Bryan Danielson Dream Match With NJPW Star In The Works

Bryan Danielson could be in line for a dream match with a huge NJPW star after they made an appearance on AEW Dynamite.

Katsuyori Shibata is a three-time NEVER Openweight Champion and was destined for huge things in NJPW but a serious injury forced him to step away from the ring in 2017 following a bout with Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis.

Thankfully, Shibata recovered enough to return to the ring facing Zack Sabre Jr. in 2021 and Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom in January 2022. Now, however, Katsuyori Shibata will shockingly challenge Orange Cassidy for the All Atlantic Championship on Rampage after signing a contract to face the AEW star on Dynamite in Baltimore.

But that might not be all that AEW has to offer for Shibata. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer suggested a dream match could be in the works between the 42-year-old Japanese star and Bryan Danielson:

“Shibata told AEW that there were two matches he wanted in AEW, Orange Cassidy and Bryan Danielson. So they’re going to work on doing both of them and this was the first one. He’s free this week and so they made it this week.”

Bryan Alvarez then pointed out the remarkable circumstances surrounding Shibata’s return to wrestling:

“This guy nearly died. New Japan would not clear him to wrestle. They allowed him to do what was supposed to be an exhibition match and he went into business for himself and it was a full-fledged match with bumps, the whole nine yards. They have not let him in the ring since he decided to do that and now, not only is he having a full-on match with Orange Cassidy but I presume he’s losing. So Katsuyori Shibata’s first official match back since he nearly died with Okada is a Rampage match with Orange Cassidy that he’s losing this Friday.”

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