Posted in: Movies, NJPW, Sports, TV | Tagged: Katsuyori Shibata, new japan pro wrestling, njpw

Katsuyori Shibata Is Home With Recovery Going Well

The last time we physically saw Katsuyori Shibata, he was trying to get backstage at an NJPW event after sustaining a crippling injury from a headbutt delivered to Kazuchika Okada that has put him in the hospital ever since. In May, the man simply known as The Wrestler in Japan underwent surgery to repair some of the damage done as he was also undergoing electrotherapy. We haven't heard much about him since as it was expected that he'd probably be out for a while after surgery, but this past week we got an update.

A translation on Twitter from his latest blog entry (shown below) states that Shibata is recovering at home now and that his recovery is going well. He is feeling pain from the electrotherapy on the paralyzed side and of his body, talks about how the techniques being used to help him are state of the art and there is no precedent for his condition, and he was thankful for all of the information fans sent him about his health.

What isn't really addressed, which other outlets have talked about and Shibata only briefly addressed in his blog before, are the list of injuries and other nagging issues Shibata had prior to the headbutt. Like many wrestlers, Shibata was working through injuries that weren't being given proper time to heal—which included double vision that he admitted he's had since the start of his career and has had three different surgeries to try to correct. Whether or not we'll ever see him in the ring again is still in the air, though he's made it clear that he's been thinking about wrestling the entire time he's been hospitalized. Time and recovery will be the ultimate factors moving forward.

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