Katsuyori Shibata stands in the way of Christopher Daniels making ROH history

Christopher Daniels is a legend in ROH lore. He was held the world championship, tag team championship, TV championship, and six-man championship in the promotion. The only title eluding him from capturing all the men’s gold is the ROH Pure Championship. Katsuyori Shibata stands in the way of Daniels making history.

Shibata won the Pure title from Wheeler Yuta at Supercard of Honor. Daniels wanted to test his skill in an effort to accomplish his goal, so he called out Shibata for a title match on ROH TV.

Daniels was confident. He had a 2-0 record in matches involving Shibata. Daniels, competing as Curry Man, defeated Shibata in singles action in NJPW during 2002. Daniels tagged with Frankie Kazarian to beat the team of Shibata and “Switchblade” Jay White in NJPW during 2015.

Pure rules were in effect for this contest. Jerry Lynn, Dean Malenko, and BJ Whitmer were judges in the case of a 60-minute time limit draw.

Mat work to start. Shibata had the edge and applied a figure-four. Daniels struggled to reach the ropes on his first break at 3:45 into the match. Daniels targeted Shibata’s neck with a variety of strikes. Daniels used a flatliner to transition into a Koji Clutch submission. Shibata grit through the pain to shift his hips and roll for the escape.

Shibata found his groove when receiving chops in the corner. The strikes woke up the champion to unleash his aggressive side. A single forearm blow knocked Daniels on his butt. Shibata followed for a running shotgun dropkick. Shibata continued with a suplex then a sleeper. Shibata dropped to the mat for a body lock on the sleeper. Daniels was fading, but he managed to reach the ropes for his second break at 8:43.

Daniels stunned Shibata with a jawbreaker. CD hit an STO, however, Shibata quickly rose to his feet to return the favor for an STO of his own. Both men were down.

Shibata regained his wits first to unload kicks to the chest. The champion cinched in the sleeper one more time, and Daniels was practically unconscious. Shibata released the hold to finish with a penalty kick.

Shibata retained the ROH Pure Championship at 10:06. Both wrestlers exchanged respect after the match.

Back to the drawing board for Daniels. He’ll need a new game plan if he wants to take the Pure title from Shibata.