"Zero Percent Chance" NJPW's Katsuyori Shibata Will Ever Be Cleared

Shibata was missing from Hirooki Goto's side at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

By Benjamin Richardson /

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Hirooki Goto and the Bullet Club's most recent migrant KENTA slapped the socks off one another at Wrestle Kingdom 14 this past weekend, but someone was conspicuous by their absence throughout the match: the former's second Katsuyori Shibata, around whom the whole feud revolved.

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Shibata, who personally introduced KENTA to New Japan back at Dominion, has been in Goto's corner since the ex-NXT man betrayed him at the conclusion of last year's G1 Climax. A match between the pair was teased, though it was clearly unrealistic - Shibata has not been an active wrestler since suffering a subdural haematoma in a brutal contest against Kazuchika Okada at 2017's Sakura Genesis.

It's the long-term repercussions of that injury which kept him from appearing in any capacity this past Saturday. According to Dave Meltzer, rounding up Wrestle Kingdom in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Shibata tried to get cleared for some physical interaction between himself and KENTA. As per the journalist:

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"The result was that not only was he not cleared, but told in no uncertain terms that there was zero percent chance he could ever be cleared."

As a result, a key component of the contest was missing - and the crowd suffered as a consequence. At this stage, it's probably best for everybody - and in particular, Shibata himself - to give up on the dream of him ever returning to the ring.