WWE's Shinsuke Nakamura to wrestle The Great Muta at NOAH The New Year

WWE star Shinsuke Nakamura is heading to Pro Wrestling NOAH.

The promotion confirmed Sunday morning that Nakamura will wrestle The Great Muta in a singles match at NOAH’s The New Year 2023 event on January 1 at Budokan Hall.

Nakamura reacted to the news on Twitter by noting, “This is miracle."

WWE typically doesn’t allow contracted talent to work for other promotions, even for one-offs, unless it’s a situation where a wrestler had made commitments with another promotion before signing with WWE. Perhaps, this will become the new norm in WWE for special occasions, with Triple H leading the charge of creative and talent relations, unlike when Vince McMahon was running things.

Keiji Mutoh is planning his retirement tour that will end on February 21, 2023, at the Tokyo Dome. He is set to have his final match in NJPW on November 20 at the NJPW x Stardom Historic X-Over event, where he will team with Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano againstKhan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare.

Mutoh’s final match under The Great Muta persona will happen on January 22, 2023 at The Great Muta Final Bye-Bye event in Yokohama, where he will team with AEW’s Sting. Their opponents haven’t been announced.