Shinsuke Nakamura Defeats The Great Muta At NOAH The New Year 2023

Shinsuke Nakamura returned to Pro Wrestling NOAH today and left the Nippon Budokan victorious.

Nakamura returned to the promotion to take on The Great Muta in one of his final matches at NOAH The New Year. The match main evented the show and Nakamura picked up the win after being misted twice and kicking out of the Shining Wizard. Nakamura scored the victory after he hit Muta with mist of his own and followed up with the Kinshasa.

After the match, Nakamura cut a brief promo before he ran up the ramp and posed with Muta to end the show.

With Nakamura's win today, he finally defeated Great Muta/Keiji Muto. The King of Strong Style had faced Keiji Muto twice before over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 2008 but Muto emerged victorious on both occasions.

Today's match took place as part of Muto's retirement tour. He will compete as Muto at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4 alongside Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino against Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI. Muta will then have his retirement match on January 22 where he is set to team with Sting and Darby Allin. Keiji Muto will then retire inside the Tokyo Dome on February 21.