In certainly one of the most feel-g꧅ood moments of the 2017 G1 Climax, Katsuyori Shibata made his first public New Japan appearanceꩵ in months.
Shibata appeared at the G1🐼 Climax finals where he addressed the crowd since suffering a during his last match against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title
Shibata briefly spoke to crowd at the Sumo Hall in ꦇTokyo, simply sayi🐻ng “I’m alive! That's all.”
During his match with Okada at the April 9 Sakura Genesis show, Shibata hit a brutal headbutt and was 💫rushed to the hospital after the show. He was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, a pooling of blood outside of the brain resulting from severe head trauma, which is an injury with a high rate𒅌 of fatality.
It༒ was reported shortly after that he was experiencing paralysis on one side of his body and that his injury was likely a result of the headbutt꧟ and dehydration Shibata had during the match.
The 37-year-old Shibata is a three-time NEVER Openweight Champion and won the 2017 New Japan Cup, which set up Shibata’s title match ag🦄ainst Okada.
