Katsuyori Shibata graduated from the New Japan dojo in 1999, and before long, he, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Shinsuke Nakamura were touted as "The New Three Musketeers," the next generation of New Japan trailblazers after Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto, and Masahiro Chono. However, things didn't go as expected for Shibata -- despite a bright future, he left pro wrestling for MMA, not to return until 2012. Cesaro, meanwhile, is a wrestling journeyman who has competed in Europe, Mexico, Japan, and the U.S. He nearly signed with WWE in 2006, but ended up not joining the organization until 2011. Both men, therefore, have taken a long path to get where they are today. Both men are also hard-hitting grappling masters. Shibata prefers to kick and Cesaro favors a European uppercut, but they're both tough as nails and unlikely to show any weakness while trading blows with one another. With a solid technical background, Cesaro may try to take things to the mat, but he'd find that Shibata can go hold-for-hold there, as well. Cesaro would have to maintain his composure to hang with Shibata, who's typically unflappable, but in the end, if he was able to hang in there (and hit him hard enough), he may find himself victorious. Then again, he may not.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
