New Japan has announced that a company legend will be making a small appearance at each of their US tour dates. Katsuyori Shibata is the head trainer of the company’s Dojo in Los Angeles. The former NEVER Openweight Champion will be addressing the crowds before each of the dates in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Nashville before bell time.
New Japan had to scramble and make huge changes to the tour recently. With the government shutdown in the United States the company were unable to get the necessary visas for their Japanese talent to perform in America. The cards will now feature almost exclusively US based talent. The company released the following statement regarding Shibata’s involvement:
“NJPW LA Dojo head coach Katsuyori Shibata will make a special appearance at each of THE NEW BEGINNING USA tour cities.
Shibata will address the crowd to welcome our fans attending the first NJPW US tour in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Nashville before bell time. There will also be an opportunity to photograph him in the ring.
Fans will have the chance to hear Shibata’s thoughts on the New Japan spirit — a wrestler trained in the New Japan dojo and now training new wrestlers as the head coach of the LA Dojo. We hope our fans will support the next generation of stars trained by Shibata.
Once again, we would like to express gratitude to our US fans and hope you look forward seeing the work put in by Shibata and the LA Young Lions before the biggest matches of their career.”
