Keiji Muto Retires Moonsault Press

Keiji Muto has decided to retire his fabled Moonsault Press. 

Muto and his alter ego The Great Muta performed the move for years but they initially retired the finisher in March 2018 ahead of Muto's double knee replacement surgery. 

Muto teased reviving the Moonsault during his GHC Heavyweight Title matches earlier this year and he finally performed the Moonsault Press one more time on June 6 when he faced Naomichi Marufuji. Muto would ultimately come up short in the match, losing the GHC Heavyweight Championship in the process, and now he has decided to retire the Moonsault Press for good. 

"The fact that I'm doing this interview is only because I'm lucky. If I hadn't been so lucky, my femur would have been broken and I might not have been able to walk for the rest of my life," Muto told Tokyo Sports (translated by DeepL).

Muto revealed he received a scolding from his doctor after performing the move and his artificial knees, fortunately, remain intact. 

The Japanese wrestling legend also revealed fan reaction to him doing the move on June 6 was one of the reasons behind him finally retiring it.

"There were many fans who said, 'I don't want to see another Moonsault Press.' They were worried about me and said, 'Please don't do it again because I want to keep watching your fights.' And I regretted it. I regretted playing such a trump card, playing the match at 120 percent," he added.