After his show stealing bout against Kazuchika Okada at New Japan’s Sakura Genesis event last weekend Katsuyori Shibata was rushed to hospital with what was reported as a subdural hematoma. This is an extremely serious injury where blood builds up between the skull and brain.
Several reports from Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer seemed to indicate that this may have been part of an angle to ‘get over’ the severity/brutality of the match. It is now believed that the injury is in fact very real and there is a chance that Shibata will never wrestle another match. Whilst in hospital Shibata temporality lost mobility on the right side of his body, he apparently has now recovered fully from this paralysis however given the severity of this injury he may never again be cleared to wrestle.
Shinsuke Nakamura recently spoke to Yahoo Japan regarding the New Japan wrestling style and the risks that performers are taking:
“Lately exchanging dangerous moves has become a trend in Japanese wrestling. With serious injuries happening, it might have to change and wrestlers should look back and think about dangerous moves they do and the risks they take.”
Credit to Chris Charlton for the transcription
Nakamura on dangers in Japanese wrestling https://t.co/eMvtX1ZVm8 pic.twitter.com/D52g4DN7P6
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) April 13, 2017
