Katsuyori Shibata nearly died in 2017 and had to have brain surgery to save his life. However, it didn’t quite go the way Dave Meltzer reported that it did.

The incident occurred during one of the greatest matches of all time. As Katsuyori Shibata wrestled the perfect match (almost) against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis 2017, he used every weapon he had in his arsenal.

He outclassed Okada technically, he outclassed him in striking and he outclassed him with his grappling game. The legendary champion was shaken and did his best not to be taken down for good by The Wrestler.

Towards the end of the match, Shibata pulled out one more move he had used sparingly throughout his career. After tanking a Rainmaker and watching a cloud of sweat burst into the air, he grabbed the head of Okada and launched a vicious headbutt into his skull.

Their foreheads crashed together and Okada collapsed to the ground. Shibata looked down with a blank expression for what felt like forever before lifting his head to reveal a line of blood trickling between his eyes.

It was an iconic, all-time great sight in Puroresu, but it wouldn’t end well. Eventually The Wrestler succumbed to Okada and his record-breaking title reign and was pinned after a series of Rainmaker lariats.

Katsuyori Shibta failed to take home the IWGP Heavyweight title, but the worst was yet to come.

Katsuyori Shibata’s Headbutt Nearly Killed Him

As Kazuchika Okada celebrated in the ring, Katsuyori Shibata walked backstage under his own power. However, as soon as he made it behind the curtain he collapsed and required immediate medical attention.

He lay on the floor backstage at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in bad shape. Unbeknownst to him, Shibata was suffering from a bleed on the brain.

This internal bleeding gave him significant damage to the left side of the brain and caused temporary paralysis on the right side of his body. This included issues hearing and seeing out of his right ear and eye, respectively.

Shibata was rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with a subdural haematoma. This forced the doctors to perform emergency surgery on Katsuyori Shibata’s brain to give him any hope of surviving, let alone ever getting back into the ring again.

The situation was touch and go for a long time. He had surgery on April 9th immediately following the event and a second procedure nearly a month later on May 2nd.

Dave Meltzer reported that Shibata had part of his skull removed for the second surgery to help relieve the swelling on his brain. However, the Wrestling Observer writer would tell a much different story five years later.

Dave Meltzer Reported That Doctors Removed Katsuyori Shibata’s Brain During His Surgery

Following Shibata’s return to the ring against Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 16, Dave Meltzer marvelled at the former IWGP Intercontinental Champion’s astonishing emergence in New Japan.

He noted that Shibata had been told he would never wrestle again, before adding the odd claim that doctors had removed the wrestler’s brain when operating on him following his injury against Okada.

In the Wrestling Observer from the January 10, 2022 edition of the newsletter, Meltzer wrote:

“Shibata’s return is an amazing story because he had brain surgery and was very close to death after his April 2017 match with Okada where he delivered a sick head-butt and ended up with bleeding on his brain, and needing emergency surgery to save his life.

“They had to remove his brain during surgery and put it back in. At the time, doctors said there was no way possible he could ever wrestle again.”

Obviously, this is nonsense. Nobody could have their brain removed from their body, before having it reattached and continue to live.

People have lived with part of their brain being removed, but any experiments of brain transplants on monkeys have all ended with the subjects dying very soon after, if not immediately.

Obviously, Shibata is a lot tougher than your average monkey, but even so, there is no way he could survive having his brain removed.

Dave Meltzer should know better, being a journalist for the past 40 years.

Shibata Addressed These Claims After Joining AEW

Despite wrestling two exhibition matches for NJPW in 2022 and 2023, Katsuyori Shibata’s full-time return to wrestling would be in the United States with All Elite Wrestling.

He saved Orange Cassidy from an attack by Will Ospreay at the first Forbidden Door event, making his in-ring return in a match against the AEW International Champion in November 2023.

He forged somewhat of a comedy character in AEW, utilising a translation app to talk to his fellow wrestlers in English, usually with hilarious consequences.

Shibata used this method of communication when talking to RJ City on an episode of Hey! EW. City asked Shibata about the infamous report that his brain was removed during surgery, which the Japanese star did not find very funny.

“Are you trying to make a joke out of this? An injury that took me five years to come back to the ring, you think it’s funny? You think it’s funny?” Katsuyori Shibata said.

He then angrily typed that he wasn’t RoboCop, implying that the question was a ridiculous one to ask.

If questioning if Katsuyori Shibata’s brain was removed during brain surgery is ridiculous to ask on a comedy show, then reporting it in a newsletter is much worse by Dave Meltzer.

If you want to read more about the tragic accidents that have rocked the Japanese wrestling scene, including Hayabusa’s and Takayama’s injuries, check out our full list of the worst injuries in the sport.