Zack Sabre Jr. Reflects On Exhibition Match Against Katsuyori Shibata, Says He’s Never Experienced Anything Like That Reaction To Shibata
Zack Sabre Jr. looks back on the exhibition.
On day 19 of the 2021 New Japan Pro-Wrestling G1 Climax tournament, an exhibition match took place, and one of the participants was Zack Sabre Jr. His opponent was not known and coming out to face Sabre Jr. was Katsuyori Shibata, who had not wrestled in NJPW since 2017 up until that point.
While guest appearing on CMLL’s Esto es Lucha Podcast, Sabre Jr. said he’s never experienced anything like when the audience gasped at hearing Shibata’s music that night.
“It was an exhibition, but, his return… it was obviously during the COVID restrictions where the Japanese fans were restricted from being able to vocally cheer or make any noise and I’ve never experienced anything like the silent gasp of when the first bars of his theme music played where it was like, I felt in sync with the audience. That epitomized the power of pro wrestling.”
Shibata is currently signed to AEW/ROH. He is a member of The Opps with Samoa Joe, HOOK, and ROH World Television Champion Action Andretti.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Esto es Lucha with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
