YMMV / Keiji Mutoh

• Americans Hate Tingle:
  • Mutoh's Puroresu Love era of AJPW wasn't entirely popular among western fans, among other things due to its high content in gimmicky storylines, bizarre events and emphasis in wrestlers disliked in the west like Akebono - all of which worsened by the fact that western fans typically didn't understand neither Japanese language nor the Japanese sense of market.
  • While Mutoh/Muta is generally loved by pro wrestling fans in all the world, WRESTLE-1's "Fighting Entertainment" brand of puroresu caught on immediately with the Japanese audience but received responses ranging from lukewarm to revulsion in many of the foreign markets the promotion was hoping to expand into. All Japan's (slight) resurgence under Jun Akiyama and WRESTLE-1's parallel decline as it happened didn't convinced many skeptics to give it another chance.
• Base-Breaking Character: Some of his performances as The Great Muta are considered pretty lazy in ring work, even if they are far from being actually bad matches.
  • More recently, his run in NOAH has come in for some harsh criticism, as the increasingly physically incapable Muto continued to be presented as a main event contender, at the expense of NOAH's younger, homegrown talent. Some even went so far as to compare it to Hulk Hogan's infamous runs in WCW and TNA. His percieved lack of respect for Kaito Kiyomiya, barely selling for him in their final match in the promotion and having to be cajoled into a post-match handshake, aroused particular complaints.
• Draco in Leather Pants: When Muta first debuted in WCW, he was hated as your average bad guy and booed. But after a few months and wowing audiences with his skills and moveset the crowd was showing their support to him and often cheering him when he came to the Ring.
• Misblamed:
  • He's often accused of running All Japan Pro Wrestling into the ground, as if it was somehow his fault that the large majority of roster left for Pro Wrestling NOAH due to being upset with Motoko Baba's management. Most accusations of such don't even mention this incident, much less that Mutoh only arrived after this happened in a damage control effort and succeeded regardless of the methods he used. He might be an absolutely unique example of the Misblamed trope, given that people accuse him of almost bankruptcing a promotion when he actually saved said promotion from a sure bankruptcy that had nothing to do with him.
  • Similarly, he's often portrayed as having resigned as a failure and a disgrace, when he really left because he was taking the blame for TARU assaulting Super Hate. This misdirected blame comes from the combined fact that many foreigners know All Japan struggled in the 2000s and hated Mutoh's "Puroresu Love" period, leading them to believe that the latter was the cause of the former instead of its very solution. This, of course, overlooks the fact that shows with the "Puroresu Love" branding had managed to draw well past the 10,000 range before long.