Katsuyori Shibata was one of the best pro wrestlers of the mid 2010s. Sadly, his career was cut short due a severe head injury he suffered in his last match against Kazuchika Okada on 4/9/17, when he executed a sickening skull-on-skull headbutt. His head split open and he suffered from internal bleeding. He finished the match, but collapsed afterwards. He was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery. It's a sad ending to a great career of a great worker who was at his peak and was one of New Japan Pro Wrestling's best workers at the time. However, in interviews, Shibata has mentioned that he is grateful for being alive and for being the head trainer of New Japan's L.A. Dojo in Los Angeles, CA. It shows that Shibata refuses to be taken down and sees things in a positive light, no matter how bleak the situation initially might seem.

This never-say-die attitude embodies his no-nonsense wrestling style. He didn't need a silly gimmick, he was simply "The Wrestler". He would always ask for more punishment and push himself to the limit. Apart from really good wrestling matches, his matches were usually also a test for himself and for his opponent to see how much punishment could be dished out and taken. His MMA career only added more to his credibility as someone who knew how to fight. He certainly wasn't a sports-entertainer. When Shibata returned to pro wrestling after his MMA career, he certainly increased the quality of New Japan's shows during the mid 2010's. His strikes were among the best and stiffest.

After it recently came to me that I really should research Shibata's career, I decided to watch a bunch of matches involving Shibata. I'm talking about 50 matches or so. I tried to pick matches from every year of his career. I even watched some of his earlier work to see what he was like during his early years and to get a better picture of his overall career. The goal of doing this was to get a better idea of which years were his best years and which matches were his best matches. I certainly didn't watch every match Shibata ever worked, but I think that with the matches I selected, I was able to get a good overview of his career.

Katsuyori Shibata, who was born on 11/17/79, made his official pro wrestling debut on 10/10/99 in a losing effort against Wataru Inoue. This date is significant because it was also the same show Hiroshi Tanahashi made his pro wrestling debut and Tanahashi became one of the most recognizable names in puroresu history. Even though Shibata's official debut date is usually listed as 10/10/99, he apparently made his "unofficial" debut in a junior heavyweight battle royal on 7/21/99.

Let's have a closer look at Shibata's career by looking at a selection of his matches...

NJPW 2/1/00 Tokyo Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2: Katsuyori Shibata & Shinya Makabe vs. Wataru Inoue & Masakazu Fukuda 10:21. This was a mediocre match and Shibata gave a mediocre performance, but he was still a rookie at that point. *½ 

NJPW 3/3/01 Niigata City Gymnasium: Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue vs. Black Cat & Shinya Makabe 10:34. It was cool to see the wily veteran Black Cat in action. He did a pretty job of guiding the younger workers in this match. This match was okay because everyone was clearly willing to give an effort. Shibata was average, still somewhat clumsy and probably the least memorable performer of this match, but these were still the early stages of his career. **

NJPW 11/23/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Junior Tag League Match: Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai 14:46. This was surprisingly good thanks to the tremendous carry job by Liger & Samurai. The young lions took it to the junior heavyweight veterans from the start. Of course, eventually Liger and Samurai got the upper hand and remained in control for a while. A young Shibata got stretched by Liger and beat up by Samurai. Shibata's selling was actually quite good already at that time. Wataru Inoue actually appeared to be slightly better overall than Shibata at that point, but Shibata was already quite likeable even during the early days, so perhaps he had more of the "it" factor and was destined for stardom before anyone even realized it. Don't get me wrong tough, Shibata wasn't a good worker yet. However, he certainly showed potential. **¾

NJPW Wrestling World 1/4/02 Tokyo Dome: Katsuyori Shibata & Wataru Inoue vs. Masahito Kakihara & Masayuki Naruse 10:50. Everything everyone did in this match looked unconvincing and Shibata was still a mediocre performer. *½ 

NJPW 2/1/02 Sapporo Sport Center: Katsuyori Shibata & Masahito Kakihara vs. El Samurai & Wataru Inoue 11:20. It was good to see El Samurai in action. El Samurai was a favorite of mine back in the 1990s and even though he wasn't in his peak years anymore by 2002, he was still motivated. Shibata was okay. This was the earliest Shibata performance where he seemed fired up and quite a bit more confident than before, so that was nice to see. **

NJPW 5/24/02 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Best of the Super Juniors IX Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 9:45. The cool thing about Liger vs. underdog workers during Super Juniors tournaments is that Liger has been known to occasionally lose unexpectedly against wrestlers you'd never thought would beat him. Shibata was still an up-and-coming worker, but the outcome of this match wasn't as predictable as it would sound on paper. Shibata attacked Liger before he could even enter the ring, and was very aggressive throughout. Shibata used a nice springboard dropkick. He pushed the ref aside and started attacking Liger on the outside of the ring. He clearly wanted to give everything he was able to give to score a big upset win. The action slowed down a bit when they were back in the ring. Liger had been selling from the beginning of the match. Liger finally hit several palm blows, but Shibata was still too fresh to stay down. Liger tried to gain control, but Shibata would keep fighting back and wouldn't stay down. In the end, Liger was just too strong of an opponent for Shibata to handle at the time and Liger got the victory relatively easily. This was a surprisingly good match though, especially considering the early stage of Shibata's career. Liger did a great job helping Shibata to look good here, and Shibata was fired up and determined to show what he was capable of at the time. This was probably Shibata's first good match. ***

NJPW 8/14/03 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center, G1 Climax Block B Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata 13:17. Shibata started the match off aggressively and clearly wanted to prove himself. Nagata, who was coming off his 1st IWGP Heavyweight title run, is eleven years older than Shibata and had seven more years experience. Nagata made sure to show he was the higher ranked wrestler, while Shibata did what he could and showed he was able to take punishment. Shibata's execution certainly wasn't as crisp as it would become in later years, but he showed more determination than in the work from his previous years. The work was decent, but the finish was kinda crappy. **½ 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 1/4/04 Tokyo Dome: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazunari Murakami vs. Takashi Iizuka & Josh Barnett 16:04. This was a mediocre shoot style match and Shibata gave an average performance. The only noteworthy thing about this match was that Barnett got some good reactions from the crowd. *½ 

NJPW 7/4/04 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 6:58. Shibata's work was decent, but this was a short match that ended in a double count-out. *¾ 

NJPW 7/19/04 Sapporo Tsukisamu Green Dome, IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Katsuyori Shibata 11:16. This was Katsuyori Shibata’s first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title (his second and last shot at the title was the infamous 4/9/17 match vs. Kazuchika Okada). Shibata showed a lot of potential in 2004, but he wasn’t quite the worker he would become a year or two later. He still showed signs of greenness, and had to be carried for the most part. That didn’t bode well for this particular match, as Kazuyuki Fujita has never been a memorable wrestler, as far as I am aware. Fujita hit hard, but mostly just seemed interested in beating someone up without trying to show much skill or diversity. This wasn’t a bad match, as it was moderately interesting, and there was quite a bit of stiffness shown, but it’s definitely not a match worth recommending. **½

NJPW 8/11/04 G1 Climax Block A, Kanazawa Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall #4: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki 7:20. Minoru Suzuki carried the match well and Shibata gave a decent performance. **½  

NJPW 11/3/04 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Toshiaki Kawada 7:06. This match was part of Masa Chono's 20th anniversary show, which took place at the famous Sumo Hall. AJPW legend Kawada worked three matches in NJPW that year and this was one of them. Kawada gave a great performance and carried this match really well. The way Kawada sold in this match really put Shibata over as someone who mattered. Kawada taking Shibata seriously also made Shibata look like someone the fans shouldn't take lightly. Shibata really seemed fired up here and happy to try his best. 2004 really seemed to be a year Shibata improved quite a bit and he gave a solid performance here. By the way, performances like this one really confirm Kawada's GOAT status for me. No matter whether Kawada works a match that lasts 6 or 60 minutes, he'll make sure to get the most out of the match. This was only a 7-minute match, but it was a very good match. ***½

NJPW 11/13/04 Katsuyori Shibata vs. Genichiro Tenryu 9:09. Just when I thought Tenryu was possibly not able to give a great performance like this anymore, the first thing Tenryu did was throw Shibata over the guardrail into the crowd to prove me wrong. Tenryu is one of those types of wrestlers who forgot more about wrestling than most wrestlers will ever know. Tenryu's vicious punch-chop-punch-chop series of moves certainly made Shibata pay his dues. Perhaps this inspired Shibata to be equally vicious once he reached his peak himself. Tenryu was awesome here in general, even executed a DDT off the apron to the outside onto the floor! This was way more fun than expected. It would have been 4 stars if it was more competitive. ***½

W-1 8/4/05 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jun Akiyama 13:46. Approximately 10,000 people were in attendance at the Sumo Hall to watch this Wrestle-1 show. This match was the semi main event of the show, a 1st Round match in the Grand Prix 2005 Tournament. After spending the first few years of his career in NJPW, Katsuyori Shibata was now a freelancer. In the first minutes of the match, Shibata kicked Akiyama really hard in the head and Akiyama started bleeding (hardway?). Akiyama got pissed and threw rows of chairs onto Shibata. This was a war. Akiyama was the grumpy veteran who represented NOAH. Shibata was the young and cocky worker who had grown into a confident fighter by that point. This match featured good performances by both. ***½ 

NOAH 12/4/05 Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium: Katsuyori Shibata & KENTA vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiozaki 17:43. Shibata's strikes looked really good. Misawa was clearly past his prime and broken down, but he was such a legendary wrestler that just his presence enhanced the match. I mean, he's Misawa, how can you not respect him? That being said, he physically looked like he had no business working this type of match with these workers, but he has always been known to push himself to the limit. Shibata & KENTA were in their prime and a really good team here. Them doing double-team kicks to Shiozaki looked cool. Shiozaki was relatively inexperienced, but worked hard. This was a good match overall. ***¼ 

BML 9/11/05 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazunari Murakami 9:44. This match took place at a show promoted by Big Mouth Loud, a short lived shoot leaning indy run by ex NJPW booker Fumihiko Uwai. This match featured a really good performance by Shibata. This was actually one of the best performances of his career at that time, carrying Murakami to a very good match. The referee for this match was the legendary Kazuo Yamazaki. **** 

BML 12/29/05 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima 17:27. Kojima was solid. Shibata was good. They worked to each other's strengths and worked well together. ***¼ 

NJPW 1/4/06 Tokyo Dome: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 11:59. It was a decent match, but a bit of a style clash. I felt that Shibata was kinda holding back. I would have liked to have seen Shibata push Tanahashi and stay on top of him a bit more. Perhaps Shibata accepted that this was the best he was able to get out of Tanahashi that day. Tanahashi was average here. Tanahashi just wanted to have his style of match, and he didn't really enhance the overall match quality. **¾   

BML 3/22/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hidetaka Monma 12:30. This was interesting because Hidetaka Monma was an MMA fighter who wasn't a regular pro wrestler. When the match started, it seemed what we were getting here was basically an overly flashy shoot-style match that was fun to watch. The match perhaps would have been better if they would have tried to focus more on realism than flashiness, as it feels that Monma was at times forcing himself to try to be more of a pro wrestler than an MMA fighter in this match (and he even executed a huracarrana at some point). Especially during the second half of the match, it seemed they were trying to have more of a regular pro wrestling match, which was in some ways a little bit of a disappointment, as it would have been interesting to see these two try to have more of a RINGS-style match. There were some cool-looking counters and sequences, and towards the end, they started getting a bit more creative again after a rather uneventful middle portion, but the match had certainly lost too much steam by then to garner any real interest. Still, the work displayed in this match was very good for the most part, and it felt like it delivered something that was at least slightly different from the standard and typical pro wrestling matches. ***¾

BML 4/19/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima 12:07. Shibata gave a strong performance and Nakajima did really well for someone who had only been two years in the business. Nakajima's style was more fast-paced back in his early days compared to his style in 2020. For some reason, Shibata seemed more eager to give strong showings whenever he wasn't in NJPW back in the mid 2000s. This was a really good match. Nakajima fought hard, but in the end, it was Shibata with the expected victory. ***¼ 

BML 6/18/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Takeshi Morishima 16:00. Parts of this match were interesting, but it all kinda fell apart at some point. It's a shame because it sounded like a fun match on paper. The match was good when Shibata and Marufuji were in the ring together. **½  

BML 7/2/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kensuke Sasaki 16:20. The first half was quite intriguing. Shibata's selling of Sasaki's lariats was great. Then for a bit I didn't really think it was that great, including the brawl outside of the ring, which just seemed out of place and random. But, at some point they went back to what they started, which is basically Shibata trying to take it to the more experienced and physically stronger Sasaki. Shibata ended up getting a lot of offense in and Sasaki sold it well. Sasaki's Northern Lights Bomb was amazingly executed, almost as well as his wife, Akira Hokuto, used to do. ***

NOAH 9/9/06 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Katsuyori Shibata & KENTA vs. Go Shiozaki & Akira Taue 13:29. Akira Taue mocked Katsuyori Shibata early on, but that only seemed to light a fire underneath the already fiery Shibata. The strikes early on between Shibata and Taue set the tone for this match, and showed that this wasn’t going to be a half-hearted match. Shibata and Shiozaki grappled in an intense manner, as they clearly wanted to impress. Shibata was the most impressive worker of the match. His ability to constantly have a clear overview of what the match needed needed at all times was quite impressive. Shiozaki did a very good job of trying to keep up with Shibata and to provide Shibata with challenging situations. It took a while for KENTA to warm up in this particular match, but he was solid early on, and eventually quite impressive. Taue was the odd one out here, but he was useful in his grumpy veteran role. Shibata and KENTA tried to annoy Taue as much as possible while they tried to keep Shiozaki in their corner. When Taue was able to dish out punishment again, he showed that he was indeed an experienced tag team wrestler who had been in heated battles in the past. Once the match reached the climaxing minutes, all four workers made sure to contribute as well as possible. The storytelling and pace were done in an effective manner, which made it easy to stay interested in this match at all times, as the match was intriguing all the way through. This was the fifth match of the 8-match NOAH Shiny Navigation show, but it had the excitement of a main event. Excellent match. ****

MPW 12/17/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Fujita Jr. Hayato 10:12. This was a fun match, but it was basically an extended squash with Katsuyori Shibata dominating against Fujita Jr. Hayato, who only had two years of experience as a pro wrestler at the time. Shibata invited Hayato to kick him as hard as he could, but other than that, Hayato got very little offense in. For a couple of minutes towards the end, it finally seemed like a small possibility that Hayato had a chance to win until Shibata finished him off. **¾

In 2007-2011, Shibata focused on MMA. His record in MMA was 4 wins, 10 losses, 1 draw. He jumped right in against more experienced name fighters, with wins over Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Ikuhisa Minowa, Tokimitsu Ishizawa and losses to Ralek Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Jason Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Hayato Sakurai, & Satoshi Ishii.

IGF 12/31/11 Saitama Super Arena: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinichi Suzukawa & Atsushi Sawada. Shibata did have one pro wrestling match in 2011 for the Inoki Genome Federation. This was a shoot style match and it was nothing special. Shibata showed he was still good though in the brief moments he was in the match. He executed a spectacular dropkick in the corner near the end of the match. **

Shibata's full-time return to pro wrestling started when he returned to New Japan in 2012...

NJPW 9/23/12 Kobe World Hall: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Wataru Inoue 3:03. Shibata gave a strong performance. This was basically a squash match, but it served its purpose. Shibata was back in NJPW and he's about to show NJPW and the world what he's really all about. *½ 

NJPW 10/8/12 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue 7:10. 2012 was the 40th year of NJPW's existence. This show took place at the Sumo Hall and drew reportedly 9,000 fans (the show was headlined by Tanahashi vs. Suzuki). Shibata was good. It initially seemed like an extended squash, but at some point Makabe and Inoue were able to fight back, much to the delight of the crowd because Shibata & Sakuraba acted like cocky shooter heels and the Japanese crowds like underdogs anyway. **

NJPW 11/11/12 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue 5:26. Watching all these Wataru Inoue matches makes me realize that he's really good in his role as undercard worker who takes a beating all the time. This was pretty much a squash match to put Shibata & Sakuraba over. *¾ 

NJPW 12/2/12 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shinsuke Nakamura 9:20. Finally a more competitive 2012 match involving Shibata. Ishii & Nakamura were part of the CHAOS stable. Shibata actually didn't really play that much of a role in this match, but he was good when he was in. **¼ 

NJPW Dominion 6/22/13 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 13:16. Before getting into New Japan, both were trained at Shibata Dojo by Shibata's father Katsuhisa, who had an 11 year career wrestling for JPWA & NJPW then a 32 year career as a NJ ref before passing in 2010. This was a no-nonsense match. They worked stiff and beat the crap out of each other.  This was probably the best New Japan match of Shibata's career at the time. He had improved and he had also met his arch rival. ***3/4

NJPW 7/20/13 Akita Municipal Gymnasium: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 14:52. This was worked at a slower pace than their previous match. it was good, but it missed the ecstatic energy of the previous match. Shibata's dropkick to Goto's face in the corner looked devastating. ***¼ 

NJPW 8/2/13 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Climax 2013 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima 9:40. This was fun to watch and it was good, but I wouldn't say it's highly recommended or anything. ***

NJPW 8/4/13 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum, G1 Climax 2013 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 12:17. They started off attacking each other straight away. They kept trading stiff strikes. Shibata's kicks were super stiff. Ishii's chops were thunderous. I like how they still sold well in the middle of all the hard-hitting action. The match got progressively more awesome. It was like a war! Great match! Highly recommended! ****½

NJPW 9/29/13 Kobe World Hall: Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi 10:49. They kinda went through the motions. **

NJPW 10/14/13 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 15:47. There was this segment in the match where they were inviting each other to show what the other had. But, I like how they made sure it was done in the way where they were challenging each other to bring everything, and it never felt contrived. Then they paid tribute to Tenryu by doing the punch, chop, punch, chop combination in the corner. Shibata then paid tribute to Kawada with the Kawada style kicks to the head. They nicely built things up towards the finish. ****1/4

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 1/4/14 Tokyo Dome: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 15:33. Good but I prefer their 6/22/13 match, which had more raw energy. This was more like they were thinking they should cater to a wider audience because they're in a Tokyo Dome while their 6/22/13 is more interesting for puroresu connoisseurs. Either way, this was good but not their best. ***¼ 

NJPW 7/26/14 Akita Prefectural Gymnasium, G1 Climax 2014 Block A Match: Katsuyori Shitaba vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 16:16. I liked this a little bit better than their more well-known 9/21/14 match because Tanahashi was more vulnerable here. This was part of the traditionally grueling G1 Climax tournament so even Tanahashi had to pay the price of having to work an arduous series of matches. I felt Tanahashi's selling was better and more appropriate here compared to the 9/31/14 match. Shibata's performance was excellent. ***½

NJPW 7/28/14 Sendai Sun Plaza, G1 Climax 2014 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shelton Benjamin 14:01. TAKA Michinoku accompanied Shelton "X" Benjamin to the ring. Shibata carried the match well, trying to get Benjamin to work a smart match in which he succeeded for the most part. **¾ 

NJPW 8/1/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, G1 Climax 2014 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata 13:31. Good match. It seemed Shibata was holding back a little bit. ***¼ 

NJPW 8/3/14 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum, G1 Climax 2014 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 10:47. The crowd really wanted to see underdog Honma score the upset victory. This was an exciting match. I like how Honma's facials really told the story of him really having to give 110% here in order to overcome the odds. ****

NJPW 8/6/14 Takamatsu City Gym, G1 Climax 2014: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 12:24. This was a very good match, but it was a big step down from their 2013 matches, mostly because it lacked the urgency those matches had. Here, it was more like they were just hanging out together and having some fun. It didn’t feel like an all out war. ***¾

NJPW 8/10/14 Tokorozawa Seibu Dome: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 11:16. The Seibu Dome is a beautiful venue. This was another stiff and very good match between Shibata and Goto. ***½ 

NJPW 9/21/14 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 17:57. Both wrestlers made their official debut on 10/10/99. By September 2014, they both certainly had come a long way since their debut almost 15 years prior. Both workers had taken different roads and certainly weren't always on the same page. However, by this point, they were two very important performers in NJPW. Just having a quick look at these two, you can tell they are quite different... The charismatic Tanahashi had the flashy appearance and The Wrestler Shibata had superior technical skills. To Shibata's credit, he made sure to make this match memorable without straying too far from his preferred way of working a match. Tanahashi gave a strong performance himself. He wasn't too over dramatic and he didn't try to overtake the match too much. It was a very good match that got progressively more intriguing. However, I felt that the match ended a bit too soon. I had just started properly getting into it, and I was curious how it would end but then it just ended. It wasn't a short match by any means but the way they worked this, they could have easily added a few minutes of hot action to make it more memorable. Or they could have changed gears several minutes before the finish. ***½   

NJPW 3/8/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 17:18. Perhaps because the 6/22/13 match was the first Shibata vs. Goto match I watched, I'm always kinda comparing all their other matches to that one. This was good, but it was more like just another match in their series and not so much bringing their series to a new level. It just lacked that "it" factor. ***¼

NJPW 7/5/15 Osaka-Jo Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 11:48. This was more NJPW-style than shoot-style, which was a bit of a disappointment, as a shoot-style match between Shibata (who had MMA experience) and Sakuraba (who was quite a famous MMA fighter) would probably have been more interesting than what we got here, which was a match Shibata could have had with some of the regular NJPW workers. Of course, Sakuraba was no longer in his physical prime by this point. And, while he had been in a few very good shoot-style matches in the ‘90s, Sakuraba never seemed to truly excel at pro wrestling. I don’t want to make it sound like Sakuraba was that much better at MMA than he was at pro wrestling, as some might say that ‘Gracie Hunter’ Sakuraba wasn’t particularly exceptional as an MMA fighter either. In the end, what was presented here was a moderately slow but good NJPW undercard match. ***¼

NJPW 7/29/15 Fukuoka International Center: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kota Ibushi 13:25. Shibata's execution of moves is excellent. His pacing and selling too. Ibushi was pretty good too. His selling was dramatic, but his execution seemed off a little bit at times. However, Ibushi worked this match with broken fingers on both hands, so when considering that, he actually did a really good job. ***½  

NJPW 8/7/15 Hamamatsu Act City Hamamatsu: Katsuyori Shibata & Jushin Thunder Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA & Mascara Dorada 10:50. This kinda felt like a random six-man tag at a house show with just the hard cam footage. This is not priority viewing, only if you're really curious and/or are just a really die-hard fan of any of these workers. I'm a mark for Shibata, Liger and KUSHIDA so I thought it was interesting to see them in a low profile match. Nobody gave a performance to write home about though. **½ 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4/16 Tokyo Dome: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 17:19. Shibata challenged for the NEVER Openweight Title. Not their best match because this one felt more like they were just trying to show off while their other matches felt more like battles. Also, there was a little bit too much no-selling and I think Shibata is probably the best no-seller ever. Me referring to Shibata in that manner may sound like a weird compliment initially, but when you are familiar with his matches, you'll know what I'm talking about. His no-selling is the kind where he is testing himself to see how much more punishment he can take and he's also inviting his opponent to give everything. Gradually, he would sell the punishment he took during matches though, so it was more realistic toughness selling and not so much actual no-selling. However, with that being said, that normally works well in their matches, but I think they overdid it here to the point they were kinda going through the motions (for their great standards). Still a very good hard-hitting match though. It wasn't their best showing.***½  

NJPW 2/11/16 Osaka EDION Arena Osaka, NEVER Openweight Title Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 18:47. This was better than their Tokyo Dome match. This time it felt more like they were actually trying to beat each other and not just focusing on showing off their toughness and crazy stiffness. One of the many great moves was Ishii, while standing on the second rope, suplexing Shibata off the top rope into a brainbuster. This was almost as great as their 8/4/13 match, but that one was exceptionally great and had that extra bit of urgency to it. This was still an excellent match and certainly recommended viewing. ***¾  

NJPW 2/19/16 Katsuyori Shibata & Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson 10:16. Good match, but it was more a showcase of The Elite (Kenny & the Young Bucks) than anything else. If you like The Elite, you'll like it. If not, you probably won't. ***¼ 

NJPW 4/23/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata & KUSHIDA vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Yuji Nagata 17:08. Shibata and Nagata started the match off, but eventually the match was more about Liger vs. KUSHIDA. Liger's work is still good and intriguing even though he's past his physical prime. Liger's selling was still great. Speaking of selling, Kushida almost convinced me twice that he was going to tap out while Liger had him in a hold. ***½ 

NJPW Dominion 6/19/16 Osaka-Jo Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata 14:53. Shibata challenged for the NEVER Openweight Title. This really felt like the climax of their feud. Stiff strikes and a really good performance by both. If you're going to watch only one Shibata vs. Nagata match, make sure it's this one. ***½  

NJPW 7/3/16 Iwate Industrial & Culture Center APIO: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 16:25. This was very good, but not on the level of their excellent 8/3/14 match. Honma's Dynamite Kid-esque diving headbutt off the top rope to the outside was insane. ***½  

RevPro 7/10/16 London York Hall, London, England: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata. They both tried to get the upper hand on the mat. Shibata pushed ZSJ a bit harder than most opponents had done, which was cool because ZSJ had to concentrate more and make sure he was on top of his game here. Pretty quickly, things got more aggressive as they started trading forearm smashes and European uppercuts. What I like about this match compared to most other ZSJ matches by that point in time is that this seemed more like a struggle. I like how ZSJ stayed outside the ring for a while to sell the first part of the match. ZSJ knew he had to bring his A game here. ZSJ started attacking Shibata's left arm. ZSJ also started attacking Shibata's right arm. After a forearm exchange, ZSJ targeted the left arm of Shibata. The lively fans started doing a soccer-esque chant to the melody of the White Stripes song Seven Nation Army... "Oh Zack Sabre Jr.!". Shibata finally started retaliating and he started to show his technical skills. ZSJ eventually outsmarted and outwrestled Shibata for the win. It was a good match, but it never really developed into the match it could have been, almost to the point it was a bit one-sided in ZSJ's favor... This was very much a ZSJ match and Shibata didn't really get to show his stuff as much. It was good, but I can't say it was more than just good overall because they never ended up taking it to the next level. Perhaps this was booked like this on purpose with a possible rematch in mind for the future. Either way, it was good and it's a good match to show what ZSJ was doing in 2016. 16:02. ***¼ 

NJPW 8/4/16 Fukuoka Citizen Gymnasium, G1 Climax Block B: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kenny Omega 12:28. Very good match, but I think Kenny was focusing a bit too much on his heel act and I think this was a little bit before Kenny truly hit his peak. ***½   

NJPW 10/10/16 Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kyle O'Reilly 18:09. I didn't know Kyle O'Reilly was THIS good. He gave Shibata a run for his money. Lots of excellent technical wrestling. The finish where O'Reilly's mouth guard fell out of his mouth while the ref called for the bell was perfect. NOAH's Go Shiozaki showed up and had a staredown with Shibata. ****½  

NOAH 10/23/16 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Go Shiozaki 18:01. This was slower paced than Shibata's New Japan matches. Shiozaki's nose started bleeding after Shibata's dropkick in the corner. ****

RevPro 11/10/16 London York Hall, London, England RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Katsuyori Shibata 16:39. A mixed reaction for ZSJ. I guess he had shown more heelish behaviour in recent matches (and/or maybe it's because he had aligned himself with Marty Scurll). The match started off on the mat and they showed they were very evenly matched. ZSJ tried a similar strategy here as in the previous match between these two as he started working over Shibata's right arm. A really good technical display by ZSJ. ZSJ was more vicious than usual. At some point Shibata even asked for more punishment. ZSJ kicked him, but Shibata wouldn't stay down. He sold his shoulder a bit while on offense. They started trading strikes. ZSJ took Shibata down, pin attempt, reversal, pin attempt by ZSJ. The final minutes were exciting. Very good match overall. 16:39. ***½

RevPro 11/11/16 London Walthamstow Assembly Hall, RevPro British Heavyweight Title Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Chris Hero 13:18. This was a rather slow-paced match, but it was hard-hitting and intense all the way through. One of the main differences here compared to most of the memorable Katsuyori Shibata matches is that he was facing someone with a significant size and weight advantage. The hard-hitting strikes were the highlights of the match. Some of the strikes were literally echoing through the venue. The match was certainly enjoyable enough to watch for fun, but it really lacked the urgency for it to be truly considered for recommendation. The lack of urgency wasn’t as it annoying as it would have been with some of Shibata’s regular opponents, though, as it was believable that the punishment dished out by a man of Hero’s size would slow down nearly anybody, and it was believable that Hero wasn’t in a rush, and simply was out there to deliberately dish out punishment. ***½

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 1/4/17 Tokyo Dome, NEVER Openweight Title Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 16:17. This was Shibata's best Tokyo Dome performance. I feel that sometimes with Tokyo Dome matches, they are not the best best matches possible for the workers involved, especially the more serious ones. In other words, they would have had a better match if it was in a slightly smaller building. However, this was certainly an excellent match and like I said earlier, this was Shibata's best Tokyo Dome performance. ***½ 

NJPW 3/6/17 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 12:37. This match was more an introduction to what probably was supposed to be a series of matches between Shibata and ZSJ. It also established ZSJ aligning himself with Minoru Suzuki and Suzuki-gun. ***¾  

NJPW 3/19/17 Hamamatsu Act City Hamamatsu, New Japan Cup Semi Final Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 22:32. This was the final time these two met in a match. Their matches had been some of the best matches in NJPW of the previous few years. This wasn’t one of their best together, but it was yet another stiff match. This time they wrestled over 20 minutes, so they had some more time to pace themselves, and pay a bit more attention to selling. That also seems to have been the main problem with this match though, as it felt it was exactly missing what had made their 2013 matches so special, the urgency. It basically felt like NJPW booker Gedo decided to give Shibata and Ishii some instructions in order to have a more ‘epic’ main event type of match, which would have included the advice to show less urgency and make things more contrived and elongated. ***½  

NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/17 Ryogoku Kokugikan:  Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazuchika Okada 38:09. Shibata challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. This match is hard to watch because it was Shibata's last match. This wasn't Shibata's best match, but it was arguably Shibata's greatest performance. Unfortunately, it was also his last match. The main reason why this match was significant from a match quality perspective is that Shibata carried Okada to an excellent match despite Okada being not nearly as good as workers like Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto, etc. The way Okada works the headlock reversals are as loose as a goose. Luckily, Shibata remains his usual self and actually works the headlocks. Shibata being able to have an excellent match here with Okada certainly showed Shibata's versatility. But then Shibata hit a sickening headbutt, which caused the end of his career. Shibata somehow managed to finish the match despite being barely conscious. ***¾

Judging from what I have watched, this is how I look at his career...

2000-2001: average [4.0]

2002-2003: decent [5.0]

2004: good [6.0]

2005-2006: excellent [8.0]

2007-2010: N/A (he fully focused on his MMA career)

2011-2012: very good [7.0]

2013-2017: great [9.0]

Katsuyori Shibata is one of the greatest workers of the mid 2010s. Shibata had at least seven matches that were excellent or better. His very best matches are among the best of that time period. As mentioned before, Shibata's prime was unfortunately cut short due to injury. Despite his relatively short peak, let’s hope people won't forget about Shibata because he is possibly one of the 50 greatest men’s wrestlers ever.

#10 NJPW 8/6/14 Takamatsu City Gymnasium, G1 Climax 2014 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 12:24. ***¾ 

#9 BML 3/22/06 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hidetaka Monma 12:30. ***¾  

#8 NJPW 3/6/17 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, RevPro British Heavyweight Title: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 12:37. ***¾  

#7 NOAH 10/23/16 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Go Shiozaki 18:01. ****

#6 NJPW 8/3/14 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum, G1 Climax 2014 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 10:47. ****

#5 NOAH 9/9/06 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Katsuyori Shibata & KENTA vs. Go Shiozaki & Akira Taue 13:29. ****

#4 BML 9/11/05 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazunari Murakami 9:44. ****  

#3 NJPW 10/14/13 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 15:47. ****¼  

#2 NJPW 8/4/13 Osaka Bodymaker Colosseum, G1 Climax 2013 Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii 12:14. ****½   

#1 NJPW 10/10/16 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, NEVER Openweight Title: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kyle O'Reilly 18:09. ****½