Katsuyori Shibata: New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Lone Wolf

The blood-curdling nightmare of elbows and headbutts, Katsuyori Shibata, is challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on April 8th at Sakura Genesis. With this, my excitement levels have flown higher than they have in a very long time, and it seems pertinent to explain why. While the term “Lone Wolf” is thrown around a lot in wrestling (especially given Baron “The Lone Wolf” Corbin’s adoption of the buzzword) but there is no wrestler who has characterised this archetype so quintessentially as “The Wrestler”, Katsuyori Shibata.

In today’s landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling, with its Chaos Factions, Bullet Clubs, Suzuki-guns and Los Ingobernables, a wrestler who belongs to no faction, or sekigun, can be just as exciting as one who does. Shibata is the prime example of this. The presentation of his character is simplistic yet effective in conveying who he is. For most of his career, Shibata viewed wrestling merely as his source of income; he grappled with other mostly naked men, just to pay the rent. This is mirrored in his ring attire. Instead of the flashy and sumptuous robes and jackets of Okada or Tanahashi, Shibata opts for plain black trunks and black boots, a style reminiscent of the Young Lions (student wrestlers) of New Japan. This design choice, coupled with his stoic charge to the ring during his entrance, conveys Shibata’s lone wolf ambivalence in a manner so effective it would make your mother say, “Damn! That guy sure exudes lone wolf ambivalence”. In other words, very well.

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Listal

Shibata’s entrance theme is another great piece of character design. I find the themes that best suit the character to which they are given are ones that would fit when played over one of the wrestler’s matches. This is the case for wrestler’s like Kushida and Togi Makabe, among many others, but there are no themes more exemplary in this criterion than Shibata’s. His theme, by LOW IQ 01, appears structurally similar to his matches. A slow methodical opening that builds to an explosive and powerful crescendo that continues longer than one would expect but with an energy that makes it undeniably captivating. Moreover, every time the theme plays (which is thankfully before every match) it reminds me of what I love about Shibata, his power and truly unrelenting force and I get giddy and excited about what I am about to see.

It would be almost unacceptable of me to merely mention Shibata’s presentation and not the wrestler himself. If you are in any way familiar with “confused Michael Jackson impersonator” Shinsuke Nakamura, then you have undoubtedly heard of Strong Style. Strong Style is the dominant style of wrestling in New Japan, and is characterised by stiff strikes that border on real. And by border I mean take one very large step into the domain of reality, with the many Strong Style specialists found in NJPW causing genuine trauma to their opponents’ bodies.

Needless to say the style is energetic and exciting, and if Shinsuke Nakamura is the self-proclaimed “King of Strong Style” then I, with my near infinite sway within the industry shall proclaim Katsuyori Shibata the “God of Strong Style”. There is simply no one quite as proficient in the style currently working. This is evident in almost all Shibata’s high profile matches but is plain to see in his matches with fellow Strong Style connoisseur, Tomohiro Ishii. These two men have quarreled for years and seem to be butting heads (literally much to the chagrin of any nearby medical professional) more and more often. But their best showdown came in 2013 during the G1 Climax tournament in a match that felt like an hour’s worth of action squeezed into under thirteen minutes. The match garnered the hallowed five star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and it certainly earned it. The strikes the two fighters exchange are wince-inducing and scream-invoking and the breakneck pace of the match only serves to fire up the viewer.

Shibata
Image Source:
NJPW

A trademark of Shibata-Ishii matches is the two taking turns inviting the other to hit them as hard as they can to prove how tough/concussed they are/may be. There are few spots that I feel embody Strong Style more than these and Shibata’s execution of them is top notch. He sits cross-legged in the middle of the ring, folds his arms and arches his back and gets punted in the spine before getting up and doing the reverse to his opponent. Not only is this exciting and almost hilarious to watch, it is also fantastic character work. With Shibata’s legitimate MMA background, it would make sense he would want to prove to his opponents that he is tougher than them (especially against bulkier wrestlers like Ishii or Hirooki Goto). This is a hugely effective spot in terms of making the story of the match compelling and engaging on levels of both theme as well as spectacle. Shibata has also turned this cross-legged pose into one of the most badass taunts in wrestling today just by kicking heads and looking cool.

For the past six years, New Japan has been the king of long-term storytelling. The feud between Tanahashi and Okada that culminated at Wrestle Kingdom 10 had been brewing for four whole years with the two clashing on myriad occasions before having the Match of the Year for 2016. Shibata is no exception in this regard. He has had great feuds in the past and has very promising seeds for feuds planted ready to bloom in future. His feud with superhuman workhorse Hiroshi Tanahashi that culminated in 2014 could be said to have started ten years prior. Tanahashi and Shibata had formed two thirds of the New Three Musketeers of New Japan when Shibata departing the company in 2005 to pursue MMA, leaving Tanahashi to carry the company out of the dark ages they were currently in. The feud itself, as well as the climactic match that ended it, were incredibly executed by all involved. They also displayed Shibata’s potential not only at portraying a lone wolf, but also as a complex character showing characteristics of both hero and villain whilst retaining all the things that make him great.

Although at the age of 37, Shibata shows no sign of slowing down in the ring, and with seeds planted for major feuds with Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada, I am abundantly excited to see what comes next for him. Hopefully, what comes next is what has eluded him his entire career: the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He has a chance to take it from Kazuchika Okada on April 8th at Sakura Genesis and I think he’s got a shot.

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