New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) held an online meet and greet earlier in the week consisting of former three-time NEVER Openweight Champion and 2017 New Japan Cup winner “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata and NJPW Los Angeles (LA) Dojo Young Lions Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin.
The gathering saw the three read off names and messages from NJPW fans who brought merchandise from the Tokon Shop, that ships NJPW gear worldwide outside Japan. During the presentation, numerous fan names from the United States, Europe, and Japan were read off and thanked for their purchases.
Shibata signed several articles that were sent to fans after the event. The former NEVER Openweight Champion, who also acts as the Head Trainer of the NJPW LA Dojo answered several interesting questions from fans.
Several fans asked Shibata if he would be able to return to the ring in the future to which he responded, “Might be able to” each time. Shibata is dealing with the after-effects of a brain injury suffered due to a headbutt during his last match to date with former five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada during Sakura Genesis on April 9, 2017.
The injury nearly killed Shibata, and he has yet to show significant enough brain recovery for doctors to clear him for a complete return to professional wrestling, yet he has shown improvement in the three-plus years since the injury.
Shibata would also hint that a new NJPW LA Dojo Young Lion will likely make his debut shortly. Before the announcement, there hadn’t been word of an additional Young Lion joining the dojo since the graduation of “Alpha Wolf” Karl Fredericks.
With the prestige around the NJPW Dojo system, a new Young Lion will add to the already bright future for the company Yota Tsuji, Ren Narita, Gabriel Kidd, Shota Umino, Alex Coughlin, and Clark Connors provides.
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