8 Most devastating career-ending injuries in wrestling history

#5 Katsuyori Shibata’s ultra-stiff head-butt ends his career

That trickle of blood you see is due to a subdural hematoma, which is enough to kill an ordinary person

Up until April 2017, Katsuyori Shibata was one of New Japan’s biggest stars having returned to the company in 2012 after a failed MMA excursion. During this second run, Shibata became notorious for being the stiffest striker in the entire company, hitting people extremely hard with every part of his body, including his head.

Many of his stiff head-butts were downright disturbing, as he would often hit his head against another wrestler’s head in a prime example of please-don’t-ever-do-this strong style. Unfortunately, this stiffness eventually caught up with Shibata at Sakura Genesis 2017.

During his match with Kazuchika Okada, Shibata head-butted Okada so hard that blood started to flow down his face. When he returned backstage, it was discovered that he suffered a subdural hematoma and was rushed to the hospital.

This injury, coupled with the extreme dehydration he suffered in his match, caused Shibata to experience some paralysis, and although he survived, the likelihood of going forward is that he will never wrestle again.

Thankfully, though, at least he is still alive and can move on his own, which is way more than what people were expecting when news of this career-ending injury first broke out.