 On December 7, Shibata made his in-ring return to Noah, defeating Maybach Taniguchi in a singles match.On January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, Shibata was defeated by Hirooki Goto, who was returning from an injury, which had kept him sidelined for the past five months.The match ended the rivalry between Shibata and Goto and led to the two forming a tag team.