Tony Khan Officially Announces Katsuyori Shibata For ROH Supercard Of Honor

Ring of Honor has a stacked card on its hands this Friday for Supercard of Honor. Featuring matches like Eddie Kingston challenging Claudio Castagnoli for the Ring of Honor World Championship, the Reach for the Sky Ladder Match to crown new World Tag Team Champions, and El Hijo del Vikingo defending the AAA Mega Championship against Komander, ROH is sure to attract more than its fair share of eyeballs. 

The latest Supercard of Honor announcement only cements that further. This afternoon, ROH owner Tony Khan confirmed that Japanese legend Katsuyori Shibata will be on the scene in Los Angeles to challenge Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Championship.

This Friday, 3/31#ROH Supercard of Honor PPV
Los Angeles, CA

ROH Pure Championship Match@WheelerYuta vs @K_Shibata2022

The challenge has been answered!
Legendary Katsuyori Shibata will come to #ROH in LA to challenge the BCC's Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Title, THIS Friday! pic.twitter.com/fJpiUwX7Cd

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) March 27, 2023

This shouldn't come as a shock to viewers of Khan's ROH revamp as a collision between Shibata and Yuta has been teased for weeks on the new weekly "ROH on Honor Club." After defeating Pro Wrestling NOAH's Timothy Thatcher and LA Dojo graduate — and Shibata disciple — Clark Connors, Yuta called Shibata out for Supercard, looking to prove that the Blackpool Combat Club was superior to the LA Dojo. Shibata had yet to accept the challenge until Khan now made it official.

Shibata has sparingly wrestled since 2017 when he suffered what was believed to be a career-ending injury while wrestling Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Since returning in 2021, Shibata has wrestled only four matches, including bouts against Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 16 and Orange Cassidy on an episode of "AEW Rampage." This would mark Shibata's first match under the ROH banner in six years.