Muto was part of the 2023 class.
Before WrestleMania 39 got underway on Saturday, April 1st, WWE held their 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony and they honored Stacy Keibler, Rey Mysterio, Andy Kaufman, Tim White and The Great Muta (Keiji Muto).
Muto was inducted by Ric Flair. Days removed from the induction, Muto did an interview with Tokyo Sports and recalled his conversation with Flair about the honor. Muto told Flair he is happy with it. He then recalled taking both Flair and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque out when they came to Japan.
He (Ric Flair) congratulated me on the (WWE Hall of Fame induction) and asked me if I was happy. I told him, ‘Super happy.’ When I met Flair, he had his wife with him. I used to take him and Triple H out for yakiniku when they came to Japan. The woman who was with him at the time is now his wife, and I met her again after a long time and talked with her about that. I bought her a drink, even though she had more money than I did.
Elsewhere in the conversation, WWE merging with the UFC was brought up and Muto said the following about the move:
I don’t know what will happen (concerning the WWE-UFC merger). Could it be a completely different WWE from now on? If that happens, maybe Muta will be the last one to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know what form it will take, but this may turn out to be an opportunity. I don’t know!
Back in February, Muto had his final match event at the Tokyo Dome and he capped off his career by wrestling Tetsuya Naito and Masahiro Chono.
