AEW star still has backstage heat over unscripted incident from 2022 - Reports

According to a new report, AEW star Katsuyori Shibata still has backstage heat in NJPW over an unscripted incident that took place in 2022. The said incident was seemingly the reason why the Japanese promotion cut ties with him.

In January 2022, the 44-year-old star was set to face Ren Narita in a Catch Wrestling Rules match. The participants were not allowed to use strikes as doctors hadn't cleared Shibata to wrestle a proper match due to a career-threatening injury he had suffered earlier.

When the match started, Katsuyori Shibata seemingly went off script and changed the rules of the contest without notifying NJPW officials. This led to the Japanese promotion cutting ties with the veteran. Moreover, Shibata hasn't wrestled for the company since the controversial bout.

Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling News Radio recently revealed that NJPW was still upset with Katsuyori Shibata disregarding NJPW’s agreed match stipulation.

"The issue is the Japanese doctors won't clear Shibata, number one, the New Japan doctors. Number two, they're still pretty hot on Shibata for double-crossing them in that match with Ren Narita a couple of years ago when they were supposed to go out there and do a grappling match and then Shibata called an audible in the ring when he was not cleared to do an actual match with striking and went and did an actual match with striking."

Meltzer also claimed that the management removed Shibata from his position as the head trainer at NJPW Dojo after the incident.

"Because he double-crossed them, they have never put him in the ring since. Eventually, he was no longer the head trainer at the dojo or anything, they cut all ties with him and that's when Tony Khan picked him up." [H/T: WrestlePurists on X/Twitter]

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Katsuyori Shibata officially joined AEW in December 2023

Katsuyori Shibata has been performing for AEW since June 2022. Following his departure from NJPW, Tony Khan hired him, and he officially became part of the Jacksonville-based promotion's roster in December 2023.

Besides AEW, Shibata also performs for the company's sister promotion, Ring of Honor. The last match he had was against Jack Perry at WrestleDream, where he unsuccessfully challenged The Scapegoat for the TNT Championship.