Mutoh (Muta) wins Triple Crown title
By JOHN F. MOLINARO -- SLAM! Wrestling
New Japan star Keiji Mutoh defeated All Japan's Genichiro Tenryu to capture the prestigious
Triple Crown title today before a sell-out crowd of 16, 000 fans at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan Hall.
Mutoh, who North American fans remember best as the Great Muta in WCW, scored the win with a pinfall on Tenryu in 23:24 after executing a moonsault from the top rope.Ê Mutoh set up the moonsault by nailing Tenryu with a series of high knees to the head and a frankensteiner.
Mutoh becomes only the third man in history, joining the likes of Vader and Tenryu, to have held All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown title and New Japan's I.W.G.P. World Heavyweight title.
Tenryu won the Triple Crown belt, his second reign, when he defeated Toshiaki Kawada in the finals of an eight-man tournament on
October 28th, 2000 at Tokyo's Budokan Hall.
This is Muta's fifth World title, having previously held the I.W.G.P. Heavyweight strap on three different occasions and the N.W.A. World title for nearly two months in 1993.
The Great Muta (left) and Vampiro (right) at WCW's New Blood Rising pay-per-view. (Photo by Rik Fedyk, 
