Tom Zenk in an elimination match to become CW champion

## Cruiserweight champion, Keiji Mutoh and HWs vs CWs(1994-1995)

At Superbrawl 4, Muta retained against Johnny B.Badd in a rematch. In the first ever Nitro, Brian Pillman defeated Muta, Brad Armstrong and Stan Lane in a fatal 4 way to win the CW title ending Muta's reign quickly

Muta had his rematch at Slamboree but lost again, he was away from may until november when he returned and announced that at Starrcade there would be the first ever IWGP Heaviweight Championship match in a WCW show which would be The Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto with a 30 minute time limit. At Starrcade 1994 they had a 5 star match which ended in the 30 minute time limit draw

Muta and Liger would meet again at superbrawl V in a mask vs mask for the CW championship, during the buildup Liger says he has finally gained respect of Muta, at superbrawl Liger wins, Muta takes off his mask and says that this persona is named Keiji Mutoh and then beats the hell out of Liger to cause a double turn. The month after Keiji interfered in Liger vs Eddie to beat both men up, Liger said he'd never trust Muta/Keiji again and that he still does not consider him a real cruiserweight. At slamboree there was a triple threat between Keiji, Liger and Eddie and Liger yet again retained

Keiji started being involved in the HWs vs CWs series as he challenged his former friend Kensuke Sasaki, at Bash at the Beach Sasaki beat Mutoh in the 3rd match of the HWs vs CWs, Liger was the leader of the CWs during this feud and was set to face US champion Steven Regal in the 6th match of the series, Keiji actually wished good luck to Liger before this match but Liger ignored him continuing to say that Keiji will never be a real CW. This feud would culminate in a wargames match, Liger already had his team planned but one of his partners was attacked, he made a fatal 4 way for the spot which Keiji interrupted and beat up every man asking for a chance to be in the CW team, Liger continued to say that Keiji is not a real CW and he'd just betray them again.He finally handed him the spot in their team because they had nobody else and at Starrcade Keiji helped a lot as him, Liger, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko defeated Regal, Bobby Eaton, Fit Finlay, Diamond Dallas Page and Kensuke Sasaki, Liger did a promo apologizing to Keiji and acknowledging him as one of the best CWs in the world, Liger handed him The Great Muta mask as he returned as a face

## Teaming with Liger(1996-1998)

Muta and Liger started regularly teaming up, at Superbrawl 6 he was involved in the 1996 MOTY as Eddie Guerrero defeated him, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in a fatal 4 way to become NO1 contender to the US Championship.

Chris Jericho started a feud with Jushin Liger which started involving Muta as soon as Jericho injured Liger. At Fall Brawl Jericho defeated Muta and threatened to injure him as well but Liger returned and saved him. At Halloween Havoc, Jericho and Liger's former protege Psicosis defeated Muta and Liger and at World War 3 Psicosis defeated Muta

Starting in august 1997, Liger and Muta started doing promos how they were legends of the CW division and deserved more than the spot they were in, they attacked La Parka, Juventud Guerrera and Chavo Guerrero turning heel

Muta and Liger continued attacking multiple CWs as they tried getting a title shot, they wanted to destroy the waste of the CW division and started at Halloween Havoc defeating Dancing Fools. At World War 3, Liger and Muta faced Malenko and Rey Misterio Jr to determine the challengers to the CW belt at Starrcade but it ended in a DQ with Liger and Muta using chairs. At Starrcade, Ultimo Dragon defeated Rey, Malenko, Muta and Liger in a CW title ladder match

At Superbrawl 8, the vacant CW title was up for grabs in a tag match where the winning pinfall would become champion, Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko defeated Liger and Muta for Jericho to become champ

At Uncensored, Muta and Liger interfered in the main event to give Hollywood Hogan the win against Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as they were the 4th and 5th members of NWO Hollywood. Muta started being involved in the heaviweight division again as he got a US title shot against Goldberg at Slamboree in a losing effort, he was in the inaugural extreme title match and was eliminated as Rob Van Dam took out his mask and started chairshotting him on the head. At World War 3-NWO Civil War he was part of the NWO Hollywood team but NWO Wolfpac defeated NWO Chaos and Hollywood in a wargames match to become the sole NWO and due to it Muta and Liger were forced to disband

Jushin Liger announced he was leaving WCW to focus on NJPW, Muta came out wanting 1 last match between both men as they turned face due to the crowd support and at Starrcade Liger defeated Muta

## The Veterans(1999-)

The Great Muta set his focus on Meng's Extreme Championship but at Uncensored Meng defeated Muta. At Bash at the Beach, Muta teamed up with The Vigilantes against Jeff Jarrett, Rick Steiner and Harris Brothers but they lost as Meng returned and beat down all of The Vigilantes

Curt Hennig started getting targeted by The Mob until Muta decided to save him, they tried to find a third partner which they did with Sting as they formed The Veterans of WCW but The Mob defeated them at Road Wild

## Championships and accomplishments

* World Championship Wrestling
* United States Championship(1 time)
* TV Championship(2 times)
* Cruiserweight Championship(1 time)
* Wrestler of the Year(1989)
* Match of the Year(1994) vs Shinya Hashimoto at Starrcade
* Match of the Year(1996) vs Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko at Superbrawl 6