Legendary wrestlers Sting and The Great Muta reunited on last night’s Grand Slam edition of AEW Rampage.
Rampage opened with Sting and Darby Allin defeating Brody King and Buddy Matthews in a No DQ match. Muta made his AEW debut by appearing towards the end of the match, helping Sting by spraying his mist at Matthews. Sting then got the win and stood with Muta, shaking his hand and hugging him.
Pro Wrestling NOAH then announced on Saturday morning that Sting will team with Muta at the “Muta Final Bye-Bye” event on Sunday, January 22, 2023 in Yokohama, Japan. This will be Muta’s retirement match, the final bout for Keiji Mutoh under The Great Muta persona.
“We are pleased to announce the participation of AEW superstar and international pro wrestling legend Sting at the GREAT MUTA FINAL ‘BYE-BYE’ event, which will be held on Sunday, January 22, 2023 in Yokohama. It was The Great Muta who came to the unexpected rescue of Sting On AEW Rampage: Grand Slam this week. This incident triggered him to partner with Sting at the Yokohama Arena event,” NOAH said.
Sting and Muta were rivals for years, going back to 1989. They often wrestled each other but also teamed up in WCW and NJPW. Their legendary feud for the NWA World Television Title in 1989 led to Sting and longtime rival WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair teaming to defeat Muta and WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk in the main event of the inaugural WCW Halloween Havoc pay-per-view, in the Thunderdome Match that featured WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino as the special guest referee.
Sting and Muta last wrestled at a pair of non-televised WCW live events on September 22, 2000 in Amarillo, TX and September 23, 2000 in Lubbock, TX. Sting won both of those matches. Their last time on TV together before last night’s Rampage was the 2000 WCW Fall Brawl pay-per-view, where Sting defeated Muta and Vampiro in a Triple Threat match. Two weeks before that, Sting defeated Muta and Vampiro in a Handicap Match on the September 4, 2000 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.
Sting and Muta have not teamed up since their win over WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page and Satoshi Kojima on April 21, 2004 for the HCW (Hawaiian Championship Wrestling) indie promotion at their Battle Hawaii Supershow event in Honolulu, HI.
The January match will be Sting’s first match in Japan since September 23, 1996, when he and WWE Hall of Famer Lex Luger teamed up to defeat AEW’s William Regal an Arn Anderson at a NJPW show, which also took place at the Yokohama Arena.
Below is video of Muta’s AEW debut on Rampage, along with the announcement from NOAH:
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