 On first night, he defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to win the British Heavyweight Championship, and then successfully defended the title against Chris Hero on second night.On January 21, 2017, Shibata made another successful title defense against Matt Riddle at RPW's High Stakes event.He lost the title back to Sabre at NJPW's 45th anniversary show on March 6 thanks to an assist from Minoru Suzuki and Suzuki Gun.