Wrestling Move of the Week: Shining Wizard

Keiji Mutoh hitting an opponent with a Shining Wizard.

Move name: Shining Wizard

Created/innovated by: Keiji Mutoh

Notable users of move: Adam Cole, Tegan Nox, Homicide

Notable variations of the move: Shane Helms - Shining Enziguri; Meiko Satomura - Scorpio Rising (Shining Axe Kick); CM Punk - Corner Assisted Shining Wizard

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The Shining Wizard is the invention and pet maneuver of Keiji Mutoh, known to many older North American pro wrestling fans as The Great Muta. Mutoh, who innovated the Shining Wizard maneuver later in his career, did so as a necessity. After years of wear and tear on his knees from the use of his original pet maneuver, the Diving Moonsault Press (for the uninitiated I can assure you that we will discuss the Diving Moonsault Press another week), Mutoh switched up his in-ring attacks to add longevity to his career. He decided upon a more ground-based and technical approach, targeting his opponent’s knees and weakening them to set them up for either the Figure Four Leg Lock (another wrestling maneuver we will chat about in the coming weeks) or the Shining Wizard for the win.

So what is the Shining Wizard?

Well, it’s a thing of beauty, is what it is!

For starters, it is regularly performed by stepping off your opponent's raised knee with one foot. You can get your opponent down to one knee in a myriad of ways, of course, but Mutoh prefers utilizing Dragon Screw leg whips (we’ll talk about Dragon Screws in the coming weeks) and Kangaroo Kicks (a variation of the standing or jumping dropkick where the attacker thrusts both of their legs into their opponent akin to the manner in which kangaroos kick) to his opponent’s knees. Once Mutoh steps off of his opponent’s raised knee with his left leg he swings his right leg and strikes the opponent's head with the inner side of his right knee. The impact is sudden and the maneuver itself is hard to counter, which in my opinion are both necessary criteria when you’re compiling a list of the most effective pro wrestling finishing maneuvers ever. And believe me when I say Keiji Mutoh’s Shining Wizard is a match-ender that more often than not keeps people down for the three count. Keiji doesn’t just limit himself to executing the Shining Wizard from the bended knee, however. The move is supremely versatile. As you can see in the video above, Mutoh has nailed his opponents with the Shining Wizard by stepping off the backs of others, using the ring ropes for leverage, springing off of an open steel chair, and even with a tag team partner holding a person in place as he descends from the top rope! Not shown in the video is a variation of the Shining Wizard that sees Mutoh hitting the maneuver to the back of the head of a kneeling opponent from behind!

The Shining Wizard has been used by a plethora of professional wrestlers over the years since its creation, with a variety of variations being created and shared over the years, but the original is still the best!