Katsuyori Shibata is All Elite.
On December 23, 2023, Tony Khan gave everyone a glorious Festivus present and announced that former Ring of Honor Pure Champion, Katsuyori Shibata was officially All Elite.
On Twitter, Khan thanked New Japan Pro Wrestling for making the signing possible. Tony Khan's tweet also shared a statement from Shibata.
Dear Tony Khan
Today, I have signed the contract with AEW under a permission from New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
In the past year, I worked for AEW/ROH and I learned how wonderful the AEW is.
This is the best environment where wrestlers can focus only on fighting in the ring
And the love for professional wrestling is overflowing from Tony and all the people who work for him.
I want to make AEW's ring the last end point of The Wrestler's life to Tony Khan, and AEW.
Thank you
Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata had previously stated that he would be willing to sign a contract whenever Tony was ready.
He was last seen losing the ROH Pure Championship to Wheeler Yuta on the November 28 episode of AEW Rampage.